Hello BalloonChat! I'm getting very excited for my trip across the pond... I can't wait to meet all of you who can make it to the lecture! I tend to ramble on a bit, so I'll be answering these interview questions in small groups. Please feel free to chime in if you have any questions about the lecture material or about balloon twisting in general!
1, What road led you into balloon modelling?
I had always wanted very desperately to be an artist of some sort… but every medium I tried (drawing, painting, carving, writing) I was never particularly good at. For some reason, balloons have been the perfect fit for me! Ask me to draw a monkey, and you'll get a bunch of incomprehensible scribbles. Ask me to make a monkey out of balloons... no problem!
http://http://mrdave.balloonhq.com/complete.php?portid=11493&page=1&category=0&idl=9My wife (who truly IS artistic) and I have pondered this, and we’ve decided the best explanation is that balloons are modular in design, and that the fixed dimensions of the materials for some reason really resonates with the way I view the world.
2, when did you get started with balloons?
When I was 16, my best friend’s father was a professional clown. He was looking for some additional help for overflow gigs, and so he trained me in the wide range of services his company offered: simple magic shows, juggling, face painting, stilt walking and very basic balloon twisting! For many years I was a sort of jack of all trades, but a master of none. So although I’ve been twisting for over 12 years now, it really wasn’t until 2007 or so, when I discovered the online community of balloon artists, that I became obsessed with balloons, and began to experiment with my own designs. It’s all for the best, really… I was always a horrible face painter.
3, What’s your best twisting experience?
I suppose it’s a testament to how lucky we are to be in an industry that generates so many wonderful experiences that it’s difficult to single out the “best”. My favorite events in general are the ones where I get to involve all ages! The client might hire me to entertain the hyperactive 5 year olds, but when the sulky teenager, the bored father, the quiet grandmother, and the harried hostess herself all find themselves excitedly making requests, playing around and posing for pictures… then I know that I have helped to redefine “balloons” for that group, and I’ve been lucky enough to facilitate them getting to play, which most adults don’t do nearly often enough!
4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?
This was fairly early on in my career, but I had been contracted through an agency to make balloons at a school event. What I discovered upon arriving at the event was that the client had also been promised a magic show, which I had not been informed of, nor was I prepared to perform! I hastily ran out to my car and cobbled together some scraps of rope (left over from a pervious cut-and-restored routine) and assembled a thumb tip out of masking tape, and managed somehow to eke out a bare-bones 20 minute magic show for the children. I guess “worst experience” is a misnomer… although it was incredibly stressful at the time, the children ended up loving the show, and it really cemented for me the notion that performance has very little to do with props and everything to do with character and interaction.