Hiya Norm,

 i really miss TMJ and to meet all that professional twisters... it was unique, we still have Euro Jam and some other Balloons events but i really will love TMJ to come back... Yea Balloons all day and night!!! hehehe

you asked:

-----So how do you come up with your own unique designs?

i really love the Balloons to play because there are not too many chances of things that can be done with them (more and more things as lots of creative people are playing and developing but nearly all its based in 7 or 8 things that can be done with a balloon) so that means a "easy puzzle" with small amount of pieces you can create thousand of shapes and that its so much fun, so to star creating first rule its to play, once you play with the balloons you find on the way new shapes and torsions that remains you some part of an animal or thing and from there on you develop the rest of the design, in a workshop of Mr Rainbow he say that its a good idea to play using a different balloon color for each balloon you use in a figure that you are working out so when its finished its easy o follow the steps and to change the possible mistakes you find, its a great idea but on top of all to play and look for the things you cant twist jet, i try to get out of my comfortable zone learning difficult twist and techniques to use them in my balloons if i fail its ok i considerer it as rehearsal never as a lost of time, of course i don´t rehearsal in front of the audience, there its a time and place to play and a time and place to be professional and twist the things you already have under control, the second part of creating a new design its to check that the design doesn't exist before, in my opinion even if it existed before doesn't mean that you didn't came up with it but it does mean that you can not claim it like your design, its a petty but its the same way in many things in life great ideas still great even if some one have published them before... so if you have a great new design and you ask the people from the industry and you find it new then you make a great thing for the balloon community, if it was already out there you did a good work for your self , i mean you never loose by playing and experimenting with new shapes and torsions, one thing that make me change allot the way to think in ballooning was to stop thinking in 1 balloon or 2 balloons and thinking in balloons like lines of colors that can be erased (popping the rest of the balloon) can be different colors and different size lines (260 160..) and when you start drawing with those air filled colorful latex you can draw anything, all depends on the scale and the amount of time and balloons you can use for the design, there its always a middle point between the nice and the effective balloon figure, as more sugar more sweet but sometime you need to walk to the corner shop for one extra spoon of sugar and that doesn't deserve the walk....
always try to make it the nicer for your self, if you like it , i mean really like it more people will like it too!!!

---------How do you stop copying other peoples ideas and create your own?

nice question,i will just talk about how to create you own, to stop copying its a personal chance and not always good idea, some how to let that clear i will say i love when people copy my designs if they do in they work, if they do in the net i like to be mention but even when its not like that i fell honored to see my design its been choose by some one as a nice thing so somehow i am helping that person and the people that looks and enjoy the balloon and you know , money its not all in life!!!

how to create, if we compare it with music its easier to understand i think, to play an instrument first you need to learn the notes, then the scales , then the rhythms and once you have those things you start playing the classics... i mean Happy birth day to you, and some other classics that let us use the knowledge we got and to practice the scales and rhythm in a song that its already made , so more or less we copy the song played in the begging bad but with some time of try we master the piece and we can play decently 1 song so we can change to next one and next one ... each song will be easier to learn because your scales and rhythm its been perfected and there are many many great songs you can play form other people but there its one day that you start to express your self with the techniques you earned playing other people songs and that day you make your own song, a song that talks about your experiences and maybe its not a great one but its yours and that first song will take you to others and by practice again on the process of expressing your self in a song you will get a great song maker, well with balloons some how its the same way, to be able to create you need to know the techniques and the behavior of the balloons and the best way to do that its to make figures that are out there and not been your own designs they are good ones and helps to amaze your audience but at same time to improve your skills, one day and other and other until you have a back up of techniques and torsions that you control perfectly, then you can play and create you own designs and any thing can be done with balloons.


----------Whats the best sculpture you have ever made?

hum that its a beat difficult to answer, first of all i am not a big fan of the factor "best" some how i thing the best thing can be just really bad one in the wrong place, i hope you understand but if i have to answer i will let clear that some really nice ones that i do they aren't my designs so i will focus on mine,i am really proud of the butterfly in the mirror and the all mirror concept, i am also really happy with the vespa, but if i have to chose just the one i like the most to do and give away its the Altea Rose, every time i give it away i get a huge reaction its a flower but at same time its a strong symbol for people around the world.



----------Who do you think has inspired your work the most.

hey lots of people have to be in the list but starting from the people i learned from in my first balloon meeting all of them.
and specially i have lots of things to thank to the amazing Balloon Artist Sabina Kellner
she teched me the sensitivity on balloon figures, but some how every one of my friends that are twisters have influenced my art deeply, each of them in different aspects and the combination of all makes the one i am now, and lots of my non twisters friends have also inspired great ideas, some how all the workshops i went to, all the great collages that shared with me they knowledge and esthetics's point of view have inspired and will always be an inspiration, Thanks to all of them, and thanks also to some of them that are not my friends but they are great artist...

its a pleasure Dan, you asked:

-----Do you have a favourite colour, size or shape of balloon to use?

well i do like all balloons but my work its based on lines not on dots so i really prefer the long balloons as i play and play for my self the more easy balloon to play its the 160 because in proportion you have more things to twist out from one balloon...
at same time the factor small in a figure goes linked to the  cute  factor in my opinion, so with the hand in my heart for the others i go for the 160, in second place the 260 of course but let me clarify that i like to use all shapes and sizes, as painting the more different types of lines and sizes of dots more things and better detail can be added...

about color, hum remember as a man my scale of colors in the brain its smaller than normal one so...
taking this in consideration i go for the solid colors,
the "can see though" colors are fun but doesn't give to the creations a felling of solid piece
so from the scale of the solid colors
i like the great scale you can get combining different manufacturers
we are so lucky in those days you can find more than 6 tones of green
and lots of blues and the gamma its really close to the one that a painter can get,
we can even double stuff to create new colors that are not in the normal catalog...
its endless so to choose one lets say White , yes i do love the elegant look of the white figures.


-----Do you have a 'set list' of models or are you willing to take on the limitations of your clients mind?

i know some good artist have but not my self,
some how i love the contact with my audience so i really love to tell then i can do ANYTHING they want,
then depending on the situation i have to offer alternatives and get to a deal with the people that are asking, i will write some examples down
but the fact that they can choose one thing between lots of different models take lots of time and in my opinion makes all the process more slow
at same time in my opinion the people think we as a balloon twisters can do any thing we like , at least i will like it to be that way,
so by showing what you can choose in a book looks a beat like you just learned those designs and work with them but you can not do something out of the book,
some how i love the challenge and i normally manage to make what they ask from me.

here i like to say i do different things when i have a private party than when i am on the street,
when i go to private events as a balloon man i have with me lots of different shapes and colors
so i am ready to twist ANY THING i really make what they ask,
many of the models are not my own designs but that its the reason that took me to travel from congress to congress,
to learn other people designs and make my parties more completed...
so there i am safe but when i go to the street i only have with me

 -260 around 20 different colors
-160 around 17 colors
-350 like 5 colors
-5 inch 6 colors
-11 inch 4 colors

so that let me out of many figures that can be done if you have more material,but keeps the challenge...

as i said some example of the deals with people for changing figure with the Hello KAtty (copy-write problems?),
 i cud take some white hearts and a yellow marker with me and make the easy and fast version,
but some how the marketing that they have behind its so strong that if i make one that becomes the figure of the day and nearly all girls and some boys i must admit... wants the HELLO...

so i offer the people that ask for it that its a really complicated figure that takes me lots of time to get ready so they can have a really nice one even more than one if they like me to be in one of they private parties but in the street it will be better a pinky panther or maybe they like a Mini Mousa... or a Unicorn...(unicorns are free of copy-writes...) just Any thing...and we start again,
 i guess its a personal option but i like the talk with the kids, other option i always give the kids its when they as for a gun, i offer them the laser sword because its a more gentleman weapon, you have to look to the eyes of  your opponent...
 but if they insist in the gun... i offer them a tommy gun (the one from Royal Sorell VHS 1) which can kill more and its same price...


i do that because the gun i make its realistic one so its great for adults but the kids like to play with it and mine its so so realistic that i don´t want the kids to get arrested by the police... most important i like the people to see the balloons and admire what i can do so the bigger the balloon if its nice one the better, that Tommy gun made with black and moka brown its great Thanks to Royal!!!

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

In summer definitely Street Ballooning, I really love the contact with the audience on the same level as me, I mean no stage or high surface that makes a big difference between the performer and the audience.
During the winter period all kind of balloon related things, teaching, deco, birthdays...


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

I really really love street ballooning, so if you have a nice spot with a permit and good weather that would be paradise for me, but if we talk about booked ones I love to make balloons for not-drunk people, honestly, all is fine, I just don't enjoy drunk people asking for naughty things...


---------------14, What irritates you most at a gig?

Not to be treated with respect by the client, I can deal with a respect-less audience, but if the client didn't arrange a place to change clothes and leave my things, or if they don't care about the conditions for me as a person then I do the gig in a bad mood and I am sure it can be felt by the audience, even if I try to do the most professional work I can, no matter what the inside conditions are, I am sure that it affects the final result. One tip to avoid being treated without respect from your clients, it's the fee, if you charge little you will change clothes in the toilet, if your fee is big they will provide you a room to change...
 
 
---------------15, How do you book yourself?

I am a really good friend of myself so normally I don't pay for my own booking... but sometimes when I am not in a good mood I charge even myself for doing balloons... Maybe I got the question wrong, if you mean how can I sell myself, with balloons it's much easer than with magic, with balloons the pictures talk by themselves and take lots of bad competence away, when the client wants what they can see in the pictures then they book me, so my portfolio its the way to open works.

Hi Graham, yea i remember i asked for small ice cream and they took me one that cud had something to do with the titanic disaster....

you are really welcomed, its a big pleasure for me to chat about my passion for the audience and the balloons,
 thanks to you for making this forum work so well!!!

-----About the Top Hat

he he i like you notice the hat.... it comes from a 13 years ago.

 i visited Copenhagen coming down from Sweden in a bus and i stayed there for 3 weeks with a magician,
it was an amazing experience because he knew the classics and i knew the new version of the effects
so we really had a great time for day and night playing and mixing classics and new ways at his beautiful place in an amazing neighborhood
 there i not only learned about effects i did learn allot about character and behavior,
as a magician i really like to show people amazing things,
 and some how a normal human can not make "miracles",
 Dr Bo (its his name) walks always with a top hat and a Caine and from far away you know he is a magician,
i really wanted to try the felling so after look for second hand top hats all around Europe and any hat that i found fits my head (too much megabytes of memory i guess...)i went to Madrid and bayed my first hat in 2002
i felt the effect of becoming a symbol,
since i got it many many things happening to me because of the top hat,
 i had escaped bad situations and i experienced great ones,
 some how i like to make smile people even when i am not working
so with the top hat its clearly a fun thing with out it i might look as a psycho..

 its also a way to let clear that you are not looking to be unseen , i mean if you want to be bad you don´t call the attention
 and a top hat its clearly calling the attention so some how people trust and remember me from the first moment thanks to the hat

 as you know now i am from a small village and i like to be recognize, i don´t mean fame, i just mean i like people and i like people that remembers me, some how makes for me a nicer world around me.
and yes this its just because the hat... i know it might sound strange but i really love the way people react to the hat.

also I'm wearing it so people doesn't collapse for my beautiful face, the top hat calls the attention and they look to my face slower which its the best way to digest something perfect...

i also use it in the show as a way to appreciate or provoke the clapping of the audience,
every time they clap i take the hat of so when i want them to clap i take the hat of and they understand its time to clap,
 i found it much more elegant than asking for the claps ( let me let clear that its too little times i have to ask for it, i most of the times come out of the room on the shoulders of the people with Hurray and Bravos....)

i have to say i had made for me 3 hats until now,
 and the one you see more its done at the same Copenhagen few years after my first visit,
at a factory that produces the famous juggling hats,
i was there and its and amazing place where father and son made all the hats for many artist around the world
 as was seen by the pictures on the walls with nice words for the factory,
 they have a room full of different hats for ladies and one for gentleman i saw them bout and its amazing... really a great place.

i have a smaller top hat for the close up magic that i only use for the performances to keep it more nice!!!

dear Graham i take my hat of for this great forum!!!

-------------19, What road in latex do you see yourself taking in the future

I hope I can keep this amazing way of living from the balloons and the audience, somehow the more I know about this life enterprise, the more I see that it's not easy to have a normal life, I hope I can win some more prizes in future competitions that I participate in and really hope to travel to many countries and share my balloon knowledge there, I love teaching people to do what makes me so happy.


--------20, What is your personal goal when you set off to work? Is it money or to entertain etc?

For sure to entertain people but on top of all to be remembered as a good experience by my audience, to add happiness to people's lives, but to be remembered for that is the goal. In my opinion, to make people have a good time doesn't work if they forget about it the next day, I like to make the time I spend with my audience memorable in all kinds of scenes, street, small parties, stages... to leave a good and long memory in the people is my goal because I also have amazing memories from amazing artists that made my life better: musicians, painters, cooks...


---------21, What are your balloon goals for the future?

Keep twisting and designing nice balloon sculptures, keep sharing and teaching around the globe, work on big scale balloon decors, and unfortunately pay all the bills, sometimes in this industry it's hard to charge money because some great artist will work just for the fun and that makes an unfair competition with colleagues, I really think more artists will manage to live from the art they make with balloons, if no one worked for free. All of us have bills and life expenses so to charge money for your work is for me a sign of respect for the other artists.

--------22, If you could start all over again, would you change anything?

Yes, I would change my attitude about some projects where I helped and I know I had the knowledge to help but the attitude could be different, I did hard work but maybe didn't let the people around me know how much I appreciate to help and the same way the ones that helped me, sometimes I get too focused on the balloon and don't take enough care on not to ask from others the same as I ask from myself...

This is just to give Antonio's website and facebook page a plug as I think he was not going to mention them,

http://globosaltea.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/antonio.becare ... ts&fref=ts

I think this has been a great interview and I've really enjoyed ready the answers and trying to get into Antonio's mind, thanks for taking the time out Antonio, it is appreciated.    

---------26, What inspires or is your thought process in coming up with a new design

To PLAY, I play with balloons every day sometimes just making the things I already know but sometimes just for the fun of play, lots of things come from "just playing" time, in my opinion the mental state that you get when you play, makes you more creative than if you are in a working mentality, when you work, your goal is to get paid and that is great as I said before, we all need that money, but if you only work and don't play with balloons, its really difficult to improve. Let's PLAY!


-------27, Who would you like to work with dead or alive?

I have the luck to have already worked with some of the people I admire but really I would have loved to have the chance to meet David Grist, he was already twisting balloons in heaven before I knew he existed so... same as with the amazing Arturo de Ascanio (Spanish magic prodigious mind) those two, I really miss the chance to shake their hands.


--------28, What makes you laugh?

Phew, many things as many things make me cry, I think I am too sensitive, I enjoy the fun of life but I also suffer the pain and this is the unique way I have to live my life with a full scale of emotions that make me feel alive and I tell you, the happier you can get, the sadder you can get too, I mean, if you stay in the safe zone where there is no full happiness, you will not be fully sad either but we are here to live and living is an experience of contrasts and emotions, as my well loved friend Pantano said to me one really sad time: Antonio you need the rain for getting the flowers, just sun will not make a nice garden, it's really nice the sun, but be happy to have some rain sometimes because it will make your flowers nicer, I hope this fable is understandable for the readers, try to get as much sun as you can in your live but don't worry if it's raining time, just remember it will make the flowers nicer after the rain.

Thanks Antonio for being our guest Star, and for sharing with us!
Lisa