We understand that you are also a balloon artist. Can you tell us about that?
Writers rarely make enough to pay the bills from writing alone, and I am no exception. I have a “day job” as a balloon sculptor. It began 20 years ago when I was a musician and the company “Balloons to You” hired me out of college as a singer to perform at parties. My plan was to be a starving writer, artist, and musician. Over the years the company morphed into its present incarnation as designers and decorators. We no longer do musical performances at all (though I still perform as a singer at small venues and conventions). Instead we are now part of what we call “a tiny ma and pa international balloon company”. Our company only has a handful of balloon artists, but over the years we have done work for several presidents, including our current leader, and have worked in many countries, including Russia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, and Britain. Before 9-11, we traveled all over the country doing special balloon sculptures for companies like American Airlines. We travel a lot less now, but I am still on call 24/7 except when I am at an SF convention or a diving trip.
Most of our work is for trade shows, shopping malls, and special events with designs consisting primarily of vaulting arches and columns made of individual balloons, but we can sculpt almost anything out of balloons. I have to mention that these are very large sculptures–not the little balloon animals most people think of. Over the years I have made many tin soldiers, Christmas trees, helicopters, pink poodles, ice cream sundaes, and high heeled shoes. I have also made the flags from many nations. Britain has one of the most difficult flags to render in balloons. My average speed when working with a team member off an air blower is approx 1200 balloon per hour. My speed with helium is slower because we have to change out the empty helium tank every 500 balloons or so.
My best friend and I used to joke that we would quit doing balloons as soon as we published our first book. Well, both of us now have several books out and we are both still doing balloons to make ends meet. My boss jokes that he has the most famous balloon crew in the business because two of us are writers, one is a Broadway performer, and one was the inspiration for a 1970s cartoon character. None of that saves us from having to spend the night installing the sculptures in a shopping mall.
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