Sue Bowler: The Balloon Expert

Last week I saw a beautiful Christening cake which was being proudly shown off by the lady who had ordered it for her Granddaughters Christening that weekend. Standing next to the cake was the very talented young lady who made it. I asked her if cake making was her profession as she was obviously very talented, she replied, "no, I only do this as a hobby as I don't think anyone will pay what the cakes are really worth, I only just cover my costs, but I really love making cakes so I don't mind". I wonder how many people working in our industry feel the same, that they cannot charge the true value for their work? When I started my home based business over 20 years ago I had no idea how to cost my work, like the lovely cake maker, I loved what I did! I enjoyed the challenge of learning new skills and being able to put them into practise, every penny that I charged was used to buy my next batch of balloons, helium and accessories, there was never any left over for me!...

Wedding days are filled with love, romance and happiness and what greater symbol of love than a heart! As many of you know working with the Qualatex Quick Links was a whole new world for me as well as a huge learning curve but an exciting journey, one that I am enjoying very much! I posted my first Quick Link blog last October   'How to make a simple Quick Link Heart for the uninitiated Quick Link users'  , this shows how to create 2-dimentional hearts that are perfect for hanging as backdrops at a wedding and other suitable occasions. When I found out that I was teaching at the 2014  World Balloon Convention earlier this year I decided that I would make it my mission to learn how to create a 3-dimentional 'Puffed Heart' for my Wedding Excellence class and was very happy with the results! Of course hearts are not just for weddings and can be used for many different events such as Valentines, Engagements and Anniversaries! The heart shown below was created usi...

Last week I posted part one of this blog and it would appear by the number of views that the blog has received already that this is a hot topic for many of us! Sometimes we need a little inspiration to help us, not only with our day to day balloon designs and decor but also with how to be creative with our storage systems too! Last week I asked members of the QBN (Qualatex Balloon Network) Facebook Group if they would kindly share how they set up their working and storage area's and any tips that they might have, I was overwhelmed  by the number of responses that I received and felt that they should all be included. Jenny Murphy of Red Balloon shares her top tips: My local sweetshop was a huge help, they supplied me with empty haribo boxes! All my balloons are stored in these. For my most popular balloons we keep them in a pick and mix stand closest to the workstation so they are always at hand. The balloon boxes are stored on IKEA shelving according to size, brand and oc...

For many balloon business's creating the perfect working space can be problematic usually due to the fact that space is the limiting factor, I know that to be very much the situation for me and I can only dream that one day I will have a purpose built Balloon Studio/Workroom (I hope my husband reads this). But for now I have worked hard to create an efficient working space, one that allows me to store away (tidily) all the items that I might need to create something new and exciting without having to hunt high and low to find everything ... but that was not without a little inspiration from a friend! Recently I visited Alberto Falcone and had the opportunity to work in his 'Balloon L.A.B', and although not a huge space it was the perfect working space with everything neatly organised for maximum efficiency and ease. My 2 favourite features in Alberto's LAB was his equipment set-up and his storage area's  plus the fact that he also has a permanent photo area se...

Lisa Swiger CBA Lisa Swiger CBA of Blooming Balloons, North Carolina, USA is one of our Quick Link experts and she has very kindly offered to share some of her top tips with the 'Very Best Balloon Blog'! Lisa's Quick Link Tips: * Tie as tightly as possible. This gives better structure to your sculptures. * If using with helium, hi-float works great! I recommend tying off the link tip before hi-floating so that extra hi-float doesn't stay inside the tip, wasting hi-float and weighing down the tie points. * I always trim tips and tails. This gives a cleaner look and when using helium, improves float time. * When doing air-filled, I only inflate to about 9 inches. This makes it easier to do 3D sculptures because the balloons are spongier and can be handled more. * I usually twist the balloon chains around each other, vs. using 5" duplets to lock them together. This is just a personal preference. I like the stability of have the sculpture stand wit...