Besides an instructional CD-ROM on Balloon Art, Twisted Mind is also a tribute — a collection of ideas and techniques I learned from fellow balloon artists, with a few twists of my own to transform them into my own designs.
I started twisting in June 1999, at an internet chat meeting (which had nothing to do with balloons). I met a twister who happened to bring a few balloons. We got together after that and he taught me the basics. After playing for a while, the basics weren't enough! I bought books and looked up photos and information on the internet. Since I was almost immediately introduced to multi-balloon figures through the internet, they quickly had my attention.
I use two main sources for balloon information on the web: BalloonHQ, the most comprehensive collection of balloon information on the web; and the Yahoo Balloon Twister Club — a great source with a friendly, worldwide jam-session atmosphere. I am proud to be a member of both.
I was also introduced to the international balloon twister society: Twister — a professional organisation solely dedicated to the art of balloon modeling. I became a member right away.
My thanks go to Johan Lambooij for introducing me to balloon art; Ken Stillman whose workshop gave me a true first insight into creating multi-balloon figures; Leo Verlinden for last-minute help and support in distribution. A thank you also to all the writers of the books I learned so much from, and to Larry, Sheena, Mark and all the volunteers who contributed to BalloonHQ. An extra thank you goes to Larry Moss for first introducing the book-on-CD medium to the balloon artists world and letting me use his copyright notice.
My last thanks go to the people I love in my surroundings — thank you for saying "ooh and aah" at my first attempts at creating ugly deformed outerspace doggies.