I hear your son, Dustin Queary, is also a pretty mediocre balloon twister, too. Did you teach him balloons?

Marie, That had me rolling about
It may well be me

Yes I heard that as well
I'm having trouble seeing the screen from laughing & crying so much here

Hi Shonna,

thanks for answering all the questions - its all very interesting.

I have one for you!

Balloon dresses - why the rise in popularity of contructing them? I've seen them made at TMJ and they take DAYS!


Cheers
Danny

I first found out about the "POP" culture in 2004. Tmyers sent me info on TMJ and I made arrangements to attend since we were still living in Germany. I was completely blown away by what I saw there. What impressed me the most about TMJ was the level of entertainment skills and the openness of the people in general. Since TMJ 04, I have attended Twist and Shout, Diamond Jam, and Balloon Camp. I have also attend different smaller jams and get togethers for balloon artist.

I believe that conventions are the best place for people starting out to learn about the business and to network. If I hadn't gone to TMJ 04 I may never have met some of my favorite people like Colin, Luc B, Graham (RICHARD), Ingrid, Guido, Bido, Willy, Sean, and so many others.
Even though I had been doing balloons for awhile, it wasn't until Dustin saw Sean Rooney and the others that he took an interest in the balloons. We were so hyped up by what we saw there that I decided to do balloons full-time as a way to support my family.

Diamond Jam was also an awesome experience. It was smaller and friendlier. That is were I first met “Just Marie" and Ken Stillman. All the friendships I have gained from these experiences have been amazing.

Although I know that most people seem to prefer Twist and Shout, my personal experiences with it have never been great. The convention is awesome, but I have almost always been sick when we go so I miss a lot of the great Jam sessions. Plus it is a little more "clickish". If you are new to the industry, you most likely wouldn't notice it, but once you are deeper into the politics of the balloon community, you can see it, especially if you don't belong to a certain click. I don't belong to any click of balloon artist. Still, Patty Sorrell does an amazing job organizing the event. They bring in some of the best instructors in the industry, and it is always held in a convenient location and great hotel. Artist from all over the world come to compete and see what Twist and Shout is all about. This year should be spectacular. I think it is their 10th Anniversary.

It would take me days to tell you about my experiences from the conventions.
Maybe if I am allowed, I will add more later when I return from a "local" balloon jam.

Oh man, I am suppose to be at a Jam already! Dustin is okay with balloons, but I didn't teach him. If I had, he would be better!

I think the new interest in balloons is because we can make them so nice now. The skills of the balloon artist in general have been growing in leaps and bounds over the past years. People seem to be amazed in general at what we can do. Dresses are fun!

Alayna is standing over my shoulder ready to kill me if I don't leave.

I will post more later...

[quote][/quote]I hear your son, Dustin Queary, is also a pretty mediocre balloon twister, too. Did you teach him balloons?

Okay, now that I can actually take a little time to answer this question, yes, Dustin is a mediocre balloon twister. He has been doing balloons since 2004 and he still has a long way to go before he is recognized as one of the greats. If anyone would like to see some of his work, you can search for his videos on You-Tube under his name.
He also has made a few things like a Batmobile Car and helped with a Delorean. He may have won a few awards, but I can't remember.

Everytime I see his creations, I think to myself, I must be a great teacher. Okay, truth be known, Dustin's balloon skills surpassed mine a long time ago, but don't tell him. If he realizes he is better than me, he may just move out and start a business in competition to mine.
He has been working on some new CD's that cover many different topics. Since I am his mother, my critque of them won't be very helpful, but I think his designs are awesome!

One of our biggests problems right now is I am computer illiterate. I can barely figure out how to post here or to attach pictures. We can't even get onto our own website to make changes. I am looking for someone to help us so that we can finally "sell" some of the things we have to offer and actually up-date everything about us. I am actually embarrassed to send people to our website because it really doesn't reflect what we are currently doing or what we look like. Crazy huh?

But our business is doing good via word of month about our work. People like us and keep referring their friends to us. I imagine our business would grow by leaps and bounds if we could just figure out how to do things the proper business way.....

[quote]Balloon dresses - why the rise in popularity of contructing them? I've seen them made at TMJ and they take DAYS! [/quote

I think balloon dresses have become so popular because balloons are fun! People love balloons and to see the amazing dresses made out of them just seems to make people feel a little magical. Like you said, they take hours to create, but I think people who see them can appreciate it as real skill. At first a lot of balloon twisters may think it will be easy to make a dress, until they try it. Of course some people already have excellent twisting skills like Graham and have real success at making them right off, but for the general balloon twister who tries to make a dress, they will see it is one of the most tedious hard sculptures to do.

The precision of dresses by Rie, Just Marie, Colin, Debbie Stevens, Ori, Sofie and some of the other great balloon artists is unbelievable. If you really look at the differences in the "pieces of art" done by some of these artist compared to others who are now attempting the art form, it is mind blowing. For me personally, what impresses me most is how some of them manage to really make balloons flattering to the female figure. A lot of the balloon dresses made are great works of art, but not flattering to the female body. In my opinion the ones that really look like something you would see someone wearing and not realize they are balloons at first are the best. Don't get me wrong, I can see the skill of some artist in the work they do, but a lot of their dresses don't impress me for the shear fact that they make the model look "dimensionally challenged" when if fact she has an awesome figure. I hope one day that I can make the inflated dresses as well as I make the un-inflated dresses. If I master that skill, I think I will really feel like a master "twister". When I see someone's work in person, I can really appreciate it because I know they did not "photo shop" it to look better. I have seen some dresses posted on line that I saw in person, and I know for a fact that someone spent some time at the computer making them look better. I wish I had that skill too!

Anyway, I think we have just begun to see what balloon artists will be able to do with balloons for dresses. I am hoping that we will see a lot more artist attempt dress making, and that we will see new techniques. I also hope that as people attempt them, they start to realize that not just anyone can make a dress, and make it look good. .

Shonna,
Thanks very much for taking the time to answer the questions on the forum so comprehensively
It has made for a very interesting & enjoyable read which must be the view of others as well due to the amount of hits you've had for the first week.
Can you plug your websites again & tell everyone where your DVD's CD's etc can be purchased from

Graham Lee

Thanks Graham,

Our website is http://adventureinfun.com
Currently it is not what we want, so I will probably be embarrassed if people go looking for it.
Hopefully we will have it looking good and more functional by the Spring when things get really busy here.

My first attempt at instructional DVD's proved more educational on my part. They weren't profitable, nor where they the caliber I'ld have liked them to be. However, you can still get Dustin's through Tmyers or Aera-Deco Video. Dustin is not happy with the ones he made when he was 15 and 16, he has come up with better designs and improvements to what he was doing. We are both in the process of producing a large series of CD's with the sculptures we currently use. I think they will be some of the best on the market.

There may be some over-lap of a few designs, but I honestly feel happy when a DVD or CD has at least one useful thing on it.

Dustin doesn't look at anyone elses CD's or DVD's and he rarely attends classes at conventions. Some of Dustin's heros are Jack Mattson and Patrick VanDeVen. We love that we are part of a big caring and sharing community. It is a compliment when someone uses our designs. We are big latex freaks!

Happy Twisting Everyone and thanks for taking the time to read my answers! I am truly honored that any of you took the time, and that Graham even thought of me as someone to interview!

Shonna Flanigan aka Simply Shonna
"Let us make your event An Adventure In Fun!"
http://adventureinfun.com
or you can find us through balloonhq as Shonna Flanigan or Dustin Queary.
PS:Dustin is my son who is a mediocre twister, but I believe he will be great one day with a little practice.