9 JANUARY 4-10, 2024 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | At X Bar, Schmitt is very welcome. “Our patrons love when ‘the balloon guy’ is here,” says the bar’s general manager, drag queen Kelela C. Staxxx. “He is always very engaging and kind to our patrons. He knows how to play toward the crowd here at X Bar and make fun and exciting balloon pieces for our patrons. Everyone is always happy to see him.” Schmitt doesn’t charge the bars an appear- ance fee, since he usually shows up unan- nounced — though some have hired him to work specifi c events. He likes the fl exibility that comes with having no set engagements. If a night is slow at a bar or he’s already made a balloon creation for every patron who wants one, he can move on instead of being locked in for what could be unprofi table hours. He never names a particular price for his work; he’s always paid in tips. “There’s the people that tip less, but the average defi nitely works out in my favor, leaving it up to the customer versus putting a price on it,” Schmitt says. “You’ll occasion- ally get those extravagant tippers that will give you $50 or something like that. You’re never going to get that if you put a price on it.” Despite his experience, twisting balloon creations can sometimes still prove tricky for Schmitt. “For the most part, any requests that I get I can make, but the one that I’m not super happy with is the cowboy hat,” he says. “I don’t have a great design for that. Part of it is just, I can make one that looks good, but it would take too long. Or I can make one that’s quick but doesn’t look that great.” He tries to spend no more than fi fteen minutes on a specifi c request at a party or in a bar. There are exceptions, though. He’s spent hours making clothing with lots of little balloons to create a wearable piece that won’t expose the model even if a few balloons pop. And last year, he spent a weekend par- ticipating in a Big Balloon Build, put on by a national organization of the same name that partners with local nonprofi ts to create balloon experiences for children. Schmitt and a team of seventy other balloon artist volunteers used 250,000 balloons to build a winter wonderland for kids in Kansas City in November 2022. The artists worked by breaking off into smaller groups and focusing on their sections to make the full tableau. “There was a box of crayons and some elves pulling them out and coloring with them,” Schmitt recalls. “We had a hot chocolate fountain with elves playing in it. We had a huge train that was maybe fi fteen feet long by about ten feet tall, and a thirty-foot tall Christmas tree.” Next year, Schmitt plans to participate in an even larger build with Big Balloon Build in his home state of Ohio that will use 500,000 balloons. “Balloon artists get to see this stuff, but so much of the public doesn’t know it exists,” Schmitt says. “The basics are easy to learn, but I think most people don’t realize how much work goes into being a good balloon artist. I’ve been doing this for 25 years now, and I’m still learning every year.” He’s also exploring ways to decorate with balloons. He’s developed a prototype for an LED balloon wall that can be used to display colorful gradients or even low-resolution GIFs and videos. The prototype calls for attaching 400 white balloons to an eight-by-eight-foot piece of plywood. Inside each balloon is an LED light controlled by an app that includes around 150 pre-programmed effects that Schmitt created while documenting the entire process on his social media accounts. “One of the challenges after the pandemic has been fi nding the right size and color of balloons that you need for your client,” Schmitt says. “You’ll get these clients that want these super-specifi c colors that match their color scheme, and they don’t always make a balloon in that color. So you’re forced to get two colors of balloons and put one color inside of the other to try to blend them a little bit. It’s a nightmare. This wall, you just need one size, one color of balloon, and you can make it whatever color you want.” Schmitt debuted the display at Finn’s Manor on December 16, to great acclaim. He’s now taking pre-orders for the wall and expects to ship the fi rst out by the end of January. He hopes to eventually connect his prototype with software that could time the balloon wall to music, as is done for Christmas light displays. But in the meantime, he plans to keep using his balloon-twisting talents in Denver, particularly its bars. “The grass doesn’t seem that much greener anywhere else,” Schmitt says. Email the author at [email protected]. Denver’s bars usually welcome Ryan Schmitt and his talents. EVAN SEMÓN BOULDERTHEATER.COM FOXTHEATRE.COM KBCO & WESTWORD PRESENT: “SOUNDS LIKE THIS” 15TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR ERIC HUTCHINSON WESTWORD PRESENTS WARD DAVIS DAB RECORDS & KGNU PRESENT COLORADO’S FINEST UNDERGROUND HIP HOP JORDAN POLOVINA (WHISKEY BLANKET) + THE ILLSENTIALS (ILL SE7EN AND FRIENDS) FEAT. 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