1) How long / How did you get started twisting balloons?
I've always been the type of person to take something apart to find out how it works. The problem with this is I've went thru about half a dozen watches in grade school because I never got the put back together part right. Around the mid 1980's, I took apart my first balloon poodle to see how to make one (I did manage to put this one back together). I then took about a 12-year break from balloons, until my mom was a waitress at a restaurant that had a balloon twister named Rick Mohr, The Balloon Man. My mom ordered a balloon twisting kit with books, balloons, and a hand pump for my sister from a home shopping T.V. show. While visiting my parents house, I saw the fresh package and it's contents; I immediately took the books hostage and started twisting away. I began visiting Rick every week and bought more books and balloons. Alot of practice, thousands of popped balloons, buying several other books and CD-ROMS, dozens of meetings and jam sessions with Rick The Balloon Man and other twisters, WAY TOO MUCH time on my hands, and over 9 years later; I'm where I'm at today.

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2) How many balloon animals do you do?
I have no idea how many designs I can make, (evertime I try to count how many I do, I forget what I can make). I do know it's well over 500 extremely detailed animals, characters, and other designs; and the list just keeps getting longer. I think I've forgotten more animals than alot of balloon artists know.

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3) Is there anything you can't do?
I can't seem to pick the winning lottery numbers for some reason. As for balloon animals, since I don't have a list or menu of items I'll do, I frequently have people who try to stump me (that request is almost always a Duck Billed Platypus). The only time I can't do a balloon is if I can't think of what the animal looks like, or the design will take way too long to do at that location. I also haven't branched off into making various breeds of dogs or types of fish. Most of the time if I can't think of what to do for a request I might be able to create that item within a week.

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4) How do you remember all those animal designs?
I've managed to forget everything else I've ever learned, (I can't remember names, birthdays, phone numbers, shopping lists, or anything else). In the event of a animal request I haven't done in a while, I'll have to think a few seconds on how to make it. If I still can't remember I'll create that animal in a different way, (sometimes the new way even looks better).

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5) What is your favorite design?
I don't have a specific design/ animal that I like more than others, but I might have a liking to the most recent design that I've came up with at that time, or one that I haven't done in a while.

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6) What is the most popular request?
The animal I make the most (unintentionally) is the worm. Boys usually request dinosaurs, swords, dogs, and frogs. Girls ask for flowers, cats, rabbits, dogs, and giraffes. Most of the time I get the "I'll have what they got request."
On the "Stump the Balloon-A-Tic" requsts list, the most popular are:
1)Duck Billed Platypus
2)Aardvark/ Anteater no picture yet
3)Amadillo no picture yet and
4)Kangaroo

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7) Are they special balloons?
You can twist any balloon and all balloons can pop; the only difference is that you need to keep an area of balloon under inflated for air displacement, and also limit the friction between the two separate twisted balloon halves. The balloons that I mainly use are 260Q's, or 2 inches wide and 60 inches long, entertainer grade latex (a better grade of latex).

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8) Do you teach how to do balloon animals?
I've taught a small group a grade school students from 3rd thru 6th grades, some other children who have had a start on twisting, and also my dad and my son. I'm soon to be working on an intermediate to advanced level book and/ or CD ROM. Till then I've started working on a Balloon Instructions page. As of right now all I have are instructions on how to make my Monkey balloon animal.

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9) Are you a clown?
Well, if you ask my friends, family, and co-workers they will say yes; If you're asking about twisting balloons as a clown, then the answer is no. I found that a lot of children (and adults) are frightened by clowns, and the makeup also rubs off while blowing up the balloons.

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10) Why don't you use a pump?
Blowing the balloons up by mouth is more impressive especially if you have any hecklers, (just hand them an uninflated balloon). After about 5 minutes later they usually change their tune.

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11) Why don't you draw on your balloons?
The majority of the creations I make are without markings because:
1) An imagination can produce a far better face on a balloon than any marker or paint pen can.
2) I make my balloon animals detailed enough that the head/ face area of the balloon is already implied.
3) In the event of a large crowd, you can cut the time it takes to create that animal or use that time to make a better looking representation of the animal you're making.
(4) Less of a mess to rub off of the balloon.
I use a marker on my balloon animals when it adds something extra special like the Monkey, Caterpillar, or when essential like the Tiger or Zebra. When I do use a marker it is a DRY ERASE MARKER for use on a whiteboard. I thought it was insane that a marker that rubs of a laminated surface is permanetly bonded to a balloon, but I found this type of marker to work better than any permanent marker or paint pen out there.

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12) What are your influences?
Any balloon twister that I meet and can steal, I mean borrow ideals from. I'm not sure who the twister is that I got the poodle from that I dissected to find out how to make it, but the books My mom bought was a two book, balloons, and pump kit with the books Balloon Animals © Apr88 and Balloon Cartoons and Other Favorites © Sep91 both by Aaron Hsu-Flanders. The balloon animals in these books are extremely basic in design and may lead to criticism by the balloon hecklers. Even though some of the pictures are sometimes out of contrast and hard to follow I still managed to get a good start in balloon twisting. About two weeks later I started visiting Rick Mohr, The Balloon Man once a week. It was here that I learned that a balloon animal can actaully look like the animal it's supposed to be. Not only did he show me new designs but, I also learned tips on how to create new animals and that twisting balloons can be more than just a hobby. The second book I bought was Captain Visual's Big Book of Balloon Art! A Complete Book of Balloonology for Beginers and Advaced Twisters © Dec95 Gerry Giovinco. This book uses easy to follow diagrams and instructions with designs that as the title states range from beginnier to more advanced animals. The skill level starts at a Beginer level (someone who hasn't picked up a balloon yet, or doesn't know all the twists), to Intermediate level (a twister who knows most of, if not all of the basic twists, and might possibly start creating their own animals). I think this book is the best book for beginning twisters out there. The next Book I got was Marvin Hardy's Balloon Magic. This hardcover version contains step by step directions and photographs that are most of the time easy to follow and range from beginner to intermediate skill levels. Most of the animals in this book are very good in design and detail and I use alot of them still with little or no improvement in the designs. I then subscribed to Balloon Magic the Magazine. This monthly magazine contains new designs, pictures submited by other artists, balloon routines, book reveiws, magic tricks, and spotlights on other artists to name a few of the regularly featured items. After a couple of years of experimenting and inventing my own designs I bought the CD-ROM Balloonicature - The Many Faces of Balloon Art © 2000 Larry Moss. This format contains the best of all worlds from books to videos. It contains full color pictures, text, and videos in a web browser format so it's easy to use. The designs contained are all caricatures, (no hats or animals) and are explained easy enough for someone with some balloon knowledge to get started. This CD-ROM doesn't give you step by step, must follow directions but, it gives you the spices and ingredients needed to create you own designs. This is my favorite format for learning balloon twisting although I haven't tried any videos yet. I liked Larry Moss' CD-ROM so much, I bought his Attack of the 50 Foot Demon © 1999 by Fooled Ya! CD-ROM explaining how to twist multiple balloons into a fabrics to make HUGE designs. This CD-ROM explains the multiple ways of creating balloon fabrics into different geometric shapes, i.e. flat sheets: a "plaited" sheet made of balloons, cylinders: a tube, spheres: a ball, along with any other geometric shape. This CD-ROM is a must have for any twister who would like to create super huge balloon creations and invent them on their own. The next book I bought was The Inflatable Crown Balloon Hat Kit © 2001 Addi Somekh. This book laid out in a step by step color photographs and directions layout is easily followed by beginers and has material usefull for even some intermediate and advanced twisters. Addi went on a 3 year tour of the world with alot of balloons, his camera toting friend Charlie Eckert, and the ideal that laughter is an international language and a balloon hat is the interpreter. I have specialized in detailed balloon animals so this book was a lifesaver when I got a job at a cajun style resturant during Marti-Gras. I then purchased the CD-ROM Twisted Mind © Hans Siemons. This CD-ROM is formated in a web browser format with still pictures, full motion videos, and text instructions. This is a great CD-ROM for beginers and advanced twisters alike. It contains great designs, a full list of twists with videos, and a full section on how to twist latex doctor gloves into designs and animals. The last CD-ROM I've bought was from the inventer of the Art Twist, Arthur Tivoli's Ballooneries © Arthur Tivoli. This CD-ROM has pictures and diagrams on how to create some of his fabulous stuff. Not to many written instructions, but the menus are in French and English. Not recomended for beginers, but it's great for intermediate and advanced twisters.

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