EDISON – What started as a simple gesture of appreciation for Eddie Lin has grown into a side gig his whole family enjoys.
Lin, 22, who is on the autism spectrum, became drawn to the art of ballooning after watching a YouTube video when he was 10 years old.
“He started making a lot of cartoon characters. … His favorite is [Marvel Comics’] the Hulk,” his mother Jenny said.
Eddie Lin garnered media attention the past few weeks after he started making balloons for essential workers during the novel coronavirus pandemic. He made a shopping cart with the simple message of “Thank you” for family friend Kay Mastrocola’s mother Anna, who is a manager at ACME.
Lin and Mastrocola graduated Edison High School together. Jenny Lin said for her son to have a regular peer and true friend in Mastrocola is special. Mastrocola, who is studying physical therapy at a college in Missouri, helps gather ideas for Eddie Lin’s balloon side gig.
The simple gesture for Mastrocola’s mom made its way on social media and from there Eddie Lin has made balloons for healthcare workers, first responders and postal workers.
“They are all simple innocent gestures from a pure-hearted kind of guy,” Jenny Lin said of her son’s gifts.
Ballooning became Eddie Lin’s passion and blossomed into the Ausome Balloon Creator project in 2014.
It was the time when Eddie Lin’s family, which also includes dad Jim, older sister Cindy and younger brother James, took a trip to Taiwan to visit family.
“We found some balloon professionals for Eddie to learn from,” Jenny Lin said.
Eddie Lin took his newfound techniques and started making balloons for family and friends. Jenny Lin said the balloon journey has also become a learning experience where her son has been learning to adapt and build confidence.
For example, Jenny Lin said a person on the spectrum might have one model of a turkey and makes the turkey as he sees it with the color brown. If the color brown runs out and different colors have to be used to make a turkey, the person on a spectrum might have a hard time adapting.
Jenny Lin said her son is continuing to learn and adapt through customer orders and has built confidence talking to customers.
In 2018, a well-known balloon professional Steve Jones, owner of Balloon Designers with Alexa Rivera, in Seattle, offered Eddie Lin a scholarship to take master classes at the annual FLOAT balloon convention. Jones is the executive director of the convention. In 2019, Eddie Lin and his mom ventured to Missouri for the convention.
“It was very eye opening,” Jenny Lin said of the balloon industry from how the entertainment business drops balloons in stadiums to decorating convention halls.
From his experiences, Eddie Lin continues to build his balloon repertoire and continues to test the waters of various customer orders. Jenny Lin said she helps her son translate what customers want and through trial and error, he makes the final product.
This time of year, Jenny Lin said, is usually Eddie Lin’s busy season, from milestone creations to attending birthday parties. With the pandemic, it has been a bit different with porch display creations.
She noted her son only uses professional grade balloons, which he only feels comfortable using. Customers are charged only for materials uses.
For more information about Ausome Balloon Creator, visit its Facebook and Instagram pages or email [email protected].
Contact Kathy Chang at [email protected].