One of My More Clever Ideas (That Didn't Work)

The last Harry Potter book was coming out, and bookstores were going to go all out by staying open past midnight to sell the book, have costume contests, etc. I wanted in on that. I had a dream of being hired to not only twist balloons at the party but decorating the place with large balloon sculptures related to the books. I had designs for owls, large dragons, broomsticks, cats, and wanted to try a new weaving technique to create a 20 foot basilisk.

I happened to have some computer paper that looked like parchment, and I made up a one page flier with some photos of my work on it, chose appropriate fonts, etc. My stroke of genius was when I learned that Dumbledore means bumblebee in Old Welsh. I remember seeing some stamps at Walmart that had a bee design on it so after printing out my fliers and putting them in envelopes (but not sealing them), I bought the stamps, lit a red candle, and poured the melted wax onto the envelope. As the wax puddles were drying, I pressed the bee stamp into them, sealing the envelopes with Dumbeldore's "seal." I then delivered them held by balloon owls to the managers of various Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc.

It didn't work out. Big box bookstores' regional headquarters are notoriously cheap.

So instead of entertaining, I went and parked in line at the University of Tulsa's drive-through warehouse bookstore to get a copy of the book. I drove my van with my logos and had my balloon bag with me so I made some stuff for people who asked for them.

Got a couple of gigs out of it too.

Suck it, Borders/Barnes and Noble.