Elegant Flower Embellished Arch

This is a design that I originally created for the Q Tour in 2015! Today, I would like to share it with the readers of The Very Best Balloon Blog! 

This design incorporates the AeröPole System™️ and demonstrates how to create patterns within an Arch, rather than using the usual spiral pattern we regularly see. 

The design also shows great Rhythm. Rhythm is movement within a design created by repetition, transition, radiation, or variation to lead the eye along lines in a composition. In this design you can see:

• Repetition in shape, colour, and texture
• Transition in sizing of the big flower to the smaller flowers
• Radiation with movement from the focal point
• Variation with the different elements of latex and Microfoils

For the Arch you will need:

150 - 11" Onyx Black latex (or the colour of your choice)

50   - 11" Pearl Ruby Red latex (or the colour of your choice)

Inflate all of the balloons to 9"

Here is the pattern that you will need to follow to create the arch; start from the left and repeat from the beginning until you have as many balloons as you require for your Arch.

To make the 27" Taper Flower:

8   - 27" Tapers (Red Tapers are no longer available)

12 - 5" Onyx Black (or the colour of your choice)

2   - 5" Pearl Ruby Red latex (or the colour of your choice)

1   - 260Q to secure 

To make the 13" Taper Flowers (per flower):

8 - 13" Silver Tapers (or the colour of your choice)

12 - 5" Onyx Black latex (or the colour of your choice)

2 - 5" Pearl Ruby Red latex (or the colour of your choice)

1 - 260Q to secure

To make a large flower you will need:

8 x 27" 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 duplets. 

12 x 5" latex balloons inflated to approx. 4.5" and made into 2 x 6-balloon clusters.

2 x 5" latex balloons inflated to approx. 3" and made into a duplet.

1 x 260Q un-inflated.

How to put the flower together:

Start with one of the 5" (inflated to 4.5") 6-balloon clusters, lay it flat, then take a 260Q and wrap it through the centre of the cluster in a figure of 8 motion. This cluster will NOT sit flat until you add your next cluster so you will need to hold it down.

Twist all the Taper duplets together and lay these flat on top of the 3 balloon cluster - DO NOT SECURE USING THE 260Q as this will pull the cluster down and the balloons will not sit flat, just bring the 260Q through the centre so you are holding it above the cluster. Nex add the second 5" (inflated to 4.5") 6-balloon cluster on top of the Taper balloons and bring the 160Q through the centre again, arranging the Tapers so that they sit correctly to represent a flower. Secure using the 260Q by wrapping this through the centre of the top cluster in a figure of 8 motion.

Design Tip:

The use of Microfoil balloons creates contrast and adds visual texture to the Arch. Use the 27" Taper flower as the focal point and the 13" Taper Flowers as accents. You can also use Taper Flowers as room decor. Suspend them from the ceiling at varying heights using the Click-Clik™️ Magmover System.

What if you want to propose this or another design idea to a client but you don't have a good photo to display:

Gathering a solid portfolio of design ideas can take many years, unless you are very lucky! However, you don't actually need a good photograph to excite your clients!

I created this graphic presentation using Chris Adamo's Balloon Design Tools program. You can test it out free for 7 days, and if you like it you can either get a monthly or yearly subscription. To find out more click HERE  - I use this software often and I've found that it makes quoting quick and professional!

Chris taught a class Digital Designs Aids to Grow Your Business during the recent Q Corner Convention, in his class he looks some of the various software (free and paid) available to create digital design aids for your business with lots of little tips on how to use digital renders to quote and up-sell- definitely worth watching! 

If you missed Chris's Q Corner Convention class, I have added the video below. Chris's class was included in part of Part 8 of the convention and starts at 4.14 if you want fast forward it to his session.

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me on Instagram #Suebowler

How to Present Your Decor Design Ideas to your Customers.

Our ability to present new ideas to clients in a professional way is vital to the success and growth of our business. 

Whilst clients find many of their ideas on Instagram and or Pinterest, their brainstorming is not exclusive to those social media sites. This makes it much more important for you to secure their business by wowing and inspiring your clients with your own creative ideas! 

There are a number of balloon related design tools available online - some are free whilst others will incur a cost. But it's my belief that if it seals the deal, then it's worth the investment! 

Many balloon artists work with design programs such as Adobe Illustrator, which allows them to create vector graphics. A vector graphic is a computer-made image which is made up of points, lines, and curves that are based upon mathematical equations, rather than a designated amount of pixels. This means that no matter how close you zoom in or out on an image, the lines, curves, and points remain smooth. 

The design proposals below were created by Chris Adamo using Adobe Illustrator. Chris explained to me that when he is proposing a design idea such as this, he will generally show three sketch options. 

"Putting in the extra work is worth it, this company has 30 to 50 stores nationally. It helps to set the client expectations and gives me a chance to get the designs via my partners uniform"

Design inspiration 1. using Adobe Illustrator by Chris Adamo, CBA.

Design inspiration 2. using Adobe Illustrator by Chris Adamo, CBA.

Design inspiration 3. using Adobe Illustrator by Chris Adamo, CBA.

I personally use a variety of ways to produce my design ideas - but nothing too technical! Not only can I use these ideas to present my ideas to my clients, I can also use them to create new designs for classes that I am teaching! Dedicating a few hours to forming a design allows your creativity to flow without the added task of physically inflating balloons.

As many of you will already know, Chris Adamo, CBA, of Balloons Online, Sydney, Australia, has very generously shared his Balloon Design Tool with the balloon industry. 

With this tool you can create Columns, Arches, Balloon Walls, both with round and QuickLink® balloons, and Gridz designs. Here is an example of decor that Chris designed that he was able to present to his client.

I love this design tool, it has helped me to create exciting and inspiring design! 

I designed this clown face balloon wall for a class that I taught a number of years ago in Israel. When I designed it then, I did not have the luxury of using a tool like this. I actually plotted each of the circles into a Pages document to create my own Duplet Square Pack Balloon Wall "graph paper." I have since replotted the design using the online design tool and it looks so much better and definitely easier to work from!

Below is the actual balloon wall made up! This was made by Nir and Avital Shechter CBA, of Balonire, Israel. After learning how to create my original walls, they recreated the same design some years later for a client! 

Balloon Wall by Nir and Avital Shechter.

So how can I take my design one step further to allow my client to see my vision for the decor that I want to create for them?

I saved the design that I created on the design tool as a PDF, and then removed the numbers around the edge by cropping it. I then inserted the wall into a Pages document, (if you use a PC you may want to save it in a Word document). To add detail, I visited Qualatex.com and clicked on Inspiration. I then selected Explore Decor. I then searched Clown/Circus in the search facility and this filtered out all the decor ideas within that category. Because I am a QBN member, I am able to download each of the images that I want to use in a high resolution as a png file with a transparent background, which means that when you add it onto your document you do not have a white background around it.

By using this method you can place several images on one document that will help the client to better visualise you ideas.

This Tropical Arch design is being taught as part of the 

Making Memories - Big Parties Course 

Did you know that you can download balloon images from the Qualatex website as png files with a transparent background, making it even easier for you to add them into your designs and proposals, or to give your customers ideas for decor. I have used this method on many occasions and I am always very excited to see how the real thing looks once it's actually built with balloons! 

Below is a video that will show you how I created the tropical arch design shown above using very basic steps that anyone can do using their computer... no special software required!

If this all seems a little too much work, then there are a few other alternatives that you can use. Rachel Porter, CBA, of Balloon Splendor, Washington, USA, has created a range of Balloon Art Clip Art that is available to purchase through her Etsy shop. There are many different styles of templates available that you can use to create good visuals to present to your clients.

And finally Virtualloon, a membership-based software that allows you to create your own designs using the Virtualloon designer software. There are many different functions available including the ability to add a background pictures of the venue and overlay your designs to show how the decor will look in the actual space. 

Whether you choose to use Chris Adamo's Online Balloon Tools or my simple method of building a design on a computer using Word or Pages, or learn how to use Adobe Illustrator or other similar software programs. Or alternatively use balloon clipart or invest in software such as Virtualloon. There are many options out there to help you to create decor ideas that can be presented to clients in a professional way! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler