What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
I will customize a show to your desires, balancing the time for ballooning and facepainting with performing a clown magic show. The show takes about half an hour.
If parents want to facepaint I will bring supplies and entertain the kids who are not being painted.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have years of experience at fairs and festivals and have made custom puppet shows.
I am a gratduate of Wavy Gravy's Camp Winnarainbow and am a member of Puppeteers of America.
My clown mentor Bubbles the Clown taught me to make balloon animals and do singing telegrams (as a gorilla)!
I teach arts classes for all ages and am the author of "Fast and Easy Cartooning for Fun."
Do you have a standard pricing system for your service? If so, please share the details here.
I suggest a base price of $135 per party, which will cover about 90 minutes of meet and greet, balloons, bubbles, and a magic puppet show. Custom shows, featuring puppets and a puppet show designed around the guest of honor, start at $300. A clown walk-about at a festival or fair entertains thousands, at a base price of $150 to $300 for 90 minutes to 3 hours
How did you get started doing this type of work?
I have always been a clown. I received training from Bubbles in Phoenix, Oregon; Wavy Gravy at Camp Winnarainbow; and puppetry training at Puppeteers of America regional conference.
Beginning in 1994, I have taught cartooning art classes, inspiring kids to be creative!
Helping people enter a world of fantasy is a life-long dream come true.
What types of customers have you worked with?
Birthday parties
Street Fairs
Company :Picnics
Fourth of July Parades
Earth Day
Festival Children's Parades
Describe a recent project you are fond of. How long did it take?
Making Hawaiian animal puppets for educational programs and creating my latest and greatest puppet show right now! Dr Strange and Clea Battle the Dread Dormmamu!
What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
What is the clown persona? Are you are looking for a happy, friendly clown that meets and greets, like Zippedy and friends. We provide an interactive show that fits in a living room, or entertain a few hundred people while walking about a fair or festival. We are not a highly polished stage show; we provide custom interactive personal improv and "schtick."
What questions should customers think through before talking to professionals about their project?
What do you want? What's your goals for having an entertainer.
Realize that 45 minutes is plenty of time for a kids show. They want to play!
Clients decide whether they want a face painter or balloon blower or a clown. I'm an entertainer, not a production animal maker. I tell stories and bring people into the clown world.
