Magical Unicorn - A hot trend and a fabulous new design idea from Luc Bertrand, CBA!

38" Magical Unicorn

If you think that the unicorn is a craze just for children, then you are mistaken. Everyone is unicorn crazy, and it's a trend that is set to stay for a few years yet!

This magical theme is the perfect for birthday parties and Luc Bertand, CBA, of wAw Balloons in Vichte, Belgium, has kindly shared one of his latest designs with the Very Best Balloon Blog!

"Playful Rainbow" Unicorn by Luc Bertrand

Material List

• 11" Purple Violet Big Stars #38460 - assorted colours
• 5" White #43607
• 12" White Quick Links #64151
• 6" Spring Lilac Quick Link #90200
• 6" Robin's Egg Blue Quick Link #90424
• 6" Lime Green Quick Link #90178
• 6" Pink Quick Link #90180
• 5" Yellow #43609
• 260Q White #43962
• 5" Rose #43600
• 38" Magical Unicorn #57352

To Make Unicorn Body

• Make a 4-balloon cluster using the 11" Purple Violet Big Stars inflated to approximately 8". Add a weight into the base.
• Make 3 x 4-balloon clusters using 5" White inflated to 4".
• Add one of these clusters into the base cluster.
• Inflate 2 x 12" White Quick links to approximately 10" and tie together. Connect to the base, and add the remaining white balloons clusters at the centre and to the top.
• To make the Unicorn tail, inflate one of each of the colours as shown in the picture and decrease the size of each balloon from the Spring Lilac (largest) to the Yellow (smallest.)
• Inflate the 260Q White balloons to make the arms, add a double pinch twist at the knotted end of the balloon, and secure a 5" Rose inflated to approximately 4". Repeat the process for the second arm. Secure the arms together allowing a little stretch between the knots (see picture 3 above.)

The body of the Unicorn is all air-filled.

The Head

• Inflate the Magical Unicorn head with helium, and secure to a small weight as shown in picture 1. This will ensure that the helium balloon cannot float away if disconnected from the body and therefore does not break the California Law and follows the Smart Balloon Practice.
• Cover the weight with an un-inflated latex balloon - Picture 2.
• Add head to the body - Picture 4.

This is a truly fabulous design and I am sure that they will be very popular with our customers! A huge thank you to Luc for sharing this beautiful design with us all.

Just in case you have not seen the full unicorn range, check out these fabulous new balloons!

18" "Have a Magical Day"
 #57262 (packaged)
 #57260 (flat)

18" "Birthday Magical Unicorn"
#57319 (packaged)
#57317 (flat)

11" "Unicorn" Diamond Clear with Gold Ink
#57435

Happy Magical Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Fabulous Air-Filled Bubble Garland by Cam Woody, CBA.

Air-Filled Bubble Garland by Cam Woody, CBA of Pioneer^® Balloon Company.

Have you tried out the new 12" Air-Filled Bubbles yet? These balloons are all the fun of a Bubble Balloon^® but in a smaller size! Sold in packs of 10, they are perfect for air-filled store displays, point-of-sale purchases, and can be used for fun decor accents. 

Follow these simple steps to create perfect Air Bubbles.

Step 1. Remove Bubble from foil packaging. If you do not intend to inflate all 10 Air Bubbles at the same time, I recommend that you reseal the packet using your heat sealer or place into a zip-lock bag to prevent the Bubbles from drying out.

Step 2. Inflate Air Bubble using a hand pump until the balloon is fully inflated and has no wrinkles at the edges.

Step 3. Using a heat sealer, seal the Bubble. I like to start close to the opening of the balloon, rather than higher nearer the actual balloon. This gives me the opportunity to try again if it fails the first time. The heat sealer needs to be set to a low temperature. I recommend starting on setting 2. You may need to adjust slightly, either way depending on your own heat sealer.

Watch the short video below to see how to inflate and heat seal the 12" Air-Bubble.

If you do not have a heat sealer, you can still work with these wonderful balloons! Simply inflate an 11" latex balloon inside! The video below will show you how.



Here is a fabulous idea from Cam Woody, CBA, who shows us how to create this wonderful air-filled Bubble Garland that will last a very long time! Perfect for window displays, long lasting decor, and outside decor too!

• Air-inflate and heat seal all the Bubble balloons that you need for your Garland.
• Roll up the neck of each of the Bubble balloons with curling ribbon, then curl gently to create soft curls.
• Connect each Bubble together using a small piece of Clik-Clik™ Stretchy Balloon Tape. This tape is exceptionally strong and will hold the balloons together really well. 

• Create connection points at each end of the Garland, once again using Stretchy Balloon Tape and ribbon which will enable you to position your Garland.

I love this Garland. It's fun, strong and very long-lasting! Congratulations Cam on an awesome design idea! 

12" Bubbles are available in a variety of different prints, so you can easily adapt the Garland to suit different occasions or themes. Check out the range by clicking HERE.

Happy Ballooning!


Sue
www.suebowler.com

Trade Secrets - Confetti-Filled Deco Bubbles - Tina Giunta, CBA, shares her fabulous technique!

Everyone loves confetti-filled Deco Bubbles. They are fashionable, on-trend and hugely popular with customers. But so many of us are having difficulties making the confetti stick to give an even coverage inside the balloon.

The wonderful Tina Giunta, CBA, of Shivoo Balloons in Melbourne, Australia, has mastered the technique and made this awesome video to show us her top tips on how to create this fabulous effect with success every time!

Materials

• 20" or 24" Qualatex^® Deco Bubble
• Mixed metallic and tissue confetti - 5 - 6 grams (.2 oz)
• Small plastic funnel - Funnel nozzle should fit neatly into the neck of the Bubble Balloon^®.
• Helium with tilt valve attachment
• Hand Pump
• Scrap of 260Q
• Ribbon
• Cloth - Tina suggests that you try with different types of cloth: cotton, nylon, wool, even a kitchen cloth!

Tina is one of our fabulous World Balloon Convention 2018 instructors. Make sure that you sign up for her classes early as they are sure to be very popular! 
Tina will be teaching "Yes, You Can Do Organic" along with fellow instructors Chris Adamo, CBA, and Matt Lewis, CBA, and "Theme Party Centrepieces!"

A huge thank you to Tina for sharing this wonderful technique! I am sure that many of us will benefit greatly from your video!


Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com

Fun, Quick, and Highly Sellable Air-Filled Balloon Characters - Step by Step Video

Today, I want to share with you two, fun, quick, and highly sellable air-filled balloon characters. The great thing about both of these designs is that they can be easily adapted for any occasion. These designs are ideally suited for those who are just starting out and learning new and exciting techniques.

Design 1 - "Funsational Birthday Smiles"

Design 2 - "Mini Smile Face Party Guy"

Just click on the video below to see step-by-step how these fabulous designs are made. 

I hope that you enjoyed learning how to create these adorable, sellable balloon characters! Once you learn the simple steps to making designs like these, you can easily adapt your skills to make many other versions.

Like this awesome "Stache-tastic Father's Day" character! 

Or this adorable "Big Graduation Thumbs Up" by Cam Woody, CBA, Pioneer® Balloon Company. It's so easy to add value to a bouquet of balloons by simply adding a little character to the base.

Finding inspiration is easy with Qualatex^®. Simply visit www.Qualatex.com and head to the Inspiration Page; it's packed with so many wonderful designs, and many of these have downloadable recipes if you are a QBN member.

A huge thank you to Rob, Greg, and Balloon Market TV who very generously sponsored the filming and editing of this video. 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

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Stuart Davies on Disney and the Pride London Parade.

Photo courtesy of Disney U.K.

After only four years of developing and growing his small family run balloon business, Stuart Davies, CBA, of Beyond Balloons in South Wales, U.K., has already established an enviable client list. Stuart very generously shares his recent experience working with Walt Disney International to create fabulous interactive decor for the Pride London Parade made entirely with Qualatex^® balloons!

Stuart Davies at Pride London.

Check out this great video interview with Stuart. It's a fabulous opportunity to learn from another balloon professionals' experience working with a large corporate client on a high profile job. Stuart shares his challenges working with balloons outside and on the move, and also his thoughts on how to develop and grow a successful balloon business.

Preparation work commenced three days before the event, with Stuart spending one day prepping the Disney Logo framework in his workshop, and then two days on site. As you can see, the work area filled up pretty quickly! Stuart worked with a fabulous team of balloon professionals as well as enthusiastic Disney staff who he taught how to inflate and tie balloons — around 13,000 to be precise!

Disney logo made!

Working with balloons is always fun!

Disney U.K. staff on the Pride London Parade.

A big thank you to Stuart for sharing his experience working on this fabulous project and also for imparting so many inspiring business tips. Many balloon companies strive to work with the corporate sector.  Stuart's determination to build his balloon business beyond his small Welsh town is commendable, proving that

location is not necessarily the key to success! 

Happy ballooning!

Sue 

www.suebowler.com

Chris Adamo Invents a 24" Deco Bubble Balloon Stuffing Tool!

Everyone loves Qualatex^® Deco Bubbles. These personalised Deco Bubbles filled with 5" balloons are a top-selling line for many balloon businesses worldwide.

Chris Adamo, CBA, of Balloons Online in Sydney, Australia, is always looking at ways to make his production systems more efficient, and once again he has invented a natty device that will help when inflating 5" latex balloons inside a 24" Deco Bubble using a Conwin Dual Split Second Sizer. If you do not own this type of equipment, you could use a trigger valve outlet on a hose to achieve a similar result.

Let's start by watching Chris's video that will show us how the tool works! Afterwards, we can see the steps on how he constructed it.

Chris is certainly the master of invention when it comes to making production a little easier.

Here are some other fabulous tools that Chris has very generously shared with the balloon industry!

Balloon Industry Design and Calculator

Balloon Confetti Applicator

Bubble Jig - how to control a Bubble Balloon when applying vinyl

A huge thank you to the wonderful Chris Adamo for sharing his awesome inventions with the Very Best Balloon Blog!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Spot on Trend!

Everyone loves dots! 

Fashions come and go, but the wonderful polka dot remains a firm favourite in many industries, including the party sector.

Some people consider polka dots to be childlike, whereas others feel that they have a retro feel about them. With the introduction of the new Qualatex® Diamond Clear with Gold Confetti Dots and the Diamond Clear with Gold Big Polka Dots, we can add the words "trendy" and "sophisticated" to our list too!






Wow, what a stunning combination, my 2017 favourite 18" "Birthday Pink & Gold Dots" Microfoil^® balloon, with the equally wonderful "Gold Confetti Dots" latex balloons. I can see us selling many of these gorgeous balloon bouquets!

11"— "Gold Confetti Dots" Diamond Clear #55450.
11" — "Gold Big Polka Dots" Diamond Clear #55452.
18" — "Birthday Pink & Gold Dots" #49164

If you have not seen the fabulous 2017 Qualatex Autumn and Winter balloon range yet, you can view it now by clicking HERE.

For decor, how about this fantastic Big Dots & Glitz Birthday Arch designed by Luc Bertrand, CBA, of wAw Balloons in Vichte, Belgium. 

This magnificent milestone Arch is perfect for anyone entering a new decade of life with "Big Dots & Glitz" Microfoils.

Tina Giunta, CBA, of Shivoo Balloons in Melbourne, Australia, wows us with her Baby Toes & Tassels design. She pairs colourful polka dots with coordinating tassels with this on-trend arrangement.

Polka dot balloons are so very versatile and work with so many different themes and occasions. They also coordinate wonderfully with many Qualatex Microfoil balloons!

Don't forget to check out the fabulous new Qualatex website for more amazing design ideas in the NEW Inspiration page.

I would love to see your favourite designs using Qualatex Polka Dot balloons! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com

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