MJ: Hi Tzipora! Can you tell me how you learned to be a balloon artist?

Tzipora: Sure! I’ve always been creative: I like doing things with my hands. I even learned how to be a florist. Then a friend mentioned that she’d heard of a course on balloon sculpting. I thought that was a great idea so I enrolled. One day a week for a whole year I learned how to design balloon sculptures how to work with balloons and use machinery. I even took an exam at the end of the course.

MJ: An exam?!

Tzipora: Yes which means I have letters after my name: CBA or Certified Balloon Artist. When you pass the exam people know that you’ve reached a professional standard. The exam consisted of three written tests and a practical test where among other things I had to design and sculpt a table centerpiece. Besides for matching colors and shapes I had to be careful not to make the centerpiece too high because otherwise people can’t see each other and might want to take it off the table!

MJ: In addition to centerpieces what things do you know how to make?

Tzipora: When it comes to balloons your imagination is the limit. I once went to a balloon conference where I saw a huge 3D model of a knight on a horse. There was also a large house surrounded by tiny green balloons that looked like grass flowers and a garden path.

We decorate halls for weddings and other simchahs and make sculptures to send to people in the hospital. Recently we made a model of a bubby and zeidy for a couple who just had their first grandchild.

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