Tapertastic! A few ideas to create beautiful balloon decor working with Qualatex Taper balloons!

Taper Flowers created by Sue Bowler & friends
 at the Slovenia Event

With Christmas and New Year fast approaching, it's time to start thinking about the exciting decor you can offer your clients for their events!

Recently I attended the Slovenia Event and was asked if I could create decor for the 'opening' festivities. I had very limited time and was a little unsure how many 'helpers' I would have, so I decided to make decor that would have great visual impact but quick and easy at the same time!

(Just to note, I had a great team in Slovenia who helped me to make these awesome flowers... thank you!)

 Qualatex Tapers, if you have not already worked with them come in 3 sizes.

• 38" - Suitable for helium or air-filling. I like to use 38" Tapers helium filled in my centrepiece arrangements to create long and elegant lines.

• 27" - Suitable for air-filling, will not float if filled with helium. These balloons do have a valve but do not be fooled they do not float when filled with helium.

13" Qualatex Tapers used as base
 for centrepiece design.

• 13" - Suitable for air-filling only, great for accent detail and centrepiece designs. These balloon require heat sealing.

These Taper flowers are all air-filled and use a range of different size Taper balloons.

Here are all the balloons that I used to create my collection of 'flowers', I loved the combination of the Magenta, Silver and Caribbean Blue!

To make these flowers is quite easy.

Firstly you need to have everything prepared in advance before you try to start to put the design together.

Depending on the size of Qualatex Taper balloons you are working with will dictate which size and inflation size your latex balloons will be, so for this step by step we will look at how to make the largest of flowers.

To make a large flower you will need:-

5 x 38" Qualatex Taper balloons inflated with air (be careful not to over-inflate and do not use a high pressure air-inflator to inflate your balloons as this will damage the valve. Tie these into a duplet and cluster of 3, try to tie them at the end of the valve and not too close to the actual balloon, now twist these all together to create a 5 balloon cluster.

5 x 27" Qualatex Taper balloons, again air inflated. Tie together as above!

10 x 11" latex balloons inflated to approx. 9" and made into 2 x 5-balloon clusters.

10 x 5" latex balloons inflated to approx. 4" and made into 2 x 5-balloon clusters.

2 x 5" inflated to approx. 3"

1 x 160Q un-inflated.

How to put the flower together.

Start with one of the 5" (inflated to 4") 5-balloon clusters and lay this flat, take the 160Q and wrap this through the centre of the cluster creating a figure of 8. This cluster will NOT sit flat until you add your next cluster so you will need to hold it down.

Take one of the 11" (inflated to 9") 5-balloon clusters and position this on top of the 5" cluster, push this cluster firmly down in the centre then use the same 160Q balloon to lock it into position, again wrapping through the centre of that cluster in a figure of 8, now this double cluster should sit flat without you needing to hold it down.

Take the larger of the Taper clusters, and position this on top of the double cluster that you have just made - DO NOT SECURE USING THE 160Q as this will pull the cluster down and the balloons will not sit flat, just bring the 160Q through the centre so you are holding it above the cluster, now add the smaller cluster of tapers, again do not secure with the 160Q as again this will pull it backwards and it will not sit flat, just bring the 160Q through the centre again, try and position the Tapers so that they sit correctly - see picture above.

Now, take the second 11" 5-balloon cluster, this one is very important as it will hold the Tapers in position (like a sandwich), the 11" 5-balloon clusters should be in the same position on both sides of the flower, lock this cluster using the 160Q and pushing down very firmly before wrapping the 160Q in a figure of 8 through the centre.

Now take the last 5" 5-balloon cluster and add this to the 11" balloon cluster that you have just added, again securing with the 160Q and pushing firmly into position before wrapping it around the centre in a figure of 8.

Make any adjustments to the Tapers to ensure that they are sitting correctly, as I mentioned before, these balloons are basically sandwiched between the 2 double clusters and are not physically connected into the latex cluster as that will distort how it sits.

Your flower should be very solid and if given a shake should remain perfectly in position, otherwise you have not constructed it correctly.

The last step is to add the 2 single 5" balloons to either side of the centre cluster to finish off the design. I generally wrap the 5" around the remaining length of 160Q and pull the 160Q back through the centre of the whole flower for added tension and secure the other 5" finally on the other side.

To suspend the flowers we used the Clik-Clik MagMover System, which allowed us to position our flowers exactly where we wanted them within the room to create the maximum visual impact!

The beauty of these flowers is that not only are they quick to make, they are long lasting too!

I have created other decor using this type of flower, but this time as a column for entrance decor.

Elegant Taper Flower Column by Sue Bowler CBA 

Tapers are great for accent detail, I used the 13" Tapers in this New Years design that I created recently, I will be featuring the step by step instructions in my recipes section very soon! Plus the 2 other columns are already featured in my recipe section!

Happy New Year Taper Column by Sue Bowler CBA

Qualatex Tapers are such a great balloon to work with, I love the elegant lines that can be created.

I hope that maybe this has given you just a few ideas that you can use for your Christmas & New Years campaigns.

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com