Fun, friends and excellent workshops at this year's Balloon Jam Hamburg!

Last month I was invited to teach at the Balloon Jam Hamburg, Germany. I previously attended this event some years ago, but then it was known as The Euro Jam.
The Euro Jam was founded in 1998, after Rüdiger & Cordula Paulsen, along with mutual friend Happu Krenz, attended a Qualatex® Event in Prague.

Enjoying the camaraderie and excitement of sharing ideas and skills with other twisters from around Europe, they decided to establish a twisting event of their own in Germany. Over the next seventeen years they ran 15 very successful Euro Jams. In 2013, Andreas Zier and his wife Meike, with the help of Sandra Brandt, took over the event and re-named it Balloon Jam Hamburg.

This year's event saw 155 participants, coming from 14 different countries, including Germany, USA, Israel, Hong Kong, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, and UK.

An opportunity to take a 5 minute tour around the Qualatex Stand at the 2014 Spring Fair.

I cannot exactly remember how many years I have been part of the Qualatex Spring Fair crew, but it is quite a few now and I have enjoyed each and every one of them!

www.SPRINGFAIR.com

For a number of years I have been invited to create the designs for the window displays, which is a huge honour for me as well as a massive challenge... what can I make to show off the new range of Qualatex balloons at their Very Best? I was pretty lucky this year as most of the theme's were totally 'up my street', very feminine, I even think that my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was a pretty version!

Slovenia Event 2013 - Tropical Gala Party Decor

I have just returned home from The Slovenia Event which was held in Therme Catez, Slovenia, I am sure that many of you have seen some great pictures already posted on Facebook!

The Slovenia Event 5th, 6th & 7th October 2013 was organised by Renata and Niko Fric from Magic d.o.o. Slovenia, with support from Nikolett Forray, Balloon World Hungary and an awesome team of staff and helpers!

A fantastic group of delegates from 17 countries attended the 3 days that was filled with great classes, competitions, parties and a 24 hour Jam room!

Slovenia Event 2013 Gala Party Decor

I wanted to write a blog that specifically related to the Gala Party, the amazing designs and decor was just truly magical, so inspiring and definitely worth sharing!

So before I post the pictures I would like to congratulate the instructors who work so very hard to create new and exciting designs to share with delegates at events such as this! This was a great opportunity for many of us to work with the new Qualatex Quick LInk balloons and see many different ways to work with it!

17th JBAN 2013

JBAN - Japan's Balloon Artist Network with Emily's Balloons presents it's 17th Convention in Tokyo, Japan!

This is the second time that I have been invited to teach at JBAN and on each occasion I have found it to be a truly magical experience.

This years JBAN theme was 'CARNIVAL', a truly great theme used as inspiration for some of the competitions and of course the final night party!

There were 5 competitions including Large Sculpture -no theme, Photo Spot (a place to take photographs) - Carnival theme, Helium Bouquet - no theme, Hat - Carnival theme and a Twister Live... twisters showing off their skills to an audience.

BACI 2013 - 'Stars'

BACI 2013 was all about 'Stars', everything from celestial, whimsical, astrological, marine life or the famous, STARS could be depicted in any and many ways! 

 I would like to thank The Darkroom photography school and Balloon Express, Italy for the use of the sculpture pictures! To see more great pictures visit the Darkroom photography website...    www.thedarkroom.it

The Darkroom photographers
Francesco Mauro
Annalisa Cavallari
Alessia Fabbri
Giulia Zanelli
Ilaria Vangi
Jessica Cannizzaro
Sara Piazinni
Silvia Collino
Silva Rocchi
Valentina Borgioli

The event started last Thursday - April 18th, when the sculpture teams had the opportunity to start building the structure or frames... but no balloons can be inflated!

Framing byTeam Alberto Falcone!

Framing by Team svetlana lugovaya

With the frames well on the way to being completed the first day of the sculpture build started in earnest. Each team could have up to 10 members and had 2 days from 8am-8pm (24 hours in total) to complete their sculptures.

And the winners are...

Qualatex Event Puerto Rico 2013

This was the first time that I have visited one of the Caribbean Islands, and although the island is small approximately 100 miles long and only 35 miles wide the welcome was huge!

Qualatex Event Puerto Rico Event Hotel... yes, it's true!

Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Rico in 1493, and the name Puerto Rico actually means 'Rich Port', due to it's worth as an important sea port... today Puerto Rico has many claims to fame including being the rum capital of the world and home to the worlds largest radio telescope along with being adorned with the most beautiful flora and forna and some incredible creatures such as the 'Coqui', a tiny tree frog and the endangered Leatherback Sea Turtles! Thank you Benny Nieves for my final evening guided tour and history lesson, it was just perfect!

Decor Fusion Tour March 2013 - Thank you Australia!

Deco Fusion Tour 

 Sydney Wednesday 6th - Perth Sunday 10th - Brisbane Wednesday 13th & Melbourne Sunday 17th March 2013.

Wow, after months of preparing and planning, my trip to Australia has already happened and I am now back in the UK preparing for my next trip away!


Visiting Australia always leaves me filled with great memories and this trip was no exception!

Firstly, I would like to start by thanking the awesome Qualatex Australia Team, who worked so hard to make the tour possible! Bruce & Rachelle Fraser and the very lovely Karli Hose, who work very hard to prepared everything to make my life so much easier:)

 The super organised Kari Hose - Qualatex Australia

Sue's 2012 review... the best bits! Part 2

Happy 2013 everyone!

Well 2013 has finally arrived along with a lovely crisp and sunny morning, making it somehow feel like a new year! 

2012 was a great year for fantastic events and not such a great year with the helium 'crisis'. But Qualatex jumped to the rescue offering a range of 1 day demonstrations and a fantastic booklet filled with inspiring air-filled designs - The Qualatex Air-filled Advantage! Which if you did not get a copy is available to download just click HERE 

So here are my remaining 'best bits' from 2012!

Sue's 2012 review... the best bits! Part 1

It is at this time of year that all the TV and radio channels review their 'best bits' of the year! So I thought  that I would like to do the same, looking back over my 'Ballooning 2012' with some of the people and events that have made is so very special!

January 2012

For me, January started with a wonderful trip to Israel with Elisa Helman, of Balloonland, Jerusalem's annual training event, along with Keith Stirman and Dom Cassidy, aka the Balloon Brothers!

Balloonland 2012

13th International Moscow Balloon Festival

25th- 28th September saw the 13th International Moscow Balloon Festival.

Wow, I cannot believe that it was the 13th Moscow Balloon Festival this year! And although I did not attend this time, I have attended a number of the festivals over the past 13 years my first being in 2002! Each and every year I am amazed and dazzled by the balloon artistry and skills that are shown at this event by the many very talented balloon artists! 

A huge thank you to John Bowler (hubby) who did attend the festival representing Conwin. John took these great photographs and has kindly shared them with me so that I can show you some of the amazing balloon art entered into this years competitions!

This years competition categories were:

Big Balloon Sculpture - 'Big Space Adventure'

Small Sculptural Form - Christmas

Dresses made from balloons - theme Russian Clothes 

I am afraid that I do not know who made all of the designs but I will endeavour to find out and add their names to each of the designs when I do.

Big Balloon Sculptures - 'Big Space Adventure'

Bride & Groom from another planet visit Paris! - By Irina Lobanova and team!

Bride & Groom from another planet visit Paris! - By Irina Lobanova and team

Small Sculptural Form - Christmas

By Irina Lobanova 

By Irina Lobanova 

Dresses made from balloons - 

Russian Clothes 

By Irina Lobanova 

Azusa Leizumi CBA, represented Qualatex and taught 3 great classes. 

Best Sellers at Azusa's Store

Balloon Dolls

Balloon Costumes for children 

Azusa & Akane

It is so very inspiring to see balloon art from different events and countries, a huge congratulations to all those who entered the competitions!

If you are planning to attend WBC 2014, I urge you to consider entering at least one competition! It will really help you to develop your design skills, and you will be amazed how rewarding it is to actually take part in a competition... competitions are not about winning, they are a personal challenge and just the best opportunity to showcase a design that you have created!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue 

www.suebowler.com