thanks for giving me this opportunity. i have a website but its still under-construction at the moment. you can only find it if you know the site address.
balloonbenji.weebly.com
any feedback would be greatly appreciated

I really like it and I don't say that about many websites if I'm honest!

The colours are great, not too bright and overbearing, but bright enough to show the style of websie. It is easy to follow, things are hidden in sub-menu's and it's not cluttered (my real bugbear with some websites!).

I agree with Graham - it's worth that little extra as it looks a lot more professional - sure they could sort you an email address as well rather than using yahoo. You could always set it up to automatically forward to your Yahoo account so you don't need to check two separate accounts, but it would look a lot more professional.

time to answer the questions. just want to say thank you for everyone on this site. you all help me along in my ballooning even if you dont know it


1, What road led you into balloon modelling?
I have always loved circus skills and it was kind of a logical next step. at current count i can do: juggling balls + rings + clubs, diabolo, poi, staff, spinning plates, devil stick,. Now i also have added balloons to my repertoire. I also have a unicycle and walking globe but ive not managed to use those properly yet. Always learning

2, when did you get started with balloons?
I think it was about roughly 3 years ish ago. While doing a circus skills event i just started with a friend and got hooked. By the end of the night i said to myself i needed to keep going and i did. So glad i did to.

3, What’s your best twisting experience?
My best twisting experience! My best experience is just doing balloons with my friends. Relaxing and laughing and doing random models. I used to be in the Birmingham university circus society, purple mermaid. While i was there every week i used to teach balloons to some of the others. We would then go to the university bar with all our balloons and leave them in random places. Just a really good laugh.

4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?
My worst time while twisting was one day 2 years ago. It was the middle of summer and an extremely hot day and i was at a fundraising event. This was before i realized i needed to keep the balloons cool and they got very warm and were just popping all over the place. Pretty much every other balloon i was inflating popped and it was just a nightmare.

5, What do you most enjoy about twisting & why?
I absolutely love seeing the look of wonder in a child's face when i'm making them a balloon. Watching them see the model come together is just great. That being said i see the exact same look of wonder in most adults faces as well lol

6, What's your favourite age to entertain?
I'm there for any age range really. I am a scout leader so i mostly work with children but i love working with all age ranges.

7, Do you have the same act but vary the presentation for all ages or do you have set acts for different ages?
I don't have an act as such yet but i do have a character i play when i'm twisting. I tend to take on an over emphasized version of myself. Very jolly and outgoing and generally a large character. I use this when ever i'm doing twisting exept when im doing "posh" events. I tend to tone it down a little then as its not really acceptable to be wacky while wearing a shirt and tie

Tune in tomorrow when i answer a few more questions

Nice website, good to look at and easy to read, well done, look forward to reading more of your interview

Rob

A couple of questions,
what is your day job?
where did you used to live down south?

Thanks.

Final installment of the interview questions now

22, If you could start all over again, would you change anything?
Stock up and Practice more. Also I would probably use DVDs more rather than YouTube videos. I would use YouTube as well but I'd want to start building more impressive models sooner. But I would also try to get to more care and share days sooner. I realise ive missed so much from not attending any

23, How would you like the future of balloon modelling to develop?
Id like to see balloons made to be less pop-able and stay inflated for longer. I know its not a fancy goal for balloon future but how awesome would it be to be able to keep balloons for longer and still look like they did the day you make it.

24, Who's the most famous person you have made a balloon creation for?
Bear Grills is the most famous person ive made a balloon for.  I was at a county scout camp with my explorers and Bear was coming to the event. I happened to have my balloons with me as i always do so i decided to make him a balloon version of himself. I had made a balloon effigy of himself and he loved it. He even told his assistant to hold it and not lose it as it was and i quote "amazing".

25, How do you keep the enthusiasm going & what still excites you about our great world of latex
When I'm performing I will naturally exude enthusiasm and will happily keep going past my time as I will be having so much fun. I still get exited about all the models I see people making from balloons. Like recently i have seen the huge pyramid made from balloons and a huge beanstalk with giants castle on top of it. It amazes me the things people can imagine and turn into balloon format.

26, What inspires or is your thought process in coming up with a new design?There isn't really one thing that inspires me. I will be watching something and suddenly think "that could be done this way" or "if I do this instead" and will try it. I have never come up with a design that is completely my own creation but i have changed several designs to make my own make on them. For example a while ago i was watching a tutorial of To-Mator from cars by Cody Williams. As i was watching I was thinking this could be done this way and i tried it and it worked out well. Was very happy with the results.

27, Who would you like to work with dead or alive?
Id love to work with everyone at some point. I first started balloons watching Dom Caldwell, Cody Williams and Jonathon Fudge on YouTube so would love to work with them in particular and to thank them for helping me get into balloons.

28, What makes you laugh?
Everything. I have a very varied sense of humor so pretty much everything makes me laugh. Except a popped balloon. That makes me sad, but only for a second and then I'm happy again

Yay all is well. Still if anyone wants to ask me any questions ill happy answer them all. I would like to say thanks to all for reading what i have to say And i look forward to seeing some of you at a care and share day or balloon event sometime soon