So what can we expect in 2017?

Firstly, I would like to wish you all a very happy New Year! 

New Year's design by Jose Luthman, CBA and Sue Bowler, CBA

2016, saw the fourth fabulous World Balloon Convention and wow, what an amazing convention that was! More than 900 delegates representing 58 countries came together in the fabulous city of New Orleans. The World Balloon Convention is a truly fantastic event offering so many wonderful opportunities to learn new skills and great techniques, share ideas, and make some amazing new friends and contacts. Most importantly, it gives the biggest injection of passion, energy, and excitement that lasts many months after the event and the opportunity to bring new life to your business. Although it might seem early, you have more than a year to start saving for WBC 2018, which will take place March 14 -18 in San Diego, CA, USA. 

WBC - "Mardi Gras" Costume Party
Photograph by Jani Blocker.

So what can we expect in 2017? There will be many exciting opportunities to attend events, classes, and training. I believe that we never stop learning. There is always a great new technique or marketing tip that helps us to significantly increase sales! Even after 26 years, I can honestly say that I am still learning and truly want to learn more! It's very easy to believe that we know enough, but to help us to stand out against our competitors and make us the best, we should make training and learning a big part of our development agenda. Training is not just about learning how to make new designs. It helps you to understand how to price your work for profit and offers some vital business skills, too.

For many, traveling to events can be difficult. With that in mind, the 2017 Qualatex World Tour will be on the road and visiting many locations around the world! This will give balloons artists many opportunities to attend some truly fantastic classes with an all-star line up of instructors teaching an action-packed day filled with fabulous designs, business skills, and much more! To find out all the locations and dates click HERE

"Ship ahoy!" - Pirate theme party ideas.

40" ‟Pirate Ship” 
# 11813
#16439 (pkgd)

Designing decor for children's parties can be so much fun! Creating magical memories that you know will last for many years is one of the best things about our job!


All little boys love pirates and pirate parties.
The ‟Pirate Ship” Microfoil® is a fantastic balloon. It works really well for decor and centrepiece design, too!





I love this ‟Arrrgh, A Birthday Buccaneer!” centrepiece deign that is featured in the Qualatex^® Balloon ideas section on www.Qualatex.com.

The GEO® Balloon celebrates 25 years!

25 years ago, Pioneer Balloon Company was excited to launch a revolutionary new balloon called the GEO Donut^®! It was invented by Ronald E. Prater, an inventor who lived by the "never say never" philosophy! 

A balloon with a hole through the centre, it turned many heads in amazement at the Chicago Party Show that it was first exhibited at. It gave the balloon world something completely new to work with and many exciting decor opportunities.

These awesome balloons have been used to create so many wonderful designs, here are a few of my favourites!

Fiona Fisher, CBA uses both the 6" & 16" Geo Blossoms^® to create this fantastic Birthday "GEO Man". 

By using a lovely selection of vibrant coloured GEO Blossom balloons, Fiona has created a design that is fun and very sellable!

A little last-minute inspiration for Halloween!

For many party retailers, Halloween is their biggest and often their most profitable seasonal celebration.  So let's make sure we all take this opportunity to maximise our own sales potential!

Hopefully by now you will have decided on a range of "To Go" designs to sell over the Halloween period. Halloween falls on a Saturday, so be prepared for an exceptionally busy day!

If you have a shop or store, do you have an inspiring window display? Window displays are such an important part of any retail business! Every display needs to tell a story and make passers-by stop, look and take notice. Most importantly, it needs to create a desire to buy!

This Ralph Lauren window shows the fun and excitement of Halloween but still shows off an eye-catching range of children's clothing suitable for the time of year!

 

Designers Fiona Fisher and Luc Bertrand share their inspiration behind the Spring Fair and Toy Fair stand decor.

The International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany and the Spring Fair at Birmingham NEC, UK are both key trade shows for Pioneer Europe to exhibit at. 

With many competitor companies within a very small area, it is essential that the Qualatex® stand is exciting, inviting and pleasing to the eye. It should also show professionalism and creativity. 

Most of us don’t work big trade shows like these, but often we get to advertise our services at events and also need to make the best impression at first sight. This philosophy is not unique to trade stands, this is something at we should all consider when creating our window displays or exhibition stands at wedding and other trade fairs.

To find out more about how the fabulous decor was designed for both the Spring and Toy fair, I asked the decor designers Fiona Fisher CBA and Luc Bertand CBA if they would share their inspiration.

Balloon samples to help determine the colours 

and theme to be used.

Choosing the theme and colours with 

Debbie Magill, Michelle Comerford and

Luc Bertrand!

Each year the teams working on the shows get together many months in advance to decide on the look and colours that will be used for the stands. It was agreed that a modern contemporary look was high on the list of priorities using 'Spring and Flowers' as the theme.

A short overview of this year's Spring Fair & Nuremberg Toy Fair 2015

Stand Decor by Fiona & Rodney Fisher

The NEC Birmingham, England has been the host of Spring Fair since 1976. Spring Fair is Europe's leading presentation of gift and home products and the largest trade exhibition in the UK. From 1st February to 5th February 2015, Qualatex proudly wowed customers with fantastic displays of balloons and decor along with with their fantastic range of balloons and accessories, and introduced many new and exciting products for 2015. 

Qualatex have been exhibiting at Spring Fair for 20 years and I have been part of the Qualatex Spring Fair team for quite a few of those years. It is truly a team effort that makes the stand look so impressive, which we know is very important for visiting guests and prospective customers.

This years stand decor was designed and created by Fiona & Rodney Fisher with the help from the Pioneer Europe team! The colours and design were awesome, impressive giant flowers and garlands using Caribbean Blue, Wild Berry with a hint of 'Fashion' Rainbow Super Agates was simply stunning and stood out from all the other trade stands!

Here's what one of our customers said:

"The stand was beautiful. It was vibrant , colourful , fresh and created alot of ideas to work with in our own business . The spongebob display was a great idea for childrens parties , the pink champagne bottle is a perfect product to add to the hen section or just a girls night out or party , I think it will be a great success . '"- Sonya from Partyworld, Ireland

The great thing about attending a show like this is that there is so much on offer. Not only can you visit your favourite suppliers and find new ones, you get to see firsthand all the great new products that will be available during the year. 

There are great demonstrations and seminars including The Stage where Keith Stirman, Dominic Cassidy and myself presented a range of designs using some of the fantastic new Qualatex balloons, including the beautiful new Wedding Butterfly that adorned both stands! 

After I had finished my stint working at the eduction centre on the Qualatex stand, I took the opportunity to walk around a few of the other exhibition halls. I always like to see what's exciting and new in other markets, especially if I feel that it might be the next big thing that can be used with balloons. You also get the opportunity to see the latest trends too! I discovered some other great seminars going on and was lucky enough to sit in on an e-commerce seminar 'Secrets for e-commerce success', which I found really informative and picked up some really great tips. I think that next year I will try and plan to attend a variety of the seminars especially some of the more creative one's such as display techniques and creative gift wrapping which I feel would be very beneficial in our industry.

Every year Spring Fair and the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany run almost at the same time giving International customers the opportunity to attend both shows - which many do! Once again, the Qualatex stand was beautifully decorated with very elegant and eye-catching decor created by Luc Bertand with a little help from the Pioneer Europe export team.

Stand Decor by Luc Bertrand

Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg, Germany is the largest international trade fair for toys and games held annually since 1949. Only trade visitors associated with the toy business, journalists and invited guests are admitted.








Here is a short presentation of photographs from both the Spring Fair and International Toy Fair.

Michelle Commerford, Head of Sales and Marketing at Pioneer Europe shared her thoughts on this year's shows.

"Nuremberg Toy Fair and Spring Fair International have been exceptionally good for us this year. The 2015 Qualatex Everyday Catalogue (European Version) is 40 pages heavier and all the new products have received great feedback from our customers. It was nice to catch up with old friends and see how their business is doing, as well as meeting new customers and help them start in the balloon business." 

To download a copy of the latest European Qualatex  2015 Everyday Catalogue CLICK HERE

Both Spring Fair and the International Toy Fair are trade shows that are exclusive to trade customers only. To attend either of these shows you need to pre-register, so why not register today for 2016!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue Bowler

www.suebowler.com

Trick or Treat ... great balloon design ideas and more for Halloween!

Funny Face Taper Jack
by Sue Bowler CBA

As a child I remember Halloween as a time when we played fun games like 'dooking' for apples or apple bobbing which is probably a more familiar term for most, but that was more than a few years ago...

Halloween I am excited to say is still on an upward trend, with overall sales in the balloon and party sector increasing year on year! 

So what will you be doing to make this a successful Halloween for you?

(See below for the design recipe to create Funny Face Taper Jack on the left).

From professional tennis player to professional balloon artist.... Fiona Fisher 's incredible journey!

Fiona Fisher CBA

Well known for her amazing balloon sculptures Fiona Fisher's balloon career has grown from strength to strength since she first discovered balloons in 1999!

Fiona has very kindly shared her 'balloon adventure' with the Very Best Balloon Blog...

I have had a very varied working life over the past 36 years:  professional tennis player, antique furniture restorer and cabinet maker, cafe owner and finally, a balloon artist. 

Building the Titanic - an interview with designer Fiona Fisher CBA

The Titanic- designed and created by Fiona & Rodney Fisher

It has been just over a month since Fiona & Rodney Fisher built their 14,000 balloon and 40' replica of the famous liner TITANIC. I was very privileged to have the opportunity to work with them on this amazing project along with John Bowler, Angela Holland & Sandra McKeon.

The Team 

April 15th 2012 marked the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic striking an iceberg and sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was built in Belfast and the city held a series of events to remember its connection to the ill-fated vessel.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate Fiona & Rodney on this awesome project! I think that many balloon artists can learn a great deal from Fiona's experience which she has generously shared with me here in this blog!

How did the Titanic project come about?

"After completing a Halloween project in the Victoria Square shopping mall, future projects were discussed with the centre's management. The next biggest event in Belfast was the Titanic's centenary and when we heard that, we (Rodney and myself) suggested that we could make a scaled version of the ship!

How did you do your research?

"That's Rodney's department! He bought some books and did a lot of internet research. This book shown here contained all the scale plans, and from there he made all the calculations and drawings!

Rodney's calculations!

 How did you know how much to quote?

"Once Rodney had designed the frame, he was able to calculate the amount of aluminium rod, balloons and other materials it would require. Then I needed to work out the labour time which was not so difficult as we used the 'Topiary' technique of adding the balloons to the frame, which is pretty straight forward and easy to work out the timings. So all in all this was probably one of the easier quotes I have had to do"!

How did you present your proposal?

"The proposal was made up of the following:

•  the job would take 4-6 people 4 to 5 days to add the balloons to the frame on site.
•  the frame would be made in advance off site, for both safety and logistical reasons.
•  the sculpture would be suspended using a winch system.

We also include a 'to-do' list and a 'needs to be done' list, which we work through with the client to work out who is responsible for what. To give you an example on our list was safety barriers, team meals to include lunch and evening dinner and accommodation for the team for the duration of the build!

Basically everything was listed and allocated to persons responsible, these lists grew as the project neared. The to-do list is something that we do for every job to ensure that the jobs run smoothly and that everyone knows exactly whats occurring and who is the responsible parties.

The winch ended up being sponsored, how did that happen?

" Rodney was buying supplies for the project and needed to work out the winch system, which would allow us to move the sculpture into it's final suspended position and also, off the ground each day during the building process. When he explained what he was doing WH Scott Ltd became interested in the project and offered to do this as their company had been involved in the original building of the Titanic 100 years ago"!

How would you say that the project went?

" Fantastically! Everything went according to plan, in fact we were ahead of schedule and very very happy with the end result"!

Would you have done anything differently?

" No, the only thing that we had no control over was the weather, we wished that it had been a little warmer... not for our benefit, the night frosts damaged one side of the ship which we had to repair, but we always offer a maintenance service with all our jobs, we pride ourselves on our customer service".

On a personal note, I would like to add how cold it was working in the shopping centre, something that I was un-prepared  for! After sending John to find fingerless gloves and hand warmers, along with wearing many many layers of clothing I was finally warm enough to work and use my fingers... I can strongly recommend hand warmers, they really do work, I kept them inside my gloves whilst working!

Sue working in gloves!

What feedback did you receive from the shopping centre?

"The management were extremely happy with the reaction of the general public. Around 500,000 people visited the centre whilst the Titanic was in place. The shopping mall galleries were always busy with people taking photographs as it was visible from all levels! We have had fantastic press and media coverage from all around the world and one of UK's top television presenters Christine Bleakley " Tweeted" that out of all the amazing tributes to the Titanic in Belfast, that this was one of her favourite! For more media links click here

How do you go about insuring yourself for a project such as this?

"As a member of BAPIA (Balloon and Party Industry Alliance), we were fully covered for all eventualities. There is absolutely no way that we would do any project without knowing that we had full insurance coverage!

Likewise, working with Qualatex balloons is also like an insurance, knowing that we have created an amazing project using 'the VERY BEST BALLOONS'!

Only the best balloons!

 Is this the biggest project that you have ever done?

"Yes, but funnily enough not the hardest... in fact one of the easiest! The hardest project that we did was also in the same centre, when we created Halloween decor for the first time there. We created spiders and ghosts, and because of the elements, in particular the wind that seems to 'rush' through the centre, it managed to force the balloons off the frame, due to the fact that we had secured the spiders legs from moving, however, we learned that by allowing movement within the structure the balloons remained happily in place and everything was fine after that!

Finally, it is 4 weeks since you made the Titanic, have you had any enquiries that you believe are as a direct consequence of the Titanic project?

"Probably the best way to respond to this is yes. But maybe not in the way that you think! For example, we made the frame for the Titanic in an empty retail unit in a local shopping centre, we have now been commissioned by that same shopping centre to design and build decor for the Olympic Torch Relay.

Building the Titanic has created huge public awareness on an International scale, therefore I am able to promote Worldwide Balloons Decor (my decorating company) as a very competent and professional company, and I am finding that I am getting immediate positive response when I quote for new jobs"!

Here are a few more photographs from project Titanic taken by the very talented Ben Hanna

The Titanic frame arriving at Victoria Square shopping mall

Attention to detail and all to scale!

The Titanic would not have been complete without these little models of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio!

For more great pictures and fantastic information regarding the building of the Titanic visit www.buildingtitanic.com, Fiona & Rodney's great website that documents the whole project from conception through to completion!

Once again a huge thank you to both Fiona & Rodney Fisher who invited both myself and John to work on this amazing project and for all the wonderful information that they have shared with the balloon community!

Here are a few of Fiona & Rodney's amazing sculptures!

Happy Ballooning!

 Sue
www.suebowler.com

Building the Titanic... an incredible project!

2012 is a year filled with landmark celebrations and events such as The London Olympics and Paralympics, the Queens Diamond Jubilee and the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic! 

This is a year when many of us can take advantage of these celebrations and offer exciting and unique decor...

I am very excited, I have been asked to be part of the team that will rebuild the Titanic... but this time totally out of balloons, approx. 14,000 give or take a few!

Fiona Fisher CBA

Fiona Fisher CBA of Worldwide Balloon Decor with her husband and business partner Rodney were approached 4 months ago by Victoria Square, shopping centre, Belfast, Ireland, to create a balloon sculpture of the iconic ship TITANIC! Just a few hundred yards away from Victoria Square is the slipway where the Titanic was originally built and launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in 1911. The Titanic's first maiden voyage was on the 10th April 1912 and then tragically sank only 5 days later on the 15th April 1912!

Fiona said "I am really looking forward to the challenge of building the Titanic in Victoria Square, Belfast, as it's so close to where Titanic was originally built.
 All of my projects have to be thoroughly researched, but there is a special pride in this one. Now that I have discovered the amazing skills of the people who built Titanic, I dedicate this project, as a tribute to them, the great ship building empire that we once had in Northern Ireland and to all those who lost their lives on the fate-full maiden voyage. When the public see our scaled down model of Titanic and study all of the background information in Victoria Square, I think a lot of them will be surprised as to how enormous this magnificent ship really was".

Rodney Fisher

The frame will be built in Portadown during March and transported to Victoria Square on the 1st of April, ready for the balloons to be added by the rest of the team... that's me and John (I think they call it a busman's holiday)!!

Rodney is really pleased to be involved in this particular project as Titanic has a special place in history, not just in Northern Ireland but in many countries around the world.

"I know that lots of people from all around the globe will be watching our progress and I hope we can give them an insight into how we go about creating a balloon sculpture of this scale and size".

So what does it take to create such an awesome balloon sculpture? As with all sculptures that Fiona and Rodney build, a great deal of research as taken place. Rodney studied the fabulous book "Titanic the ship magnificent" and spent a significant time doing further research on the internet.

 "We can only use round balloons (Qualatex of course) to build the sculpture. Victoria Square is open on three sides and can have strong winds blowing through plus a large temperature fluctuations at this time of year".

Fiona & Rodney work extremely well as a team, Rodney designs the frames and Fiona works out how she wants the sculpture to look with the balloons added... sometimes an initial idea on how it will all fit together just doesn't work, so they allow plenty of time to play around with ideas so that they get as close as possible to the end result.

Rodney has kindly shared some of his working plans, I am in awe of the amount of pre-planning and designing that has already taken place!

-

I will keep my blog up-to-date with progress on this project, and I will also give a day by day report when we are working on the project in April... along with many many photo's!

If you would like to read more about this amazing balloon project visit www.buildingtitanic.com

Do you have any exciting projects in the planning stages for 2012 that you would like to share within the balloon community... we would love to hear!

I will be looking at the other 2012 MILESTONE celebrations and share some of my ideas with you over the next few months!

Sue