It's All About the Framework

I am always in awe of the incredible balloon sculptures and those who build them. I have to confess, this style of balloon design is definitely not something that is within my skill level. There is a great deal of detail in the planning and preparation.

Something that I was told very early on in my ballooning career is that a balloon sculpture is only as good as the frame that it is built on, and I could not agree more! 

At the recent Moscow Balloon Festival, the Qualatex sponsored team, Alexander Solomatin, Vadim Shushkanov, Dmitry Novikov, Vadim Nesterenko with other fabulous artists created this incredible Gorilla sculpture! I have always loved the work of Alexander Solomatin, Vadim Shushkanov and Dmitry Novikov. Every sculpture that they have ever created has been outstanding, but for me, this has to be one of their very best! 

When I first saw this sculpture, I was as impressed with the framework as I was with the end result! 

As I stated at the start of this post, it's all about the framework, so today, I would like to talk a little bit about frames and what you will need to make them.

As with any design, you will first need to determine what you are going to make. This could be something specific for a client or it might be your opportunity to build a sculpture for a competition.

You first need to determine how your sculpture is going to be supported. For example will it be suspended or freestanding? Taking all aspects of the job into account will help determine how ridged the framework needs to be.

The three basic framework materials that are used by balloon specialists are PVC pipe, EMT (or conduit); and aluminium rod. Looking at the framework below, the majority of the frame is made from different thicknesses of aluminium rod, with thicker rods for the main structure and thinner rods for the detail on the face and arms. Once the frame structure is made, it is carefully wrapped in a strong netting or sometimes chicken wire, which is how the balloons are attached.

PVC PIPE

PVC pipe is the white plastic pipe commonly used for plumbing and drainage, and is readily available from home-improvement stores. PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride. PVC has an extremely durable nature, and is lightweight, making it an appealing material when constructing sculpture frames. It comes in many different sizes, but the most commonly used in the balloon industry is the 1/2" - 3/4" piping as you can easily add balloon clusters and it is also easy to cut and bend. PVC piping can be used to create arches and circles, and when heated you can create right angle bends and curves within the piping.

EMT/CONDUIT

EMT, also called conduit, is tubing used by the electrical trade to encase electrical wires. It is readily available for purchase from hardware and home-improvement stores.

Like PVC, conduit comes in many sizes from 1/2" to 1" and in a variety of different lengths. 

EMT can be bent using a pipe bender tool, these are also available from hardware stores. Conduit can be cut with a hacksaw, but the preferred method is to use a pipe cutter.

ALUMINIUM ROD

Aluminium rod and bar is produced by several different processes namely extrusion, rolling and coiling, or drawn directly from molten aluminium. Aluminium wire is used primarily in electrical transmission applications due to its superior conductivity and non-corrosive nature. Though aluminium rod is generally not available from hardware or home-improvement stores, some balloon wholesalers also sell it and it is also available from metal suppliers.

The most common sizes of aluminium rod used by balloon artists are 3/16" (4.76mm) , 1/4" (6.35mm) and 5/16" (7.93mm), however, there are many sizes available. The thicker the rod, the more difficult it is to bend.

The best way to cut aluminium rod is with bolt cutters. Investing in a good pair will help you to save time and energy! 

The easiest way to bend aluminium rod is to place a 4" - 6" length of EMT over the rod when bending to give you leverage. Make sure to keep the rod flat when bending it so that the frame does not warp. With lots of small bends, patience, and practice, you will create some great looking frames! 

Duct tape is the best method for securing aluminium rod frames. When taping two parallel pieces of rod together, overlap them by at least 4" - 6". If you are taping two perpendicular pieces of rod together, male and "L" shape first, then tape both ends securely. Duct tape can also be used to cover the sharp ends of the rod and EMT too.

BASES

To support your framework construction, you will need heavy bases. These are not so easy to buy off the shelf these days, so you may need to look into having some made for you. Steel base plates are the best, especially for outdoor work. Wooden bases, though not as heavy as steel can be weighted down by adding additional weights. 

When I visit events such as the Moscow Balloon Festival, the World Balloon Convention and other ballooning events, I love to watch the sculptures being made. 

Who cannot be spell-bound by those riveting eye's in the picture above! And for anyone who loves Fantasy Flowers, those leaves are made from 3ft balloons stretched on an aluminium rod... I tried this once without much success.

The Team!
Alexander Solomatin, Vadim Shushkanov, Dmitry Novikov, Vadim Nesterenko, 

I know that the Russian team loves to compete, and I asked Vadim to explain why?

"For me, there are two of the most important benefits of balloon contests. First of all, every competition is a great opportunity to create a sculpture you hardly ever make in different circumstances. Almost all of the balloon competitions in the world relate to art, not business. There are no customers with their wishes and requests, you don't need to think if somebody can buy your work, you're completely free to share your thoughts and ideas through balloons. Isn't it the best option to feel like a true balloon artist?

And secondly, each competition makes you improve your professional skills. If you would like to build an impressive sculpture, you have to solve a lot of problems. You need to search and try many colour combinations, balloon technics, methods and materials for frames or create something completely new. This sort of experience always rises your professional level and gives a huge background for using in everyday work."

I hope that you find this sculpture as incredible as I do! If working on a large sculpture like this is something that appeals to you, I recommend that you attend a balloon event/convention that has a large sculpture competition and sign up as a helper. It will be one of your best experiences ever, and who knows, it may lead you to entering  your own sculpture one day! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler

Qualatex @ The Moscow Balloon Festival 2019

Beautiful "Mythical Caticorn" Column Design
by Larisa Ketskalo, CBA and Anhelika Vahurna, CBA.

This year the Moscow Balloon Festival celebrated its 20th Anniversary, and it certainly did not disappoint! I first attended the festival in 2002, and so much has changed since my first visit! This event is sponsored by different balloon, equipment and accessory manufacturers, and many of the competitions are sponsored by different balloon companies. It is always very interesting to see how different manufacturer's products have  an impact on a design - but in my opinion the Qualatex Chrome balloons really stood out this year! 

1st Place Winners of the Master Sculpture Competition
Olga Baranova, Olga Samoilova, Tatyana Dyusmetova,
Ekaterina Poroshkina, Artem Sadovnikov, Tatiana Afanasieva.

Many of the Russian balloon professionals who attend this event are extremely talented. I would even go as far as saying that they are probably some of the best in the world! It was an absolute joy to be able to see their incredible work up close!

Attendee's attending the festival were greeting with fabulous Qualatex decor created by
Olga Baranova, CBA & Olga Samoilova, CBA.

Two of the teams at this year's festival were sponsored by Qualatex, and I am delighted to report that each team did exceptionally well. Between the two of them they won many of the competitions!

SD Shar Team:
Alexander Solomatin
Vadim Shushkanov
Dmitry Novikov
Vadim Nesterenko
Olga Nesterenko
Armen Egshatyaan

Olga Baranova,
Olga Samoilova,
Tatyana Dyusmetova, 
Ekaterina Poroshkina,
Artem Sadovnikov,
Tatiana Afanasieva.

First Place Winner of the Masters Large Sculpture - Team Captain Olga Baranova, CBA

Here are a few words from team captain Olga Baranova who, in a message on Facebook, describes her joy, happiness and gratitude to her team members. The text was in Russian and with the help of translate I have changed it to English, and although it's probably not a perfect translation, you can definitely feel her excitement!

"The 20th Balloon Festival in Moscow!!! The most prestigious and most awaited event of the year!!! The whole thing flew by one breath!! Joyful meetings, nice news, open family faces!!!This year, the team "Group of Comrades" performed at the Moscow Festival for the seventh time, and showed a very high level of skill in all categories of festival works!!! We did it! We did it, we have the first place in the nomination "Big Sculpture" in the Masters League!!!! We made a gorgeous dress, very worthily worn by Katya on the podium!!!My dear, comrades, thank you for this competition, for the atmosphere on the set, for understanding with half words and half-looks! And despite the fact that the preparation was not easy at all, we did decent work and became winners!!! Our bird of happiness revealed its wings!!!! and yes, happiness is!!!!!"

Here are a few more photographs and designs from Olga's Team!

Grand Prix Winner (the team that scores the most points overall) and Third Place Winner of the Masters Large Sculpture - Team Captain Alexander Solomatin, CBA.

Team Captain Alexander first attended the Moscow Balloon Festival 2008. He attended one of Alberto Falcone's classes, and this experience changed both his balloon perspective and life forever.  

 I asked Alexander if he would tell me a little bit about this years festival and what it meant to him.

"This year the Moscow Festival was very important for me. This was the first time after a long break that we reunited with almost our original team, which in 2014 saw us win our first prizes in the industry. Working with my old friends side by side gave me great happiness.  

It took us a very long time to find an idea for our large sculpture; it was our 20th sculpture and we didn’t want to do something boring or repeat ourselves. As a prototype we chose the dragon 'Drogon' from the 'Games of Thrones' series. We have waited a long time to create this dragon. The biggest problem creating such an impressive figure for the balloon festival is that it is very difficult to make it realistic and well detailed. So we decided to make only a head, and the image that we chose made it rather risky because we decided to build it on the diagonal of the site, and with the direction not from bottom to top, but from top to bottom. Initially, we transferred the image to a large scale grid, and day-after-day we measured each corner by a millimeter, this allowed us to create an accurately scaled wireframe structure. 

In total, the creating of this figure took us around two weeks. It was precisely calibrated and meticulous work on each line and every corner of the figure that gave such a realistic result in the end. We are very happy that we decided to do it and we believe that at the moment it is the pinnacle of our career. I would like to express my gratitude to all members of our team: Dmitry Novikov, Vadim Shushkanov, Vadim Nesterenko, Olga Nesterenko, Armen Yegshatyan."

The picture of the complete Drogon head can be seen above and in greater detail on the video.

It is always an absolute joy and pleasure to attend the Moscow Balloon Festival. Seeing in excess of thirty large sculptures in one room is awe-inspiring! The level of design, creativity, and skill is truly breath-taking! I love how each team embraces the competition categories, and different members of the team take on lead roles in each of these categories. The fashion show is one of my personal highlights; not only are the costumes pure works of art that demonstrate an incredible skillset, the designs and models are also choreographed to music, which makes the show even more exciting!

My role at the festival was to share some of my design ideas and to showcase the magnificent range of Qualatex balloons to the delegates. Here are a few of the designs that I demonstrated:

"Selling the Dream" Tropical Balloon Wall by Sue Bowler, CBA

Valentines Designs by Sue Bowler

International Woman's Day - March 8th by Sue Bowler

Halloween Surprise Box design by Sue Bowler

A huge congratulations to the organisers, Europa Uno Trade and all those involved for another tremendous event! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

Russian Balloon Artists Olga Baranova, CBA and Olga Samoilova, CBA share their creative flair!

I recently attended the 15th Moscow Balloon Festival and I can honestly say that I was completely blown away by the incredible balloon art that was  exhibited at this event! 

One of this year's design teams was headed up by formidable artists Olga Baranova, CBA and Olga Samoilova, CBA. You might be familiar with these artists as they won first place Large Sculpture at the World Balloon Convention 2014, and then went on to win first place Master Sculpture at BACI 2014.



Olga Baranova CBA & Olga Samoilova, CBA run a very successful balloon business, Sonlnechny Veter (or Sun Veter which translates to "Sunny Wind") from their home city of Samara, Russia.

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