How a fun hobby became a career
Owner has tied balloons for corporate events and kids for 23 years
How many twists are required to tie off a balloon animal? It may look like a thousand, but balloon animal artist Debbie Stevens, who set up a booth at this year’s Buskerfest, makes it look effortless.
And it actually takes more like three twists to tie off a small balloon dog.
It took less than a minute for the 23-year balloon-tying veteran to teach me how to tie off a balloon animal at Woodbine Park on Sunday afternoon. It took me about three times as long to fumble my way through, but I left her booth with a metallic purple ... something. (“Maybe an anteater?” she suggested.)
Stevens picked up a book at the library on balloon-tying “and started doing it just as a little hobby,” she said in front of her Buskerfest tent.
Business “boomed” and two or three years after she started her company, the Twisted Ones, “it became a full-time business, and I got so busy that I brought in my husband.”
Her children, having grown up around balloons, followed in her footsteps instead of working at McDonald’s as teens.
Stevens usually performs at corporate events, festivals and fairs, noting that her clients are “mostly downtown Toronto.”
When asked what the hardest balloon animal to tie is, Stevens looked puzzled — “I don’t think there would be the hardest balloon animal!” she said — before turning to the elaborate dresses that she builds out of balloons.
“They’re anywhere from a simple dress that would take eight hours, to a dress that I’ve done for weddings and competitions which take 70 to 80 hours,” she said. A book in front of the tent showcased her creations, which range from a replica Harley-Davidson motorcycle to a delicate replica of a costume from Swan Lake.
Just outside Stevens’s tent, a towering purple dragon was swarmed with children. From a distance, it appeared to be freestanding, but closer inspection revealed Stevens’s husband, Donald, controlling the dragon like a puppet. He was surrounded by the structure, which was hoisted up on his shoulders and controlled by thin batons in his hands. “For some reason, children love balloons and as soon as you show up, you’re the busiest thing at the event,” Stevens said.
Many children posed for photos beside the dragon, although one small girl started screaming at the sight of it lumbering over towards the booth. One boy asked for a photo and Donald eagerly agreed.
“Stand right here!” he instructed. He bent over, the mouth of the dragon hovering over the boy’s head. “OK,” he said. “Scream!”
Owner of the Twisted Ones started balloon tying as a hobby until it “boomed” and became full-time work