A LOCAL resident has been acclaimed for his handiwork at a major balloon convention in the United States.
Longtime Kinallen resident Darren Mortiboy is a balloon artist who makes unique balloon creations and sculptures.
“I have recently just returned after winning the Entertainers award at a convention in the entertainment capital of the world – Las Vegas!,” Darren said.
Darren received the Entertainers award for balloon professionals at the Bling Bling Jam balloon convention in Nevada, USA, in mid-July. To win the award, he had to make multiple balloon creations in a short amount of time.
“You have 10 minutes, you have five people to make balloons for and while you are doing it, you entertain them,” he said.
“I came away with the top prize. It was really great to win that.”
This was Darren’s first time in Las Vegas and his first time attending this convention.
“The whole vibe, the whole atmosphere, it made it a brilliant event for those who attended,” he said.
“It’s the entertainment capital of the world. Where else would you want to win an entertainment award?”
In addition to entertaining people with his balloons, Darren was also an instructor at the convention, teaching classes based on his own balloon designs to other convention-goers.
“I was selected to teach at the convention four classes of my unique balloon creations, alongside other international balloon instructors from around the world,” he said.
Some of the classes he taught were: balloons that can be made in under three minutes, balloon vehicles, and intermediate balloon skills using a variety of techniques.
Darren is originally from England, but has been resident in Northern Ireland for almost three decades.
“I met my wife and moved over here about 29 years ago,” he said.
Darren’s main job is as Mr Twister Balloons, where he does everything balloon-related from performing at special events to making smaller balloon creations for gifts as well as giant balloon sculptures for public places.
“I design my own balloons and create my own balloons,” he said.
“I do birthdays, weddings, events, I do delivery pieces and the big sculptures that you might see in shopping centres.”
Darren first got into the balloon business in 2014.
“It was purely by accident,” he said.
He and his wife were socializing with friends who said that the balloon entertainer for their child’s party had just cancelled. Darren volunteered to fill in as a one-time thing to help make the party a success.
“I went on YouTube and learned a few balloon designs,” he said.
That first party went so well that other people started asking Darren to come do balloons at their events.
“It just snowballed into this mad ride that I have been on for the last 10 years,” he said.
As Mr Twister Balloons, Darren has won multiple awards and has had the chance to do some travelling to attend entertainment and balloon conventions and to teach balloon classes.
He has also appeared on the children’s TV programme ‘Blue Peter’ for an episode, where he built a hot air balloon and a replica of the Blue Peter ship out of balloons in the studio. He also travelled to Madrid, Spain, to create special balloon characters for a Canadian commercial.
“I’ve had some unique jobs. It’s been really fun,” he said.
He has also created some balloons for local council events, the NI Science Festival and various local venues.
Darren said he really enjoys his job. He said that at a normal job people don’t tell you all the time that you are doing a good job. But he often gets nice comments from people on his balloon skills and sculptures.
“It’s instant gratification,” he said.
“It’s a rewarding job.”
He said that he gets his ideas for his balloon sculptures from things he sees in everyday life, such as a cartoon character or a toy or vehicle.
“Just anything that stimulates something in my mind that makes me think, ‘I can turn this into a balloon,’” he said.
He said he often will wake up in the middle of the night with an idea for a new balloon sculpture. Darren said he likes to make new balloon sculptures and then see how his wife and two daughters react to them to see if he should include them in his upcoming projects.
He said that with medium sized sculptures, he can build them in pieces and transport them to the location in his car, but with the mega sized ones he builds them at the location so that people can watch him as he works.
“It’s almost like a theatre show,” Darren said.
He said that the balloons rarely pop, but that if one does, he uses a special technique called “balloon weaving” so that he can easily replace a piece if he needs to.
“I can fix the little section,” he said. “It’s easy to repair.”
Darren’s balloon creations usually last about two weeks until they start to deflate.
“It’s temporary art. It’s not something you can keep forever, unfortunately,” he said.
Darren is looking forward to the next few months as he has balloon-related trips planned to Poland, the Netherlands, the United States again and the British Balloon Bash, a convention for balloon artists in Blackpool, England.
To find Darren on social media, he is @mrtwisterballoons on Instagram and @mr_twister_ni on TikTok.
Darren said he has been making many balloon videos on TikTok lately, so if people leave him a comment or suggestion as to what he should make next out of balloons, he might make that item or character in one of his upcoming TikTok videos.
