Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Part 3 The Beginners Guide to the Elements & Principles of Design - Texture & Balance

Texture is the final 'element' of design that we are going to look at in this series of blogs, we have already looked at Colour in Part 1 and Line in Part 2.

Texture

When working on balloon decor it is often harder to create a design that has contrasting textures as the visual texture of a balloon is the same. However if we can include other components with a different textural difference we are able to create designs with greater impact, therefore we need to look at other mediums to help us achieve this.


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This is a great example of texture, this centrepiece design is based around the Peacock Accent Pattern Diamond AccentsTM Microfoil® Balloon #41227. To enhance this centrepiece design a feather boa, faux feathers and coiled metallic decorative wires have been used, all giving different visual textures that strengthen's the theme, making this a fantastic design.


This design can be found on the Qualatex website in the Wedding Business Booster along with the instructions on how to make it!











Thursday, September 4, 2014

Drawing a face on a balloon.

A face can be the most important feature when creating a character, it is the first thing that we look at, it’s the focal point of a design.

A face can be simple, or with a little more detail they can show some great expressions!

Design by 游小白 - I love this design and the face, it's simple but it's perfect!

I know that many of you will be saying that you are not artistic (I can hear you), but I hope that I can give you a few pointers that will help you to have a go!

I would say that I am not a natural artist, but I am pretty good at copying, so when I am creating a character I look for idea’s and inspiration to help me.

So where do I find my inspiration? I use a variety of different sources including Google search and Pinterest using key search words to help me to find what I am looking for.


Saturday, August 30, 2014

Photographs Q & A with Sue Bowler, Eleonore Verfaillie and Susan Fleming.

Photographs are a very big and important part of the balloon industry, we need them to inspire our customers, but what are the rules, especially when we are new or unfamiliar with social media etiquette.

In this blog we would like to try and answer some of the many questions regarding the use of photographs, the difference between someone taking a picture versus someone sharing a picture on social media sites and the rules regarding the use of Qualatex pictures and images.

Here is a short video clip that will hopefully answer a few of these questions.




So here are a few points to remember:

Monday, August 25, 2014

Part 2 The Beginners Guide to Elements & Principles of Design - Line

Last week I posted part 1 of this new series of beginners guides to Elements and Principles of Designs, just in case you missed it you can click HERE for a link, it's all about colour!

Today I want to look at 'LINE' and how it plays an important role within our designs. I think many of us just make our decor like an arch or column without ever considering why we do what we do, but hopefully once you start to understand a little more about 'E & P's', you will  be able to use these to maximise the impact of your work!


Line
Line is the outline of your design or arrangement- triangular, circular, curved etc. it also refers to the lines within you design. Greater impact is created by creating lines of movement with the design that you are making. Lines create paths for your eyes to follow. The direction of those lines lead to and from the focal point. 

Lines can work in different ways;


 Vertical - creates drama and impact.
 Horizontal - represents tranquility
 Diagonal - expresses uncertainty
 Curved - reflecting grace.

Lines are created by using like material normally of the same colour and sometimes graduated in size which are positioned to create rhythmic paths.

Lets look at LINE within a selection of designs:

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Air-Filled Funky Monkey Step-by-Step Design


Taking less than 10 minutes to make, this is a great design for retail, delivery and decor too! Standing over 3ft tall (1m) this monkey is perfect for a variety of occasions by simply adding additional balloons which we will look at after we have learnt to make this 'cheeky chappy'.

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Funky Monkey Balloon Sculpture by Sue Bowler CBA


Monday, August 11, 2014

Part 1 Beginners Guide to the Elements and Principles of Design - Colour

Elements & Principles of Design

Creating the 'perfect' design is not something that just happens, well not for most of us anyway!  There are a number of factors that make it a perfect design, so lets take a look at what those factors are?

Elements of Design:
These are parts that make up the design, you can either touch or see the elements of design. These include colour, line, shape and texture.

Principles of Design: 
The basic principles of design include unity, proportion and scale, balance, rhythm and harmony.

By applying the principles to the elements of design brings them together into one design. How you apply these principles determines how successful a design may be!

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Pricing for Profit!

Last week I saw a beautiful Christening cake which was being proudly shown off by the lady who had ordered it for her Granddaughters Christening that weekend. Standing next to the cake was the very talented young lady who made it. I asked her if cake making was her profession as she was obviously very talented, she replied, "no, I only do this as a hobby as I don't think anyone will pay what the cakes are really worth, I only just cover my costs, but I really love making cakes so I don't mind".

I wonder how many people working in our industry feel the same, that they cannot charge the true value for their work?

When I started my home based business over 20 years ago I had no idea how to cost my work, like the lovely cake maker, I loved what I did! I enjoyed the challenge of learning new skills and being able to put them into practise, every penny that I charged was used to buy my next batch of balloons, helium and accessories, there was never any left over for me!

My turning point was when I joined the Qualatex Balloon Network and worked through the business section of the course... it really did teach me how to cost my work!

I wrote a blog almost a year ago called: 'How Much Should I Charge For That', so I don't want to repeat everything that I wrote then, however, after doing some research recently I found a great online workshop that for me was pretty inspirational!
The 'How Much Should I Charge for That', blog shows you how to use the Job Cost form in detail, if you have not read that blog you might find it worth reading after you have read through this one!

The workshop is featured on Etsy and is called Etsy Success: The Art of Pricing for Profit, hosted by Megan Auman and Tara Gentile.