Mr. Balloon Wizard’s dream? For Kerry Washington to rock one of his balloon dresses when the actress parades through Harvard Square on Thursday as the Hasty Pudding Theatrical’s Woman of the Year.

“People don’t realize it,’’ said Steve Klein, the Lexington-based balloon artist, “but balloons can be very elegant.’’

Elegant or not, the dress was vetoed (even the artist concedes that balloons are not ideal January outerwear). But Klein did manage to land a Hasty Pudding gig: He will be making a bottle of red wine, as an homage to Olivia Pope, the Shiraz-loving character Washington plays on “Scandal.’’ He’ll also make balloon bow-ties for Hasty Pudding cast members — and a Balloon to be Named Later for actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt when he’s roasted as Hasty Pudding’s Man of the Year on Feb. 5.

It’s safe to say that most people don’t grow up dreaming of a career in balloon art. But balloons spoke to Klein, now 47, when he was just a boy, and a magician who worked with balloons performed at his Lexington grade school.

“He handed out a balloon apple on a stick,’’ Klein recalled, as if it were yesterday. “I was like ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’?’’

Klein, who still lives in his childhood home with his mother, earns up to $300 for an hour of twisting, as it’s called, or magic. He makes even more for a corporate motivational balloon program.

Even so, his mother wishes he’d put his real estate license to greater use, he said.

“I sold one house last year,’’ he said, “but realtors are a dime a dozen. This is what I like to do.’’

With their bright colors and silly vibe, balloon creations looks so cheerful. But balloon artists often suffer for their work. Hours of twisting, as it’s known, can cause cuticles to split and bleed. A popped balloon can hit its creator in the eye. Carpal tunnel syndrome is an occupational hazard.

“I used to blow them up by mouth but I got a hiatal hernia,’’ said Klein. (He now uses a pump.) “I also have acid reflux — but I don’t know if [the balloons] had anything to do with that.’’

Klein has worked as a corporate trainer and a loan officer, but he’s really made a name for himself in balloon circles, which are bigger than you might think.

There are balloon conventions — Klein runs one, Bling Bling Jam in Las Vegas. There are balloon couture shows. And balloon artists to the stars like “Nick the Balloonatic’’ and “Miss Ballooniverse.’’

Klein has had his brushes with fame, to be sure. He’s made balloon characters and accessories for for TV host Jerry Springer, former Red Sox players Mike Timlin and Tim Wakefield, and TV personality Maria Menounos, among others, he said. He sees increasing respect for the field.

“It used to be only long doggies and swords,’’ he said.

An adult can go years — or a lifetime — without interacting with a balloon artist, but if you go to the right places, they’re all around. Klein works a regular gig at Dave & Busters in Woburn, where he distracts patrons who are waiting for their meals, and said he just landed a deal at the Plainridge Park Casino, where he’ll make balloon hats for jackpot winners.

He also does bar and bat mitzvahs, and likes to create a replica of the girl or boy in balloon. “It’s almost like a Muppet,’’ he said. “Cute, right?’’

Earlier this week, with the Hasty Pudding festivities nearing, Klein was pondering the best way to make the curve between the body of the bottle and the neck, which needs to be graceful. “I want it to be nice and tight,’’ he said.

He could weave the whole bottle in “160s’’ (the skinniest balloons, these are 1 inch wide by 60 inches long), or he could do the base in “260s’’ (2 inches by 60 inches), and the neck in “160s.’’ “Or I could say ‘forget all that and use round balloons,’’ he said, chuckling at a little bit of balloon humor.

One thing he wasn’t worrying about at all: the chilly weather.

“Cold is actually good for balloons,’’ Klein said.

So good, in fact, that when he wove a nearly 300-balloon wedding dress for a screening of the 2011 film “Bridesmaids,’’ at the Showcase Cinema De Lux, in Dedham, he begged the theater to let him store his work-in-progress — on its dress form — in its walk-in freezer.

“A dress can take 50 hours to make,’’ he said. “I can’t do that in two days.’’

But he’s not complaining — at all. Asked about his career goals beyond the Hasty Pudding event, at first Klein said his dream twisting job would be on TV, or in Vegas, but then he reconsidered.

“It’s funny,’’ he said. “I’m kind of doing it already.’’

Beth Teitell can be reached at bteitell@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @bethteitell.