Balloon Walls Part 2

Alternate Size Square Pack Walls

I love this wall type, it is robust, always looks good and is probably the most widely used method of precision wall. It is made by alternating clusters of four balloons in two different sizes packed on to 50lb Dacron line. This produces a square garland (see example below).

The first and last garland in your wall start and finish with one size of balloon cluster, the next garland starts and finishes with the alternate size of balloon cluster. The example below shows the green balloon being the bigger of the 2 sizes.

Square Garlands

The difference in size between the two sets is relative to the size of balloon used.

 2" - 4½" = use a ½"differential

4½" - 7½" = use a 1" differential

7½" - 11" = use a 2" differential

5cm - 11.5cm = use a 1.5cm differential

11.5cm - 19cm = 2.5cm differential

19cm - 28cm = 5cm differential

Practice to see  which size  works best for you. The garlands when built are laid side by side and interlocked, then joined together using the elastic band method (See Balloon Walls Part 1).

Square Garlands locked together

Consistent sizing of balloons is paramount with balloon walls, some methods are not very forgiving of badly sized balloons or inconsistent  'dupleting'  of balloons. To form the duplets we must make sure that the  balloons are tied as tightly together as possible, leaving no slack latex between the knot and the inflated part of the balloon.

Everyone will pack clusters on to line at a particular tension. It is usual to have only one person pack the garlands while others inflate and tie. This is not possible on large jobs, so you will need to practice consistent sizing and packing with your crew. 

This method produces quite a smooth design with a flat surface, it allows for good diagonal lines and triangles. Not all balloon wall types work with different patterns!

Here are some examples of balloon wall using the Alternate Size Square Garland method:

I designed and made this wall with a group of delegates at The Qualatex Event Slovenia 2009.

Below is the same wall design but using a different colour combination, I also added a border around the edge of the design. This is a great example of a monocromatic colour harmony.

This is a great design to work on. It takes a total of 684 balloons. I have added all the details below.

2012... a year of celebrations!

2012 will see many celebrations with both the Olympics and the Queens 60th Jubilee. Some years ago I created a balloon wall replica of the Union Jack using the Alternate Size Square pack method, so here it is, I hope that you get the opportunity to try it out!

The Union jack is made up of 9 columns, each column has 33 clusters a total of 1188 balloons!

And finally, here is one of the balloon walls that I created for WBC 2012. The US Flag! Sadly, I never got a photograph of the wall, so if anyone has one please send it to me and I'll add it to this blog!

Last year I made a very large wall to frame my "Island' Sculpture at BACI, It allowed people to walk between the wall and the sculpture and made it look like they were on the Island... great for photographs!

Let me know how you get on with this type of wall, I think that you should find it a little easier than the Duplet Square pack method!

If you have any examples of balloon walls that you would like to share on my blog page please send them to me at Sue@suebowler.com 

Good Luck!

Sue... hope to see you soon at the World Balloon Convention!

Balloon Walls Part 1

How to make a Duplet Square Pack Wall.

Since posting the Clown balloon wall that I taught at the Balloonland Event, Israel, January 2012, I have had many requests asking how it was made. So here is the first of 2 blogs showing 2 different wall techniques, with a little introduction to balloon walls. 

Clown Balloon Wall created by delegates at Balloonland Israel January 2012

 

There are many different ways to create walls with balloons! We can use latex rounds, non-rounds and foil balloons such as Qualatex Starpoints and others too! So, we need to determine which type of wall we want to create or more importantly, which wall best suits our or our customers needs?

So why are we proposing a balloon wall to our clients... a client will never ask you for a wall, it is your job to sell what it can do for them... sell the emotion and not the product!

• To create their corporate logo?
• To create a theme background?
• To create a theme entrance?
• To create a photo or stage back-drop?
• To enhance a trade show or exhibition stand?

Balloon wall techniques using latex round balloons:

• Duplet Square Pack
• Alternate Size Square Garland Pack
• Traditional 4-Balloon Garland Pack

There have been a few people during my career as a Balloon Artist who have inspired me to create balloon walls, Ian Herd CBA and Bruce Walden CBA.

Bruce Walden created this Balloon Wall Mural Paper, and this proved to be very important to me when I first started to design walls, without this, it was extremely difficult to determine which type of wall best suited the design or logo that I wanted to build within the wall. Today, I have created my own 'Mural Paper' on my computer, which saves me a great deal of time when creating a design!

As there are a number of different techniques, I am going to focus on each one separately, today we are going to look at how to create a DUPLET SQUARE PACK WALL.

Duplet Square Pack Wall 

 Characteristics:

Flat Surface
Straight Sides
Good definition on straight lines & Diagonal lines
Wall can be made with a double sided pattern or with a plain back.
Not as robust as other wall techniques.

The Mardi Gras wall above is an example of a wall that has been made using the Duplet Square Pack technique. It features with Step-by-Step instructions in the Master Series DVD available from Qualatex distributors.

Here is another example this time with a logo built into the BAPIA logo built into the wall.

Regardless of which technique you use there are a few simple rules when making a wall:

• The balloons MUST be inflated with precision, every balloon must be accurately sized!

• I will only make garlands/ Columns/ walls using Dacron line and not monofilament. Dacron is strong, yet soft against the balloons, it will not stretch when under tension.

Wall Construction - How to fix the columns together.

This is such an important part of the wall construction, if done badly the wall can distort and not look good. The following technique was taught to me by Ian Herd, there are many people who use 260Q to fix a wall together, but for me the elastic band and paperclip method is the best technique!

Project

I recently designed a wall for a class that I taught at the Balloonland Event in Israel, I knew that it was a pretty complex design and a great challenge for the class!

First I needed to get my inspiration. I knew that I wanted to create a wall with a clown face. To help me with my design I found a clown face Cross Stitch pattern on the internet! This design is far too detailed for my wall, but I liked the shape and features, so I down scaled the design to work for me.

Cross Stitch Pattern

My version of the Clown Face

Here is my interpretation of the Happy Clown design featured above. Once I have created the design that I want to make on the mural paper, I now break the wall down into columns, this makes it much easier when building each of the columns.

Now I can easily see the balloons required for each of the columns! Looking at the columns above you can see 18 columns, each column has 44 duplets - 88 balloons per column! This whole wall uses 1584 balloons!

Black - 1086
Orange - 114
Blush - 189
Yellow - 22
Lime - 48
Rose - 8
Robin's Egg Blue - 40
Purple Violet - 8
Blue - 8
White - 44
Red - 17


If you count the balloons that you can see, you will only count 792 balloons, this is because every balloon you see has one behind it! To make this wall easier, we used Black balloons as the back balloon.

This picture shows balloons being counted out to make the columns.

This  shows how important it is to 'read' the pattern as you go!

This shows the columns being linked together with the elastic bands and paper clips

The Clown wall that we made was not perfect, it was a group exercise with 20 people working on it. When you work on your walls, I recommend that if possible only 1 person packs the balloons on to the Dacron line, everyone has their own tension, varying tensions will effect the overall look of the finished wall...

Example of Technique

Here is a small project that I have put together to help explain the technique with a short DVD. You might find it useful if you right click on the design and print it off whilst you watch the DVD so that you can follow the pattern as I make it, I think that you may find it easier to understand it a little easier.

 

I hope that you have found this blog useful? There are many different walls to create walls and other techniques for creating a Duplet Square Pack wall. I always recommend that you use the technique that suits you best.
Start with a simple project to learn and perfect the technique before you embark on a large scale project for a customer.

Good luck!

Sue