My boyfriend has roped my into an argument. I love learning new designs and he has been adamant that I should practice the same few designs all day, every day. That you can only ever perfect a few things, so why learn new things? I have agreed that practicing the fundamentals and practicing daily is vital, but I will not sit around practicing one balloon dogs all day long when I already know how to do it. I'm very OCD about my designs. I do intermediate to advanced designs. So my work is consistent. So do I need to practice only the same few things all day, every day? Or is it o.k. for me to learn new things?

Hi Robyn,
You will need to take my perspective, with a grain of salt, because we all approach life from different experiences, and perspectives.
I think it is important to practice every day.
I don't think you should be limited to only the same few things.
I practice those items that I haven't used for a while, to keep up my muscle memory. So if I haven't made Buster's 2 x heart mermaid, I will practice it to keep it fresh in my memory.
BUT!!!
I also like to learn new models and techniques. Therefore, there needs to be a balance of learning new models, and reviewing (practicing) established models. How you do that, and the balance of old versus new will be up to you.
I find as I learn new models and techniques, it has benefit in making me better at the 'old' models as well.
Sometimes a new model will reveal a different way of approaching a model that I already know, and open doors for new ways to achieve existing models.
My perspective is just that - MY perspective. <grin> Just because it works for me, does not mean you have to embrace it.
Kind Regards
Baz

Thank you, You see my argument was there are specific designs I don't need to practice at home because I do them dozens of times a week at gigs and I do them without having to even think about it because I know them like the back of my hand. And my boyfriend who is a magician believes it takes 100,000 hours to be an expert at anything. But I don't have to make a shark 100,000 times to be happy with it. He disagrees. We have arguments some couples can't even imagine because of what we do, lol. It's anything but boring.

Arise at 3 AM daily, climb to the top of the mountain, as the sun comes up make an edelweiss flower.

If you see the spirit of Buster Balloon you have reached Zen, if not continue to practice until midnight.

Only then can you reach the path of true enlightenment.

Or....you can do what works for you and your boyfriend can keep working on his double lifts and top changes.

By the way, the 10,000 hours is from the book Outliers (not 100,000).

If your boyfriend practices eight solid hours, five days a week it would take him over 48 YEARS to get 100,000 hours of practice in.


I'd just love to have coffee with you both of you guys 'cause the very fact that you are having this discussion makes you sound like my kind of people. :O)

I give him this, he is old school and relentlessly tough on himself. He is so much better than he knows. But sometimes he makes me want to pull my hair out.

Pull his hair out instead....why should you have bald spots?

He's trying to approach balloon twisting from a Magician's perspective... Its a completely different game. I rehearse the same 20 magic routines until I can't do them wrong, but with balloons, I'm always pushing my boundaries. Yes, learn those basic figures and learn them well. BUT, if you don't continuously push yourself to try new figures, you'll get left behind and you'll become one of the twisters we sometimes hear about that "aren't nearly as good as you"...

I personally practice very rarely, at least In the traditional sense. If I make a figure once then I can see it from all angles in my mind and from there I can recreate it just by seeing a 3d picture in my head. Sure you can practice speed but that comes with time naturally. Focus on entertaining.

On the other hand I do practice certain twists. Sometimes I feel like my balloon spiral around the fingers is getting sloppy. I want a tighter spring so I sit down and do a dozen or so until it feels right. Same with the side wall bubble. I don't want to look like a moron struggling to grab ahold a 646 sidewall in front of an audience so I bought a whole bag of 646s just to practice that one twist. It is not something I do every day but if I feel like my hands need a refresher every couple months I may crack a bag open.

The true secret is just to go out and work. It has been said a million times but really people expect nothing of you. When they think of balloons they don't expect you to have filled your life with 100000 hours of practice and to create the most amazing thing they have ever seen. They want the one balloon dog. Do any better then that and you will be the best they have ever seen. Let your motivation to top yourself be your drive, not your boyfriend.


Dylan Gelinas
http://www.slightlytwistedballoons.com

LOl, Thanks guys. It was satisfying to show these responses to him. He is afraid I'm making a beginners mistake of learning too much, too fast. But I've been doing balloon twisting full time for about a year now and I have around 100 designs under my belt. But for the first few months I just focused on around 15-20, then I dived in. I like big, detailed balloons, and I always want to learn something new. So far I've not hit my capacity for what I can remember. He just sees things from a magicians point of view on practicing, which, like Sam said, is a different game.

Yes! I just got a "You were right." Sweet victory! I've finally made him understand.

I'm late to the conversation, but I'll offer my view anyway. I see magic like Big Band; all charted and arranged. Very planned and nothing out of order. I see twisting more like Jazz. Learn the riffs and go. I might do 10 monkeys in a row and, while it is obvious they are all monkeys, no two are identical.

Paul great way to describe it!

While you're re-forming your outlook you might want to think about your twisting from a different paradigm and see what happens - for instance, if you're just trying to please a party full of kids or a picnic, you only need a sword and a bunny ... that's all (you'll be asked for very little else all day). Where does that thought leave you?

I love the comparison of balloon twisting to jazz. Well put!

Sounds like you have a fun and helpful relationship! If you are going to put in practice time don't forget to pratice patter and schtick. Depending on how and where you balloon a good story or joke can be a great way to enhance any creation.