Another week at the market

I had another great morning at Kuraby Market yesterday. Started with a cool morning and warmed up as the day went by, but not so hot that we can't breathe. :)

It is our Ekka week here, where farmers bring in their cattle to the showgrounds for display. There are many more things to do at the Ekka showgrounds, but I won't touch on that. Anyway, I made myself a sheep for this week and it sat happily on my head, greeting the children as they come along. Used the design from ChiTwist on youtube.

I was fascinated by the fact that people were willing to wait in line for a balloon and how well-behaved they are! There were a few children who were on their own and wanted a balloon, but I always asked if their parents were around and I would like mum or dad to be present to confirm and pay for the balloons. Some parents were seated at the dining area and they'd give a nod or a wave when their children point out to them.

Had a few interesting children who wanted interesting balloons. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to pull out my phone to take photos.

So there was this girl who wanted Rose from Despicable Me. I can’t make it so I suggested a ballerina, to which she wanted to have blue clothes and red hair. I then suggested Ariel from The Little Mermaid and she was happy to receive one. The next girl wanted a mermaid too. But she wanted one with pink skin and purple tail. I was uncomfortable as I made it, but she was excited to receive it the way she wanted it!

Minions from Despicable Me was the greatest hit! Made about 12 that morning and everyone just stood there patiently waiting for theirs! Gave one to a church mate who took it walking around the market for publicity! :)

Very happy to see friends stop by for a chat that morning. Really helped to calm my nerves! Had a friend from church come and help and I learnt a few techniques and designs from him. There’s always something new to learn!

I look forward to the next one in September and hope to bring smiles to all who stop by!

Gifting to businesses

I enjoy making a balloon for a business that I have used to say 'thank you'. Most of the time it's a restaurant, but the last three I made were for different businesses.

This monkey on a horse was for Farmcraft, a farmers' shop where I got my chickens and feed from. They gave it to a driver whose daughter loves, or rather, is mad over horses.

This kitty sat at Malaysia Makanan, an eatery we enjoy going to. The food they serve taste the closest to the Singapore/Malaysia local dishes. I usually leave a balloon for an eatery if the food and service is good.

And this ladybug on a wheelbarrow was for the builders who spent a whole week tearing down and building up this new colourbond fence and concreting the retaining wall. They're a fun-loving bunch, singing, listening to music and chatting away while they worked. Very young, but quick and experienced.

A great way for me to say thanks and show my appreciation. How do you thank the businesses that have served you well?

Market debut!

Today marked the day where I debuted at a local market. Kuraby Farmers Markets. Set up starts at 5am and I was up at 4:15am.

Stomach churned all night long with feelings of anxiety, nervousness, uncertainty, excitement all going on at once.

I had everything packed, but overnight, I couldn't decide whether to put up fixed price menus or just put a price range for people to put whatever amount they wish.

Somehow I was convinced to use the price range method for the day.

Got the the market in time, set everything up and was ready for customers. The early ones at 6am were mostly grandparents or early mums. Nobody took any notice of me, even though I was right at the entrance. Had a few friends pop by and I was glad to have some familiar faces to talk to.

I was sitting around taking my own sweet time to make balloon sculpture for the first 3 1/2 hours. First customer came just after 9:30am and the children crowd arrived about 10:30am.

The crowd at the market were very nice. Very patient and accommodating. Had a few lovely families chat about balloons while their children watched. One family sat down near me and two of the children just watched as I twisted and they'd ask questions along the way.

I had a fun day. The most popular designs were the spiderman followed by the sword. Here're some photos of the setup :

This is my table and shade early in the morning.

  I saw a hotdog sculpture on Patricia Balloona's blog and thought I'd make one today too. Most people near me were eating their hotdog buns and I wanted one for myself too. After I made it, many people recognised it as a hotdog and were tickled by it. A lady came by and asked for the hotdog for her husband's birthday tonight! Happy birthday to the husband, I hope he enjoyed it!

 

 This pretty young lady was one of my favourite items today.

Wall-E

Had a request for a Wall-E and made this little guy with youtube instructions from Michael Floyd of balloon-animals.com. If you're interested in learning more about balloon twisting, he has many instructional videos on the website.

Love the smiles and excitement on faces when they receive a balloon. I was called a 'sweetie' when he had to go home and I had to smile and his pure innocence. :)

The Rainbow Fish

Have you read the story "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister? It's a lovely book about sharing and giving up what we treasure most.

It tells about a very beautiful fish in the sea with shiny scales named the Rainbow Fish. One day, a little blue fish came along and asked the Rainbow Fish for one of his scales but was rejected flatly. The little blue fish went and told his friends and no other fish wanted anything to do with the beautiful fish. He was sad and a starfish told him to go and find the wise octopus. And guess what? The wise octopus told the Rainbow Fish to give away his scales, which he did reluctantly at first.  But he soon found out that even though he's not the most beautiful fish anymore, he's the happiest.

So, anyway, the playgroup which I attend with my 2y.o. rostered me  (we are rostered for stories, crafts, morning tea and devotion btw..) to tell a story on sharing and "The Rainbow Fish" was one of the story books I was given.

I enjoyed the story and thought that I'll balloon it to tell the story. So, here it is, photos of the story...

It was fun telling the story with balloons! It's a good story to use with balloons too. Everyone gets a balloon to bring back.

A ninjago and a mermaid

A few weeks ago one of my daughter's schoolmates asked for a ninjago. A gold ninjago. Me and legos? hmm... Well, I went onto the search engines and searched for gold ninjago to have an idea of what it looks like.

This was what I made for him. After I have finished, I could hardly tell what is what and it look just like a big blob of gold balloons. But when he looked into the delivery bag he recognised it straight away and went off showing it to his mates!

Made this mermaid after seeing pictures of it made by many other balloon twisters and wanted to try my hand at it. The first time I made it was two days ago at the park with my girls while they played. I don't usually like to make balloons while other children are around, but it just so happened that a family of 4 (mum, dad, 2y.o. and a baby) with 2 dogs came to play and I gave it to them when I had finished. Strangely, the 2 y.o. girl wasn't interested, but the mum was. This goes to show that even adults enjoy balloons as much as children do!

After the polite thank yous, the mum commented that she likes the bikini. :) And I get to hand out a name card. Bonus! I hope you like her too. And her bikini.

Bride and Groom

This is the first time I've attempted to make a bride and groom out of balloons. Actually, out of anything. It was a fun experience and a rather challenging one for me. Looked at quite a lot of other balloon brides and grooms online and had an idea of what they should look like.

As with all other skills, the more one practices, the better one gets. I think I do get better at every twist, but for my skill level now and my understanding of how balloons work, this couple was a challenge.

From the imagining to actually making them gave me lots to think about and calculate. They didn't come out as how I had imagined, but close enough.

Gave it a first go to see how it look. You can't quite see the hairdo of the bride here, but it was very sparse. And they don't stand very well. But I love the way I can make the faces touch as though they were kissing! My husband said that the groom's hat will look better if it was a top hat.

 

 And this is the FINAL product for our friends who were wedded over the weekend! I'm so in love with this couple! Made a top hat as my husband suggested and some other minor changes.

I'm thankful for search engines and balloon twisters all over the world who have shared their photos! They have certainly made life a lot easier for me in making this wedding couple.