Wedding Balloons and the great outdoors!

I will be decorating a wedding later this year. The bride has been pretty specific with her decor ideas with thanks to Pinterest! Don't get me wrong, I love Pinterest and think that it is a great source of inspiration. But I think that many of us are aware that a great deal of the shots, especially wedding designs are staged and therefore are not always as practical as they appear in the picture!

So what do you do when a bride asks you to provide large helium filled balloon bouquets that are to be positioned outside the entrance of the venue that you are decorating?
Unfortunately, unlike my bride,  I don't see beautifully arranged sets of helium filled balloons. I see a tangled mess of balloons flying horizontally!

Honesty being the best policy, I decided that it would be in both our best interest to explain all the potential problems of putting balloons outside, but also gave some great ideas and suggestions of what would work well instead.

So what are the potential problems when decorating with balloons outside?

Here are a few great suggestions and solutions from a group of industry experts from the QBN Facebook Group.

How much am I worth - how to calculate your hourly rate.

I often get asked ‘how much should I be charging for my time’?

If you were looking to become a hairdresser, lawyer, plumber or florist, I could probably tell you roughly what you could expect to earn or at least point you towards internet guides that gives this type of information. Unfortunately the job title Balloon Artist is not listed on any of these guides.

I would imagine that if you are reading this blog, you are self-employed or considering becoming self-employed. Working out what we should charge for our time is very much our own decision but having a guide to help us especially when we first start out would be helpful.

So what is our job? Knowing what our job is and entails will help us to determine what we are worth. Are we an event decorator, party planner, retailer, entertainer or all of these? Questions such as “are we qualified, have we invested in our art”, will also help to determine how much we can charge. Can someone just starting out without any experience or training expect to earn the same as someone who has many years of experience and is very well trained?

Why Colin Myles loves Qualatex® Quick Link Balloons™

'It was not so long ago Qualatex® added Quick Links to their range of products. I was excited then, but as time has gone on I am becoming more excited. Already there have been some amazing techniques developed and fantastic designs produced. 

I initially thought that Quick Links would be more suited to large scale balloon work, which of course they are tremendous for. What I did not realise was how they would be so useful, even for small designs delivery pieces.

I am possibly coming from a slightly different angle when thinking about designing with Quick Links, as over the years I have done a lot balloon weaving and also work with bubbles made from 260Q balloons. What I have come to realise is that anything that I can do with a chain of bubbles, I can translate to Quick Links!

Colin Myles Butterfly made with 260Q's

The butterfly on the above is of course made with 260Q's and the one below is with 6’’ Quick Links. This lets me play and experiment with different designs quickly and cheaply using 260Q balloons with the knowledge that I can create the same design on a much larger and more profitable scale.

An Interview with Award-Winning Artist Rachel Ellen

I don't think that anyone would be surprised to learn that I love Rachel Ellen designs. From the adorable characters, the fantastic colours that she uses, and the sheer cuteness that she brings to all her designs.

Birthday Ballerina by Sue Bowler CBA

I have created a number if designs inspired by Rachel Ellen balloons and I am happy to report back that Rachel loves them too! At Spring Fair earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview Rachel (Ellen) Church and find out a little bit more about the artist behind the beautiful Rachel Ellen balloons and accessories.

Rachel Church

Create a fantastic finale to any event with a balloon drop!

We all know that balloons make an event or celebration special and there is nothing quite as magical as balloons cascading over a dance floor or filling an arena at a concert!

RELI-A-DROP is a balloon drop net system created by Colin Stewart CBA of Stewart's Baskets and Balloons. 15 years ago, after a problematic and disappointing experience with a purchased drop net, Colin decided that if he wanted to be assured of a 100% success rate with his balloon drops then he should make his own. Colin's #1 criteria was to install a pre-check system into all of his nets to allow users to check that the net will open when the release line is pulled.

I recently met up with Colin whilst he was on a working tour of the UK and Ireland to talk about the RELI-A-DROP system in greater detail.





Below is a step-by-step video clip that will guide you through the steps to create a perfect balloon drop.

QBN Beginners Guide

As with all skills we have to start somewhere. In the balloon world people 'find' balloons through different routes.  Some through an already established business, such as a greetings card or gift stores and others more casually through a hobby.

When I started out, I suppose I would have come under the banner of being a hobbyist. I started my balloon business in 1990, I really did not know anything about balloons or how to run a balloon business or any business for that matter, but I was excited about building a business around balloons and that was enough for me to get started.

I was very much a beginner for the first 4 years of my ballooning career and fortuitously for me I was encouraged to join the Qualatex Balloon Network™. Why so lucky? After 4 years I had come to a bit of a crossroads with my business, I was busy enough decorating weddings and parties but I was not making any money and I was beginning to question myself if this was a viable business to be running?

Joining the QBN really helped me to turn my business around. It was the first time that I had ever even considered the business side of running my balloon business. It was a real eye opener and it gave me the knowledge and confidence to start running my business in a professional and profitable way!

You don't need to spend 4 years like me trying to work out how to make balloons into a fantastic as well as profitable business. Just read below and find out more about the Qualatex Balloon Network!

How to make a Tropical Balloon Flower Step-by-Step!

Tropical Balloon Flower
by Sue Bowler CBA

Since posting my last blog 'Flower Power', I had several requests for a recipe to make the Tropical Balloon Flowers that I featured in my blog!

I designed the Tropical Balloon Flowers for the Gala Party at the 2013 Slovenia Event. My objective was to create an elegant flower that had a Crocosmia like appearance in terms of having long elegant stems rather than the more traditional 'Daisy' like flowers that we usually see used for decor.

How long you make your flowers is entirely up to you! For the Slovenia Event Gala Party, I wanted the flowers to be freestanding and tall so that I could position them around the room. Each flower stood approx. 10ft tall (3m).  However you could make them much shorter and use them for table decor too!