Balloon Chat
Uncategorized Boards => Interview a "Balloon Chat" Member => Topic started by: Graham Lee on June 15, 2008, 09:57:29 PM
Smiggles will be answering the questions, after talking with Ian at the Birmingham care & share day I'll definately be looking forward to his answers as I think he has a great sense of humour & great written quips.
So no pressure on you then Ian :lol:
We just need to confirm dates;
Graham Lee
Smiggles Interview will be next week 7/13th July, and as said previously he has some lovely comedy lines as I believe he does some script writing, or I may have this wrong :D
Yes Graham - I have done some script writing mainly for radio but I've also written some short stories and a couple of comedy sketches and a pantomime - Alladin
Do you do adult balloons?
It depends on the occasion, I've never done anything that could be considered offensive or tacky - or at least I hope I haven't - at a twisting only gig.
But occasionally at a disco I have produced some 'saucy' models - say false boobs for a fella, but only if asked, otherwise I try and keep my models suitable for any age in a family
Quote from: "Smiggle"Yes Graham - I have done some script writing mainly for radio but I've also written some short stories and a couple of comedy sketches and a pantomime - Alladin
Oh no you havn't :D :lol:
Here are some of the serious questions;
1, What road led you into balloon modelling?
2, when did you get started with balloons?
3, What's your best twisting experience?
4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?
5, What do you most enjoy about twisting & why?
6, What's your favourite age to entertain?
Quote from: "Graham Lee"Here are some of the serious questions;
1, What road led you into balloon modelling?
I sort of fell into it - I was looking for a simple way to entertain children while doing a disco for family occasions - I picked up some balloons and a pump with a basic book and tried my hand - a familiar story from here on - I was mazed at the reaction even a simple model got - the models must have been OK because out of that I'm getting a quite a few twisting only bookings now
2, when did you get started with balloons?
About a year ago seriously
3, What's your best twisting experience?
Being told by a ten year old girl "You're cool you are" after I made her Twistinas Bouncing Tiger - 10 year olds don't bestow honours like that lightly :D
4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?
I haven't had anything really disastrous happen whilst twisting - more by luck than judgment I have to admit - I suppose the worst thing was when I came out of one place and found the wing mirrors on my car had been kicked off
5, What do you most enjoy about twisting & why?
The creativity and the look on the kids - and adults - faces when you produce something special
6, What's your favourite age to entertain?
Children 6 - 10 years old mainly for the most part they still believe in magic and clowns etc - I do enjoy doing shows for older audiences too - teens require a different more subtle, approach
Hi Smiggle!
how do you learn new models?
care & share, books, DVD's, internet, make them up yourself????
Whats your fave at the mo?
Danny
Hi Danny
New models
I've been working my way through Twistinas CD and Grahams first DVD as well as Thelmas CD - all of which are excellent, there are also resources on line to find other mdels to try. I learned a lot at the Birmingham care and Share and hopefully I'll be at the Northampton one in October and be able to stay for the full day
I'm also just starting to try a few things of my own, as others have said on here you do see the potential for other models as you twist something else - you begin wandering how it would look with a bigger fold twist there and different colour here.
My fave at the moment is a little one balloon duck that is quick and looks really cheeky and if you make it right it 'appears' out of nowhere in your hands - I can't remember where I found it
Any chance of a picture of your little duck ;)
Oooh Matron :roll: - I'll try and post one tonight when I get home :D
The duck is in the picture section :)
A few more questions;
7, Do you have the same act but vary the presentation for all ages or do you have set acts for different ages?
8, What's your favourite thing to make at the moment?
9, What is the most asked for model?
10, What do you tend to do more of if stuck in the 'balloon production line' model?
11, Who is your market aimed at?
12, What kind of work do you do mostly - parties? Corporate? Etc
13, What is your favourite/ideal gig to do?
14, What irritates you most at a gig
Quote from: "Graham Lee"A few more questions;
7, Do you have the same act but vary the presentation for all ages or do you have set acts for different ages?
The show is pretty similar for most age groups but is varied slightly according to the audience, the games differ and the music is targetted
8, What's your favourite thing to make at the moment?
Ummm - that would be a duck :D
9, What is the most asked for model?
Teddy bear for girls - guns for boys
10, What do you tend to do more of if stuck in the 'balloon production line' model?
Candy cane heart for girls - guns / swords for boys
11, Who is your market aimed at?
Anyone with cash :D - families mainly
12, What kind of work do you do mostly - parties? Corporate? Etc
Parties, weddings birthdays etc - I have recently done my first corporate gigs which were very different but good to do but because I have a day job corporate is not something I can build up too much at the moment.
13, What is your favourite / ideal gig to do?
I love doing carnivals and fetes - I do loads of those with the hospital radio station I work at - they are hard work good fun and you need to think on your feet all the time
14, What irritates you most at a gig
Parents who leave you on your own with 30 kids while they gossip in the kitchen :twisted: :evil:
Thanks for doing this Ian, a few more;
15, How do you book yourself?
16, What's the biggest thing you've ever made?
17, What has been your proudest achievement in our wonderful world of twisted latex?
18, What advice would you give to someone starting out, or wanting to increase their business?
19, What road in latex do you see yourself taking in the future
20, What is your personal goal when you set off to work? Is it money or to entertain etc?
21, What are your balloon goals for the future?
Quote from: "Graham Lee"Thanks for doing this Ian, a few more;
15, How do you book yourself?
85% of my work now is 'word of mouth' - I have three venues that hand out my card as a 'preferred supplier' and I'm never shy about dishing my card out or putting a card on venue notice boards, I also have a loose arrangement with a couple of other people who do similar stuff to pass on jobs if we can't cover them ourselves. I do have a mentalism show which I do occasionally I don't actively promote it I leave bookings for that to an agent.
16, What's the biggest thing you've ever made?
I haven't made anything really big but I'm working on a Yellow Submarine for a particular event - if I pull it off I'll post pictures
17, What has been your proudest achievement in our wonderful world of twisted latex?
Actually remembering some of the models I've learnt off CDs etc whilst twisting 'live' - my repertoire isn't huge :roll: but it's growing
18, What advice would you give to someone starting out, or wanting to increase their business?
Practice, Practice and Practice - the more you know the mechanics of what you're doing, whether it's magic, twisting or whatever the more you can put into the ENTERTAINMENT factor. Business will only come to you if you chase it in the first place - never be shy about talking to potential bookers - don't put unnecessary limitations on yourself such as type of function, venue etc always be as flexible as you can.
19, What road in latex do you see yourself taking in the future
I really need to work hard over the next few months and get a more consistent standard and grow my repertoire then I'd like to concentrate on twisting and run the disco business down
20, What is your personal goal when you set off to work? Is it money or to entertain etc?
Definitely to entertain - if you can do that the money will follow - it is a matter of great pride to me that the venues who give my card out only do mine because I actually work at making the evening special by entertaining the audience (and staff) and not just turning up to play loud music - they tell me that I'm the only disco that gets a big round of applause at the end of the evening (mind you that could be relief that it's all over) I'm not the cheapest show out there - far from it - but I'm one of the busiest
21, What are your balloon goals for the future?
To be the best that I can be - there will always be better twisters than me out there - so long as I'm happy that I've produced my best work I'll be happy banking the money
Ian, last of the questions unless anyone else wants to ask you anything?
22, If you could start all over again, would you change anything?
23, How would you like the future of balloon modelling to develop?
24, Who's the most famous person you have made a balloon creation for?
25, How do you keep the enthusiasm going & what still excites you about our great world of latex
26, What inspires or is your thought process in coming up with a new design
27, Who would you like to work with dead or alive?
28, What makes you laugh?
Who would you most like to make a model for and why? What would you make them ?
Quote from: "Graham Lee"Ian, last of the questions unless anyone else wants to ask you anything?
22, If you could start all over again, would you change anything?
Nothing at all - I've had as great time entertaining and have learnt a lot and met some great people
23, How would you like the future of balloon modelling to develop?
Like most of us I would love to see it appreciated more as an art rather than a novelty
24, Who's the most famous person you have made a balloon creation for?
Kylie Minogue... OK it was really a Kylie Minogue tribute act - I made her a little gold and silver bracelet to match the gold hot pants - not easy to do when your hands are shaking :D
25, How do you keep the enthusiasm going & what still excites you about our great world of latex
It keeps itself going really because you never know what you're going to be asked for - what the punters are going to be like - every time you step into your performing mode it's a buzz
26, What inspires or is your thought process in coming up with a new design
I haven't really come up with new designs but I have started 'tweaking' some of the ones I have in books or on DVD - I suppose designing from scratch is not far off - the yellow submarine I mentioned earlier will be the first
27, Who would you like to work with dead or alive?
Tommy Cooper or Eric Morecombe - neither were balloon artists but both absolute masters at comedy
28, What makes you laugh?
I think from the answer to the last question you can guess - I love silliness, my humour is a bit off beat I suppose joke telling is not me but I do love the ridiculous
Quote from: "Professor T Wist"Who would you most like to make a model for and why? What would you make them ?
Kylie Minogue (the real one this time) - I'd make her an itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini with free fitting ;) 8-)
Ian, Thanks for taking time out this week to answer the questions for the forum members. :D
Hi Smiggles.. did u ever made a little kid cry with your balloons?
Princess - no I haven't made any kids cry - not that I'm aware of anyway but one special show I did a few years ago with a colleague from my radio station was very emotional.
Briefly a local paper had a story about a young girl of about five years old who was dying from a brain tumour - she was a big Disney fan and her parents were trying to get her to Disneyland before she died. My colleague brought the story to my attention and asked if we might try and help.
Now this colleague is one of lifes great scroungers - he can get amazing stuff out of big companies. He phoned Disney in Florida and they said if we can get the family over there they'd giver them a free holiday, he phoned Virgin Airlines and they offered free flights if the family could provide a medical certificate to say the girl was fit to fly - unfortunately her doctor could not give such a certificate. Fletch (my colleague) came to me to break the news - I have no idea why I said it or even how we were going to achieve it but I just said 'OK if she can't go to Disney, we'll bring Disney to her'
At the time Disneyland Paris was almost ready to open so we contacted them they agreed to send over Mickey, Minnie and Goofy for a day - over the next few days Fletch and I called in so many favours - my neighbour provided a stretch limo, we got the Disney characters in the back and a marching band to go the family house pick them up and bring them to Queens Ppark where we had a full fun day with army display, police dog display, hog roast, the Disney characters and two more marching bands and kids rides all rounded off with a firework display and a Blues Brothers tribute act - all of this was put together in ten days and didn't cost a penny- the family were just overwhelmed with peoples generosity - on the day it was just too hectic to really appreciate how much had been achieved, the look of wonder on the little girls face when she opened the door to see Mickey on her doorstep was just wonderful.
Sadly she died two weeks later, the church was absolutely full to bursting with all the people who had contributed - even one of the guys from Disney came back over from Paris to say goodbye. The whole day actually made a lot of money which her parents used to buy equipment which was donated to the children's ward at the hospital where she was treated
It just goes to show how kind hearted people can be in the world, things are not always doom & gloom.
Smiggle it was a nice read although sad that the little girl lost her life but I'm sure the day will stay in peoples minds & hearts for years to come.
Oh, Smiggle, that is just wonderful what you and Fletch did! It was just great that the little girl got to experience Disneyland after all. It's a memory that you two will now have for the rest of your lives as well.
Cheers,
Kath 8-)
And now u have made another little girl (ME) cry :oops: ... what a touching story... u know.. I've always have this emotional breakdown.. like 2 weeks ago.. i volunteered with some clowns at children's hospital and this little 18mth old baby was at her bed and we found out that it was her b'day on that day.. and we sang her a b'day song and really made her smile from her bed....and it really made me cry.. i dunno why... :oops: Thk u and Fletch .. the world will be blessed to have someone as kindhearted as ya all....