Back in the early days of the World Wide Web, before “social media” was even a phrase anyone used, I built BalloonHQ.com. I was both the developer and the community leader of a vibrant, global balloon artist community. There were no Facebooks or Instagrams yet, just email lists, forums, and a treasure trove of over … Read more
I have always been fascinated with flight. As a kid, I did all the usual things. I built paper airplanes, flew kites, and launched model rockets. Somewhere along the way, I also started designing my own paper planes, then balsa wood gliders. What I didn’t expect was that it would lead me to build a 25-foot-tall piloted octopus out of latex balloons.
Back in 1999, I knew I found my tribe when T Jam, the first balloon twisting convention, took place. For years, there had been talk of creating this event. It hadn’t happened previously because no one wanted to spend the money to produce a convention that wasn’t guaranteed to be successful. There was interest — … Read more