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Time for the next five.

11, Who is your market aimed at?

My target market are restaurants and event coordinators.


12, What kind of work do you do mostly - parties? Corporate? Etc

Most of my work is Private Parties, Street Fairs, Conventions, Busking


13, What is your favourite/ideal gig to do?

Busking. It is the hardest by far, but I like the freedom.
Plus at the end of the day, you know how well you were received by how much money you have earned.  


14, What irritates you most at a gig?

Having to chase down my contact.
I always show up early so I have time to "check in".


15, How do you book yourself?

Most of my bookings come from working in restaurants, busking, and word of mouth.

Liz,

I'm glad you found those blurry tutorials helpful and thank you for pointing people my way.
Most of them were made over 6 years ago, when the blurry camera was the best a college student could afford.
 
I'm re-filming all old tutorials in better video quality and adding new ones.


Yes I still have Tony.

He is now 8 years old and enjoys spending his days sleeping on the couch.

-Mike

What is you favourite balloon colour that you use?

I really like Mocha Brown. For so long the only brown was the dark chocolate.
I was very happy when Mocha Brown came out.

What's your favourite balloon shape that you use?

This may seem boring. but I like to use 260s.
For so long I only used 260s, most of my sculptures were design with 260s.

What makes you laugh?

Really bad puns and awful jokes.
i.e. What's red and smells like blue paint?  - red paint

Sorry about the delay.

Didn't realize the next step was for me answer the 28 questions.

1, What road led you into balloon modelling?

I always liked unusual methods of art. I would create things out of soda cans, coat hangers, or anything I could get my hands on.


2, when did you get started with balloons?

I started playing with making balloon animals very young, around 7 years old. But I started TWISTING when I was 16. I worked at a restaurant making balloons for kids.


3, What's your best twisting experience?

Every year I do an Anime Convention. I get a booth and accept almost any request.
People ask me to make very elaborate things. Most of the requests are for things I have never seen before.
The first day is the hardest, since I am adjusting to being outside of my comfort zone.
The following three days are a rush of new ideas, designs, creativity.

But what makes it best is that the people who get their balloon (insert thing you've never heard of or seen) completely flip.
And most of time they are adults. And now, for a brief moment,  I get to see them as the "kid" they really are.


4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?

Oh, so many bad experiences.

Once, I was hired to teach a young kid how to make simple balloons for a class presentation.
The kid was afraid of balloons, and didn't want to do this, but his mother was very insistant that he should do it.
Nothing like "Mandatory FUN"

After an hour I noticed that I hadn't seen the mother for a while.
I realized that she had left to run errands, leaving me alone with her son who hates balloons.

I called her and asked that she return immediately. She didn't return for several hours.

After all this, her check bounced.



5, What do you most enjoy about twisting & why?

I enjoy giving people something that they like and will cherish.
I have often heard from people, that they still have the balloons I made for them, even through they have long since deflated.
At a time when so much is disposable, I like that they choose to hold on to something I twisted for them.


6, What's your favourite age to entertain?

Young Adults. 18 - 25
They think that they have seen it all and know it all.
I really enjoy seeing their eyes go wide and their jaws fo slack.


7, Do you have the same act but vary the presentation for all ages or do you have set acts for different ages?

I cater what I do according to the age group, since they all want different things.
Young kids want a simple balloon and someone to show them a little attention.
Older kids want a fancy balloon to show off.
Adults just want a story to tell their friends later.

Once, I've performed a 2 hour show for 10 adults and used only 10 260 balloons. I made them each a one balloon oddity ( pirate ship, Homer Simpson eating a donut)
I still hear about it from their firends.


8, What's your favourite thing to make at the moment?

I just figured out a really simple but great 3 balloon shark. I've been trying to figure this design out for several years, and I think I finally got it.


9, What is the most asked for model?

Monkeys. I hate making the same thing twice. But if I make one monkey, I'll be making monkeys all night. Which is why I have more monkey designs than anything else.


10, What do you tend to do more of if stuck in the 'balloon production line' model?

I'll start telling jokes. I have several routines that lead from joke to joke to joke.
I also will talk to the kid or adult who I am making the balloon for and get a bit silly with the conversation.

My personal website is http://www.mbfloyd.com/
It is in desperate need of an update.

I believe that is was this vending machine, but it had a modified head.

They must have put a pump in the head and decorated it as a hat.

They also add picture decals to the left side.

Just realized I haven't submitted my how I started post.

I started twisting balloons at the age of 7.
A laundry mat near my house had a vending machine that would sell you a 260 for $0.50 (US)

The vending machine was decorated to look like a clown, with the hat being a balloon pump.
The side of the machine had instructions on how to make a dog, along with photos of many other balloon animals.

As I would wait for my mother to do the laundry, I would twist and un twist the balloon making a dog and trying to make the other animals that I didn't have instructions for.

I'd keep at this until the balloon poped, which was usually about the same time my mother was done.

It wasn't until I was 16 that I saw someone making balloons at a local restaurant, that I decided to try and make balloons to entertain others.

I start working with an agency that taught me very little and paid me even less. It was one of  those, "work for tips" rackets.

But the tips were good enough to put me through college, where I learned how to make fancy websites among other computer voodoo.

That is how I got started in balloon twisting.

Let me know if you have any questions.

A much better Sully can be seen on http://www.balloongenuity.com/#!albumphotos0=1

As an aspiring Vent, I have to say I am very interested in Axtell new balloon Puppet mechanisms.

I would like to know the pirce.

Does a Twisting DVD comes along with it?
I think a device is good, but showing me designs and how to apply them is much better.

Never underestimate the power of one balloon animals.

As twister, we the see the best and most complex balloons in the world.
This usually moves us to try and make the best and most complex balloon creations.

But I like to keep in mind how I felt as a child, receiving a simple balloon.
I was always impressed by one or two balloon animals.

I would recommend if you are planning on making a large volume of balloons, either: a) keep them simple 1 - 2 balloons , or b) pre make them (boy and girl balloons)

I posted a free video on You tube on how to make a one balloon bunny rabbit.

//http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7jQBYQXUhY

Gram, when will we have a way to embed youtube videos in the form post?

I made a free video on how to make a fun balloon mustache.

I get lots of laughs with this one.

//http://www.balloon-animals.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=44

Turns out Waldo was on the Ferris wheel the whole time.



follow my Twist and Shout Competition Progress at //http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Twist-n-Shout-2012-Competition/159203210800458

I'll be there.

Looking forward to seeing you all at Twist n Shout.