T Myers Magic

A big thank you to those who participated in this month’s balloon contest! We were awed by the participation and have posted some of the pictures on our MySpace page. CONGRATULATIONS Cédric Perret, this month’s winner! This bunny sculpture was an instant hit in the office. Cedric is new to our contests and all the way from

Switzerland

! Welcome Cédric - we wish you continued success and the very best of luck!

Let’s do another contest! This one’s a little different - an exciting one dealing with our special guest of the month, the one and only Vicky Kimble! NO SCULPTURES necessary - just solve the puzzle that's in the following paragraphs! The first 2 contestants to send in the correct answer will receive a very special prize**! Email all entries to photos@tmyers.com, but remember – the first two correct answers win, so don’t wait.

Want to know the secret to making new friends at a convention? It’s simple - ask an entertainer how they got started in this crazy business of ours, then sit back and watch the magic begin! We all come from different backgrounds and are all at different skill levels, but one thing we all have in common is our passion for what this medium can do. The people it can affect and the places it can take you are limitless.

I got my start as a Twister while recovering from a middle school basketball injury and being laid up on my couch for 3 weeks straight. My mom bought me one of those books with 20 different beginning sculptures, a palm pump, and a bag of 30 balloons. When she came home that evening, there was a mutant zoo filling our living room, and I had a new love for latex! It probably wasn’t the outcome she’d expected, but a great one none the less.

Some people (like Tom) get started twisting after they’ve tried other forms of entertainment and realize that twisting is the one that fills the hat the quickest. Others see latex as an artistic medium with limitless possibilities and how it can be used. Whatever your reason are, we all have one huge thing in common - we all had the courage to pick up that first balloon and start twisting, and what makes it so intriguing are the reasons why.

Vicky Kimble is in the top of our field. She is a speaker, a twister, a creator, a mother and an award winning artist. I asked her the million dollar question of how she got started in this business. She was kind enough to give me this excellent reply: by “LIVING A DREAM!” I then asked what she had always dreamt of doing while growing up. “I had no clue. I have always believed that eVerything happens for a reason. This is my journey and the paths that put me on the road that I’m on today.”

My name is Vicky Kimble and for those of you who don’t know me, I have been workIng in the balloon industry for the past deCade. In thinKing about how I arrived to where I am todaY, it has been a fascinating trip (so far).

Let me start way back . . . I grew up in Southern CalIfornia where I earned My living as a professional makeup artist. I did this for five years, and oddly enough, I got out of the Business, onLy to work as a bookkeepEr for a C.P.A. This probably all soundS a bit sTrange, (and it Was!!) but It all doeS come togeTher, evEntually.

In 1987, I met my husbanD. We were married in 1988, and in 1990 we packed up the two cats in the Camaro, hitched on the U-Haul and moved to Ohio. For the next ten yearS, I becamE a professionAl wife and mother of our twin boyS. The pay was lousy but the rewards were great!! The day our bOys started school full-time, my husbaNd asked me what I was going to do all day. Since he waS not content just to haVe me stay at hOme and compLete entire sentences withoUt interruption, I began my quest for a source of incoMe.

Since I am passionatE about my faith, I began a Christian children’s ministry doing stage shOws. One day, while shopping at my local grocery store, I looked in a clearaNce cart at the floral dEpartment. It was there that I found a bag oF white 260s. Thinking it would be a cool thing to add to my repertoire (if I could do it), I got a book from the librarAry on twisting. This was the beginning of my love affair with baLLoons!!

OkAy, now what? Well, I did what a lot of people do when they waNt to find something...I lookeD in the phone book under “balloons”. It was there that I found agents who hired balloon twisters. Feeling confident of my abilities, I called one. The agent asked me, “Can you dress like a clown?” Ahhhhh, now here’s Where all the other things came together. I had theatrIcal makeup background to do clown makeup and I was born with a goofy personality!! Having worked for a C.P.A., I had the bookkeeping skills to start my own company. So I registered a company name and began subcontracting for every reputable agent in the area.

Work was going very well, but I am a firm believer that we should never stop learNing. Therefore, I went to every seminar that I could and completed the CBA course offered by Qualatex, never really aspiring to become the hybrid mutant that I am today, known as a deco-twister!!

In expanding my education, I also began to find my niche as a balloon artist. I wanted to be recognized more for my work rather than my persona, so I evenTually shed the clown makeup and costume, but alas. I still have the goofy personality!!

My friend and colleague, Steve Jones encouraged me to attend IBAC and compete, so I did. Not only was I taking classes and learning from some of the best in the world, I was also competing with them!! (No pressure...)

I first competed in 2002, and once I did, I really got the fevEr!! I attended and competed at several conventions (even winning a few!!) and in 2006, I was blessed with the title of Top TwisteR at Twist and ShOut.

Nowadays, I do eNtertainment, decor, deLiverY pieces, educational programs and teach my BALLOOSION techniques and sculptures at conventions and on DVDs with AeraDeco Video.

I’m always looking forwArd to whaT’s down the road. Each paTh is a new and exciting adventure. This is an aMazing industrY filled with such increEdibly waRm and talented people alwayS willing to share their Many gifts. I can’t wAit to see where the road leads, the new friends I’ll make, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll have the opportunity to create somethinG new under the sun.

Vicky Kimble will be teaching at Diamond Jam ½ and at Balloon Camp 2008 in Las Vegas, NV. All of her highly praised DVD’s are for sale at TMyers.com. View Vicky’s website at www.incrediballoons.com or contact her at vickykimble@balloonhq.com.

We are giddy with thanks to all of you who have gotten in touch with us about articles and photos; keep ‘em coming! We are only days away from taking the “T Myers on the Road” store ON THE ROAD! James Caldwell and I will be at Diamond Jam ½, Balloon Camp and Learn & Play all this month, covering Las Vegas and the Bay Area, CA! Stop by and say hello if you are at any of these great conventions.

Be sure to stop in to read next month’s newsletter when we will have some exciting news from the road, more articles and another big surprise. And, as always . . .

* By emailing your photo you are agreeing that T Myers Magic Inc. has permission to post your picture on the websites listed above. T Myers Magic Inc. will not use these photos for any other purpose without the consent of the contestants.