20 Years Of Standing Ovations Guarantee Your Event Will Be Unforgettably Fun!
I first became interested in balloon sculpture back when I was a street performer. One day I was performing magic shows for tips in front of Buckingham Fountain in Chicago. I was doing OK, but not great. Then I noticed there was this guy over to the side with a line of kids all handing him a dollar for a balloon animal. Immediately I thought to myself, “There is something to this.”
So I went to Magic Inc. (a famous magic shop in Chicago) and started talking to Bob Brown who turned out to be a well known balloon busker in the area. He sold me a book called “Roger’s Rubber Ark,” with plenty of simple balloon designs, and a bag of balloons. Nobody told me how hard these little suckers were to blow up. I locked myself up for a couple of days in my little flop house motel room. I vowed I wouldn’t come out until I could blow these suckers up. After two days I was successful, but in the process I burst a small blood vessel in my right eye and my cheeks hurt so bad I couldn’t smile for 3 days!
In the beginning I learned how to make 6 basic animals. Nothing fancy, but they served me well. From then on I would make balloons before I started my show to gather a crowd and make some extra cash. Then after the show I would make balloons again. Following this simple formula tripled the amount of money I earned from one show. This helped my bottom line considerably.
Eventually when I started working in the resort market, I discovered I had a lot of free time on my hands. I only performed one, sometimes two magic shows a week. I had the rest of the time to myself. My thoughts turned to balloon sculpture. I had seen some folks make some pretty elaborate pieces and thought I might like to try to do the same.
I discovered there was a whole little cottage industry revolving around balloons. I purchased DVD’s from artists like Don Caldwell, Ken Stillman, Bruce Kalvar, Shirley Ray, and others. While I still wouldn’t consider myself to be an expert, I am getting a lot better. Balloons have turned into another one of my minor obsessions! I really enjoy it and it brings joy to lots of people out there.
