It's Time to Say Goodbye to 2018 and Hello to 2019!

On this New Year's Eve, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a superb January, a dazzling February, a peaceful March, an anxiety free April, a sensational May, and Joy that keeps going from June to November, and then round off with a fizz-popping December!

Thank you all for continuing to support the Very Best Balloon Blog, and for all the lovely messages that I received throughout the year - It is very gratifying to know the blog is helpful and inspiring many of you! I am very much looking forward to writing the Very Best Balloon Blog next year, and would welcome any ideas or suggested topics that you would like me to cover - just drop me a message at suebowlercba@gmail.com.

I would also like to say a huge thank you to some of this year's amazing contributors and guest bloggers! They have all very generously given their time to inspire and help others in the balloon industry! To check out some of their posts, just click on their name!

Connie Iden-Monds, CBA, Party Animals in Nashville, Tennesse, USA.

Sara and Mike Harris, both CBAs of For Every Occasion in Rhyl, UK.

Barry Revell, CBA, of Lightitup Balloons in Perth, Australia.

Avital and Nir Schechter, CBA's of Baloney Nir in Katzrin, Israel.

Jackie Ochitwa, CBA, of With a Twist Balloon Creations in Alberta, Canada.

Ruti Grodkinsky, CBA, of Designed by Ruti - Balloon Decor Israel.

Luc Bertrand, CBA, of Waw Balloons in Vichte, Belgium.

Jill Shortreed, CBA, of Charleston Balloon Company in Mount Pleasant, SC, USA.

Chris Adamo, CBA, of Balloons Online in Sydney, Australia.

Stuart Davies, CBA, of Beyond Balloons in South Wales, U.K.

Michelle Severino, CBA, of Party Splendour in Peakhurst, NSW.

Caity Byrne, CBA of All About balloons in Washington, D.C., USA.

Tina Giunta, CBA, of Shivoo Balloons in Melbourne, Australia.

Zoe Adams-Jones, CBA, of Jaz Trading in Queensland, Australia.

Toñy Moncada, CBA of Globofiesta, in Elche, Alicante, Spain.

And of course a huge thank you to Qualatex^® who sponsor the blog! 

I believe that we will have a few challenges in 2019, but if we work together we should be able to overcome many of these and grow and prosper for many years to come! 

Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year and looking forward to seeing you next year! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

#suebowler

2018 - Let's Take A Quick Look at our Ballooning Year!

2018 started with what can only be described as a revolutionary new latex balloon - Qualatex^® Chrome™ Balloons!

A latex balloon unlike any other with a rich, shiny metallic finish that looks simply stunning! 

Over the past year I have seen some fabulous designs and decor created using Chrome balloons. There are so many to choose from, but here are a few of my favourites!

Natasha Nordin, CBA of the London Balloon Boutique

Natasha Nordin, CBA, of the London Balloon Boutique, London, U.K. used 11" Chrome Gold balloons to create these fabulous balloon covered pillars. I love the precision and metallic ball-bearing effect that this decor creates.

Design by Spark's in Beirut, Lebanon.

I love this "Chrome" design by Sparks, in Beirut, Lebanon. Chrome balloons turn to "glass" when double-stuffed with a Jewel Tone balloon over the top! I re-named this balloon type as a Jewel-Chrome!

Design by Zoe Adam-Jones, Jaz Trading, Queensland, Australia.

Zoe Adam-Jones, CBA, of Jaz Trading in Queensland, Australia recently shared this beautiful organic style Chrome and greenery Christmas tree, which is absolutely stunning! 

On the 24th January we saw the launch of the fabulous new on-line show Q Corner Live! Hosted by the very funny, witty, occasionally a little bit naughty but always sincere, Keith Stirman, CBA, and Dominic Cassidy, CBA. Over the past year, Keith and Dom have presented this interactive "EDU-TAINMENT" show that offers a wide variety of topics including Business and Marketing Tips, New Product Features, Question and Answer Sessions, Industry Interviews and lots more! If you have not already subscribed, click on the link to make sure that you never miss an episode! https://youtube.com/qcornershow and check back on some of their earlier shows too if you missed them the first time round! 

San Diego - World Balloon Convention 2018!

Welcome Decor by Stuart Davies, CBA

From March 14-17, 2018 the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina was filled with nearly 900 ballooning delegates! Attendees travelled from far and wide from 52 different countries to enter competitions, attend many fabulous classes, and participate with building event decor as well as attend the grand events! Words cannot truly describe how fabulous this event is. It's not just a learning experience, it's probably the most energising and exciting ballooning opportunity that you will ever experience! If you don't believe me, just check out this fabulous mini documentary that follows the WBC journey of the Canadian "Twisted Team"!

Final Night Decor by Olga Baranova, CBA, and
Olga Samoilova, CBA.

Design class with Luiz Carlos da Costa Silva, CBA.

The next World Balloon Convention will be held in Orlando, Florida - March 23-25 2021! You have plenty of time to save - try saving a small percentage from each of your 2019 balloon jobs towards the cost, you will be amazed at how quickly your savings will grow! 

Organic balloon decor still remains one of this year's top selling styles of balloon decor!

I had the opportunity to create this fabulous balloon and flower wall a few months ago for a corporate client. They loved it - and so did I! Not only was it organic, it featured beautiful shades of pastel coloured balloons which blended really well with the faux flowers. Pastel shades is another growing trend that I am sure that we will see much more of in 2019! 

Trending Balloons

There have been some wonderful trends this year, some new, and others continue to grow from last year! What is your favourite?

Donut

Toucan

Llama

Mermaid

Flamingo

Unicorn

Balloons and the Environment

This became one of the hottest topics in 2018 and something that all ballooning professionals need to be aware of. We have a number of different bodies fighting our corner and when I say fighting I really mean it! In Europe we have the European Balloon and Party Council (EBPC). And in the U.S. we have The Balloon Council (TBC). Both councils are represented by leading balloon and equipment manufacturers, gas companies and many other party related companies! 

Earlier this year, EBPC launched a new website - www.partysafe.eu - you will find a wealth of information related to guidance and product safety.

Many of you will have heard of PEBA - the Pro Environment Balloon Alliance. PEBA is working tirelessly to represent the balloon industry.

I really don't want to gloss by this topic, and will be writing a full up-date blog post in the new year. If you are unsure what EPBC, PEBA and The Balloon Council are doing to help support the balloon industry, I recommend that you check out each of their websites - I have added links to make it easy for you to find them.

And finally...

Images Magazine and Balloon Magic are going digital!

From the new year, both Images Magazine and Balloon Magic will be available online and will be free!

Here are a few facts!

• The last print issue of Balloon Images is October/November/December 2018.
• The last print issue of Balloon Magic is issue #93, which will be mailed in December 2018.
• Starting in 2019, both publications will be hosted on qualatex.com.
• All content will be free, but there will be exclusive content for QBN members in the Balloon Images issues.
• The issues will feature valuable content for today’s digital age including:  video tutorials, downloadable marketing materials, links to helpful content on other sites, and much more!
• Both publications will be translated to languages currently supported on qualatex.com.
• People living outside of the United States will no longer have to wait weeks or months to receive their issues because it will now be delivered to your email inbox.
• Be sure to join the Qualatex email list  and subscribe to the individual publication lists to receive an email as soon as the issues go live.
• Qualatex will still produce a print publication that will be released annually.  The first, to be called The Very Best of 2018, is planned to be available for purchase  January 2019 for approximately $12 USD +shipping.

This is just a small collection of 2018 moments, I am sure that I have missed many! I am very excited to see what 2019 brings us! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

Building Those Stunning Disney PRIDE UK & Ireland Mouse Heads - My Day Working With Stuart Davies

Earlier this month I was given the opportunity in London to join Stuart Davies, CBA, of Beyond Balloons in South Wales along with his very talented son and daughter, Kai and Kerys Davies, to assist with building the fabulous interactive decor for Walt Disney International for the 2018 Pride London Parade.

Rainbow Mouse Heads designed by Stuart, Kai and Kerys Davies

Stuart first landed this fabulous contract with Disney last year for the 2017 Pride London Parade. After his amazing success, Disney did not hesitate to ask him to design and make the decor once again. Stuart was also commissioned to create the decor for Disney at the 2018 Dublin Pride, too! 

The Big Picture 

Being able to give a client a clear idea of what you are proposing is a great way to get them excited. Stuart shares his proposal design. Above is the proposal which Stuart designed using Microsoft Publisher and below is the actual end result! 

Stuart confesses that at the proposal stage he had not worked out how he was going to make each of the designs - he still had plenty of time to do that! Stuart said "At this concept stage you don't need a huge amount of detail. Your job is to give that 'Big Picture.' The emotions, the feelings, the impact it will have - the detail comes later."

Probably one of Stuart's biggest challenges was to design the rainbow-striped Mickey Mouse heads.

There were four major issues in creating this design:

1. Converting a 2D design into 3D. 
2. Creating a viable structure more than 4ft. in size that could be moved around. Plus, a design that could be taught to others and created relatively quickly.
3. Making it light enough to carry above head height and strong enough to withstand the movement and attention it would get during a six-hour long parade through London, enduring wind and searing heat.
4, Ensuring it had no visible supporting collar on the connecting pole, which was just 14mm or 1/2 in. in diameter, and that it could be twisted, turned, and swung around with no movement from pole to balloon structure.

Stuart said that "In doing this we had to develop three new techniques. We did NOT use nets, NO alternate duplet square pack and NO Bead technique.

My initial concept idea and theoretical design involved over forty-seven mathematical calculations to get the sizing correct! Then as my co-designers, Kerys supported the development of the 1st prototype and Kai led on the development of the invisible cradle.

What we achieved as a team was a great design that looked as though it was magically attached to a 1/2 inch pole, just like we suggested in our concept drawings!"

Here are some truly magical photographs from the day. The balloons make such a huge impact!

Disney PRIDE UK & Ireland

Disney PRIDE UK & Ireland

Disney PRIDE UK & Ireland

Disney PRIDE UK & Ireland

Disney PRIDE UK & Ireland

Stuart with Kai and Kelsey

For me, this was a fabulous opportunity to work with Stuart, Kai, and Kerys. I really enjoyed my day working at the Disney Store in London, albeit, tucked away in one of their large prop rooms, which to be honest was perfect as it was a very hot day outside and it meant that we could keep the balloons and us nice and cool! And look who I met whilst I was there! 











My job was to work on the Mickey Heads, which was great! Seeing a familiar technique applied in a totally new way was very exciting - your secret is safe with me, Stuart!


I am very proud to say that I was part of the team who made these two beautiful mouse heads!

Working with other balloon artists.

How often do we get the opportunity to work alongside other balloon artists? I cannot recommend strongly enough to take any opportunities you can to work with other balloon artists. It might be that you are relatively new to working with balloons and are looking for hands-on experience. Or maybe like me, you are keen to learn and work on an exciting project - it's not every day that you get the opportunity to work on a Disney project!

A huge congratulations to Stuart, his team, and the fabulous Disney employees who also worked really hard to prepare the decor! 

The Team: Stuart Davies, Nicci Rene, Julie Dommett, Vicky Earl, Sue Bowler, Kai Davies
Kerys Davies & Kelsey Evens.

Pride Parades are becoming big business. I spoke to a few balloon companies who said that this year they had seen a big rise in demand for decor leading up to the Pride Parade in London, maybe this could be a new opportunity for you?

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com

Wear Your Heart With Pride By Guest Blogger Stuart Davies, CBA

PRIDE Parades are all about love, equality, and happiness. One of the symbols that has been adopted by many is the Rainbow Heart!

This is not an ORIGINAL design. Although different, it has its origins from the “Puffed Heart” design  Sue Bowler posted in the Very Best Balloon Blog a few years ago. The main change is that it has been extended to enable a regular strip of six colours needed for the rainbow. 

This design is very versatile and can be created with either 6" or 12" Qualatex^® Quick Links. It can be made bigger or smaller based on your needs. Adding it to a pole would make a fantastic parade piece, to a column for room décor, or even hung from a ceiling! A smaller version could also be used as a large table centrepiece.

For those of you who work with modelling balloons, it looks great woven with 260Qs or 350Qs. It is a relatively straightforward weave, even with six colours. I have tried it, and I made mine about 18" wide using 1.5" bubbles. I am sure those more skilled in the art of twisting and weaving could reduce the size below 10" - there's a challenge for someone! 

This heart is quick and easy to make, and regardless of size, it shouldn’t take much more than thirty to forty minutes from start to finish using an automatic air-inflator such as Conwin's Precision Air or Premium's Twin-Air Inflator


. 

I used Chris Adamo's Quick Link Calculator to map out the theoretical look first, and below is a representation of what it looked like. The 11" round balloons on the outer edge are actually Quick Links.

As with the original "Puffed Heart" design, it is made up of two layers and then brought together with one final chain. In this design, I used 105 - Quick Links plus 102 - 5". To fill in further you could use additional 5" or 11" duplets (depending if you used 6" or 12" Quick Links) to close the gaps left in the x-grid Quick Link structure.

In the image below the greyed-out balloons are the sides shown in the image above. There is a single chain connecting side one and two together. The rounder images are Quick Links; I was being lazy when doing the design and it was the only way to show that there was a single balloon connecting two points.

My way of completing would be to make both sides first, then tie these together at the same points around the sides all the way around, and then connect the chain on the outside edge using duplets of 5" rather than weaving or tying it in. 

After only five 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. Last year Stuart very generously shared his experience working with Walt Disney International to create fabulous interactive decor for the Pride London Parade made entirely with Qualatex® balloons! To read this blog post, click HERE.





To read "How To Make a Puffed Heart Using Qualatex Quick Link Balloons - Click HERE

A huge thank you to Stuart for sharing his fabulous design with us today!


Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com




Did You Know that There Are Elves At The World Balloon Convention?

There are so many "Wow!" moments at WBC, and of course, one of those is the incredible decor designed by a line-up of extremely talented balloon artists from around the world! WBC 2018 was no exception, and I can honestly say that there were many "Wow!" moments.

Welcome Event Decor
Designer Stuart Davies, CBA.
Photograph by Nicci Rene.

I would like to start by acknowledging the designers who created all the fabulous decor.

Lobby Decor Designer - Lily Tan, Singapore.

Welcome Event Decor Designer - Stuart Davies, CBA, UK.

Costume Party Event Decor Designer -Federico Onida, CBA, Italy.

Grand Gala Event Decor Designer - Olga Baranova, CBA, Russia.

Grand Gala After Party Event Decor Designer - Chris Adamo, CBA, Australia.

You might be surprised to learn that this post is not about the designers. It is about the amazing crew of people who tirelessly work to make sure that each of the designer's dreams are realised, and that the decor looks as fabulous as it should.

As I have mentioned before, there are many reasons why people attend WBC, and one of those is to be part of the awesome production team — for me, the "Elves of WBC!"  One of my favourite childhood books was a very old story called, "The Elves and the Shoemaker." This story is about a poor shoemaker who receives much-needed help from elves, hence the reason I have given this wonderful group of people the name "elves"! 

The Production Crew Team. 

First-Time WBC Production Crew Members:

Sara and Mike Harris, both CBAs of For Every Occasion in Rhyl, UK., have attended every WBC in varying capacities: as delegates, competitors, and also as a sponsor. This would be the first time that they worked as part of the production crew.

Mike Harris, CBA.

The production crew are all unsung heroes, the elves of WBC who make dreams reality. Do you agree with that statement? 

"Absolutely, 100%. I knew from the other events I had attended that the amazing event decor had to be built, but until this year, I did not realise who did it or how much hard work was involved. Most days started for the team at either 7 or 7:30 a.m. and would go on until up to midnight. One day we worked until 3:00 a.m. 

It was great to work as part of this fantastic team who all have their own strengths and specialities. They accepted us straight into the team from day one, and I know I have made some great friends for life," Sara added "I always knew these ‘elves’ worked hard, but can honestly say I really had no idea just how hard! The hours they put in are immense."

Sara Harris, CBA.

What do you think you gained from being part of the crew?

"Apart from a great bunch of new friends, I think the experience of working as part of a large crew on gigantic projects. It was also reassuring to see that other artists work in the same way that we do on projects. Not only from a design point of view, but also the way the team worked on the designs." Sara also felt that they gained more experience working on big decor.

What were your WBC 2018 highlights?

"Working with a hard-working, great fun team. Seeing each of the designs come to life and the final night awards dinner when we knew we had finished and could finally relax." For Sara, "I loved the beach party, but my highlight was the welcome decor - absolutely loved it!"

Was there anything that you did not enjoy about your role?  "There was nothing that we did not enjoy. It is hard work, long hours, but very rewarding to see the results. In conclusion, WBC 2018 was a whirlwind of thousands of balloons, more than I have ever worked with on one project. We worked hard. We didn’t have time to play hard, but we made some great friends for life. I only hope we get to do it all again sometime in the future. I would like to say a big thank you to LaDonna Belcher and her team for welcoming us in, and trusting us as part of this first-class crew." 

Barry Revell, CBA, of Lightitup Balloons in Perth, Australia, also joined the production crew for the first time this year.

Barry Revell, CBA.

Barry's first WBC was in 2016 in New Orleans, and although a delegate, he found himself volunteering to help the production crew with inflating balloons and knew that this would be the perfect WBC role for him.










The production crew are all unsung heroes, the elves of WBC who make dreams reality. Do you agree with that statement?  

"100%, yes! Without the production crews help, it would be so hard for the designers to achieve their designs and the mass numbers of balloons that the decor requires."

What do you think that you gained from being part of the crew? 

"I learned many new skills from working on the large scale decor projects. I also enjoyed working together with others crew members. It was great that we were able to combine our skills. I also gained many more balloon artist friends from around the world."

What were your WBC 2018 highlights?

"There were many highlights. Seeing how the designers became overcome with emotion once their event decor had been turned from a design on paper into reality. Also, working alongside nineteen other amazing and talented balloon artists."

What did you least enjoy about your role? "That the whole experience finished too quickly."

LaDonna Belcher, CBA with Barry Revell and
Olga Samoilova, CBA.

This year's fabulous production team members were:
Greg Arrigoni, Garrett Gruberman, Mark Toomey, Sue Boone, Ines Lambert, Cheryl Skoric, Alexandra Ventura, Bonnie Fisher, Lisa Talip, Chase Nelson, Evan Nelson, Tara Silva, Debi Leidel, Cindy Rasmusson, Ray Wilson, Mike Harris, Sara Harris, Barry Revell, Sandy Pressley, Fathi Boheme, and JR (Huvaldo) Magnia. 
This amazing team was led by the fabulous LaDonna Belcher, CBA, who was awarded the Golden Light Award at this years WBC in honour of the wonderful late Linda Bruce. LaDonna had this to say about her team. "They work with a pure heart as if each event was their very own, and we are all in one accord to help the designer achieve their dream."  

A huge thank you to Mike, Sara, and Barry for sharing their WBC first-time experience working on the production crew team!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com