How to Make a Styled Framed Number, and Make a Five Year Old Very Happy!

This week, my granddaughter celebrated her fifth birthday! So naturally, I wanted to help to make her birthday very special, especially as having a birthday party during lockdown was sadly was not an option.

I have been seeing some fabulous "Yard Art" decor being posted on the Qualatex Facebook group and decided that I would have a go at making her a Number 5 that stood as tall as her! 

I started by designing the frame. You may remember a blog post from last year that featured a "Number Eight" designed by Alexander Solomatin, CBA, for International Women's day. 

I really love how Alexander styled the frame by using different sized balloons, rather than having all the balloons the same size. View his post here: 

International Women's Day and how to make this fabulous Number Eight Sculpture by Alexander Solomatin, CBA. Click HERE

International Women's Day Number Eight 
Design by Alexander Solomatin

I thought that I would share with you how I designed and created my styled framed number.

Step 1. Choose a Font. Select a font that you want to replicate and then print it. To make it easy for me to get the proportions right, I sized the number so that the length measured 10cm, which allowed for easier conversion of measurements. 

Step 2. Make a Template. Getting the proportions correct will ensure that the finished design will look perfect. It was very easy for me to convert my design. Working in centimetres allowed me to convert the overall length from 10 cm to 100cm and all the other measurements in the same way.

I then drew the design onto a large piece of paper. This gave me a template to use when bending the aluminium rod into shape.

Step 3. Bending the Frame. Find a big enough space that will allow you to bend the aluminium into shape - I use  a 6mm rod that I buy from a metal merchant. I like to purchase rod in 3 or 4 m lengths.

You can use a Pipe Bending Tool to help to give you good angular bends, or you can simply bend the rod yourself. Be very careful to keep the frame flat, otherwise it can distort and not look good.

Make sure that you stay true to the template! All the work and effort put into making a good frame will ensure a great end result.

Step 4. Adding the balloons. When I printed the five outline, I paid special attention to the shape, which helped me to determine the sizes of balloons I would need to recreate the same style as the font that I had chosen. If you look at the photo in step 1, you will see that I have written the sizes that I felt would work best in each section. 

The first thing that I always do when working with framework is to wrap the frame using un-inflated 260Q's. Covering the frame allows it to 'disappear' when you add the balloons (no silver framework will show through) and the balloons grip better to latex, rather than directly onto aluminium.

Because the design was intentioned to go outside, I wanted to ensure that the balloons would survive the sunny weather, so I decided to double-stuff them (by putting one balloon inside another). I also used the double-stuffing method to create a softer, paler pink to compliment the other shades of pink that I used for this design.

Step 5. Adding a Base. For the base, I used an IKEA NOT lamp, with only one riser pole. I slid the pole into the design at the base at the widest part and then secured the pole to the frame using an un-inflated 260Q.

Step 6. The Finishing Touches. I now wanted to bring my design to life by adding some accent detail. My granddaughter loves fairies and unicorns, like all 5 year olds! 

I started by adding 14" Air-Filled Mini Fairy Microfoil™️ balloons.

#12245
Mini Fairy

I then added five 260Q Chrome™️ Gold flowers, and at this point took a photo to see how the design looked and to check if I was happy with the positioning of the elements that I added. I always like to take photos when I am building my designs so that I can see how it developing; it's so much easier to see mistakes on a photo compared to the naked eye!

With a few additional flowers, and some 260Q Chrome Gold Bubbles, I was very happy with the finished design.

Here are few photographs from our birthday "Garden Party", I also added some additional air-filled balloons to our flowersbeds and it looked truly magical... and of course, she loved it! 

I hope you have enjoyed learning how to create this beautiful sculptured number and I look forward to seeing your own beautiful number creations soon! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me on Instagram #suebowler

Elegant Flower Embellished Arch

This is a design that I originally created for the Q Tour in 2015! Today, I would like to share it with the readers of The Very Best Balloon Blog! 

This design incorporates the AeröPole System™️ and demonstrates how to create patterns within an Arch, rather than using the usual spiral pattern we regularly see. 

The design also shows great Rhythm. Rhythm is movement within a design created by repetition, transition, radiation, or variation to lead the eye along lines in a composition. In this design you can see:

• Repetition in shape, colour, and texture
• Transition in sizing of the big flower to the smaller flowers
• Radiation with movement from the focal point
• Variation with the different elements of latex and Microfoils

For the Arch you will need:

150 - 11" Onyx Black latex (or the colour of your choice)

50   - 11" Pearl Ruby Red latex (or the colour of your choice)

Inflate all of the balloons to 9"

Here is the pattern that you will need to follow to create the arch; start from the left and repeat from the beginning until you have as many balloons as you require for your Arch.

To make the 27" Taper Flower:

8   - 27" Tapers (Red Tapers are no longer available)

12 - 5" Onyx Black (or the colour of your choice)

2   - 5" Pearl Ruby Red latex (or the colour of your choice)

1   - 260Q to secure 

To make the 13" Taper Flowers (per flower):

8 - 13" Silver Tapers (or the colour of your choice)

12 - 5" Onyx Black latex (or the colour of your choice)

2 - 5" Pearl Ruby Red latex (or the colour of your choice)

1 - 260Q to secure

To make a large flower you will need:

8 x 27" Qualatex Taper balloons inflated with air (be careful not to over-inflate, and do not use a high-pressure air-inflator to inflate your balloons as this will damage the valve.) Tie these into duplets. 

12 x 5" latex balloons inflated to approx. 4.5" and made into 2 x 6-balloon clusters.

2 x 5" latex balloons inflated to approx. 3" and made into a duplet.

1 x 260Q un-inflated.

How to put the flower together:

Start with one of the 5" (inflated to 4.5") 6-balloon clusters, lay it flat, then take a 260Q and wrap it through the centre of the cluster in a figure of 8 motion. This cluster will NOT sit flat until you add your next cluster so you will need to hold it down.

Twist all the Taper duplets together and lay these flat on top of the 3 balloon cluster - DO NOT SECURE USING THE 260Q as this will pull the cluster down and the balloons will not sit flat, just bring the 260Q through the centre so you are holding it above the cluster. Nex add the second 5" (inflated to 4.5") 6-balloon cluster on top of the Taper balloons and bring the 160Q through the centre again, arranging the Tapers so that they sit correctly to represent a flower. Secure using the 260Q by wrapping this through the centre of the top cluster in a figure of 8 motion.

Design Tip:

The use of Microfoil balloons creates contrast and adds visual texture to the Arch. Use the 27" Taper flower as the focal point and the 13" Taper Flowers as accents. You can also use Taper Flowers as room decor. Suspend them from the ceiling at varying heights using the Click-Clik™️ Magmover System.

What if you want to propose this or another design idea to a client but you don't have a good photo to display:

Gathering a solid portfolio of design ideas can take many years, unless you are very lucky! However, you don't actually need a good photograph to excite your clients!

I created this graphic presentation using Chris Adamo's Balloon Design Tools program. You can test it out free for 7 days, and if you like it you can either get a monthly or yearly subscription. To find out more click HERE  - I use this software often and I've found that it makes quoting quick and professional!

Chris taught a class Digital Designs Aids to Grow Your Business during the recent Q Corner Convention, in his class he looks some of the various software (free and paid) available to create digital design aids for your business with lots of little tips on how to use digital renders to quote and up-sell- definitely worth watching! 

If you missed Chris's Q Corner Convention class, I have added the video below. Chris's class was included in part of Part 8 of the convention and starts at 4.14 if you want fast forward it to his session.

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me on Instagram #Suebowler

Q Corner Table Live Arrangement Competition - All the Fantastic Designs and Results

I just wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate everyone that took part in the recent Q Corner Live Table Arrangement competition! 

Eighteen balloon professionals from around the world came together during a Q Corner Show. Through the power of the internet, and some technical know-how from Keith and Dominic - The Boys of Q Corner, they created their own unique table arrangement 'live' during a 40 minutes window. 

The competitors were required to follow these simple rules:

Rules:

• Only Qualatex or Northstar balloons can be used including latex rounds and non-rounds, Microfoil, and Bubble balloons. 
• The arrangement should be air-filled only, please do not include any helium-filled balloons.
• Accessories such as flowers, greenery, ribbons and other decorative items can be used, however balloons should represent at least 70% of the design.
• No balloons can be pre-inflated prior to the start of the competition.
• Should you wish to add Fantasy Flowers, these may be pre-made and used within your design.
• The design should be suitable to be displayed on a table.

Here is the winning design and all the other fantastic entries!

"Hello everyone! My name is Angie Chan from Hong Kong. I am very happy that my creation stands out in the Q Corner Table Arrangement competition. This activity is very exciting. All participants must complete the work within 40 minutes. It is really not easy! My heart is satisfied that I just do what I love. The following are winning pieces at various competitions and my favorite works in the past. I hope you will like my work."

Here are all the other wonderful designs, choosing a winner was very difficult as each of the designs were unique, and offered their own special attributes.

To view the competitors in action, check out the video below.

Taking part in a competition is a huge personal challenge, but probably one of the most rewarding things that you can do for yourself and your business. I have always enjoyed participating in competitions, and I really believe that it has made me the balloon artist that I am today! I am always looking for ways to make my designs stand out, and show even a little bit of distinction.

Q Corner is planning a new live competition - Balloon Column. I hope that many of you will decide to take part and enjoy this exhilarating and challenging experience! Stay tuned for details and entry rules  Mr Q.

Once again, congratulations to everyone who took part in the table arrangement competition, you all did an amazing job and made the judging truly difficult! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me on Instagram #suebowler

Part 2. Baby Moon Design - Step-by-Step Tutorial - How to Add the Balloons and Finishing Touches

In Part 1 of this two-part video tutorial, I demonstrate how to create the perfect frame for this super cute "Baby Moon" design. For a direct link to this video, click HERE.

Here is a reminder of the materials and equipment that you will need to make the frame:

Frame Material and Equipment List:

• 1 x 3m length - 6mm or 1/4" Aluminium Rod 
• Pipe or Bolt Cutters
• Gaffa or Duct Tape
• Pipe Bender if you have one but it's not essential
• NOT (Lamp) Base - this is an inexpensive IKEA (lamp) product that many balloon professionals use to support designs.
• NOT (Lamp) Pole x 1 (If you don't have access to an IKEA NOT Base and Pole you will need to find a good, similar alternative.) 
• White Floral Quick Drying Spray Paint 
• String or ribbon to measure
• Circular Template - such as a hoop

Balloon Material List - you can change the balloon colours to suit your client's needs.

• 18" Baby Girl Pink Stripes Microfoil™️ Balloon - #88004 
• 11" White - only a few for the cloud base
• 5"  Pink or Rose 
• 5"  Pearl Pink - optional
• 5"  White 
• 5"  Pearl White - optional, but it does give a slightly different textural look to the plain white
• 5"  Diamond Clear - approximately 10
• 7"  Chrome Gold - approximately 10
• 260Q Chrome Gold - approximately 15
• 260Q Pink - 4-5

Other items:

• Gold Metallic Confetti
• Ultra Hi-Float - I use the NEW Mini Bottle - 148ml (5oz) as the nozzle is perfect for using with 5" and 260Q balloons
• Premium Twin-Air Sizer II Balloon Inflator - this will help you naturally size your balloons using the "10th's of a second" timer adjustment. While you can use any inflator to make this design, I use the Twin-Air as it makes the sizing of the balloons very easy! 
• Castration Pliers - to stretch open the 5" balloons

You may also want to use a few Uglu Dashes when connecting the foil balloon and pink ribbon for a nice finishing touch! 

Hi-Float - 148ml (5oz)

Premium Twin-Air Sizer II

Castration Pliers

I hope that you have enjoyed learning how to make this beautiful baby design, and I wish you every success making and selling this design in the future! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me on Instagram @suebowler

Part 1. Baby Moon Design - Step-by-Step Tutorial - How to Make the Frame

The frame is probably the most important part of any frame based design. Get it right, and your design will look amazing! But getting wrong - out of proportion, or the wrong shape, can lead to you being disappointed with the end result.

Frame Material and Equipment List:

• 1 x 3m length - 6mm or 1/4" Aluminium Rod 
• Pipe or Bolt Cutters
• Gaffa or Duct Tape
• Pipe Bender if you have one but it's not essential
• NOT (Lamp) Base - this is an inexpensive IKEA (lamp) product that many balloon professionals use to support designs.
• NOT (Lamp) Pole x 1 (If you don't have access to an IKEA NOT Base and Pole you will need to find a good, similar alternative.) 
• White Floral Quick Drying Spray Paint 
• String or ribbon to measure
• Circular Template - such as a hoop

Balloon Material List:

Although I am not adding the balloons in Part1. here is a list of the balloons and accessories that I will be using so that you can get them prepared for when your frame is ready! 

• 18" Baby Girl Pink Stripes Microfoil Balloon
• 11" White - only a few for the cloud base
• 5"  Pink or Rose 
• 5"  Pearl Pink - optional
• 5"  White 
• 5"  Pearl White - optional, but it does give a slightly different textural look to the plain white
• 5"  Diamond Clear - approximately 10
• 7"  Chrome Gold - approximately 10
• 260Q Chrome Gold - approximately 15
• 260Q Pink - 4-5 

All the balloons that I am using for this design are Qualatex - www.Qualatex.com

Gold Confetti - ideally a small square cut
Hi-Float - I like to use the new 148ml (5oz) bottle as the nozzle is perfect for 5" and 260Q
Castration Pliers - ideal 'Stretching Tool' for balloons - available through some balloon wholesalers, Amazon, and farming supply companies.

I will be using a Premium Twin-Air Sizer to inflate the balloons, as it will allow me to use the "10th's of a seconds" timer adjustment to give me the perfect graduated sized balloons. Using a hand pump is not so easy to get the precision for this design.

Part 2 is now available! Just click on the link below! https://theverybestballoonblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/part-2-baby-moon-design-step-by-step.html

Happy Ballooning! 


Sue
www.suebowler.com
Follow me on Instagram @suebowler

An Inside into the Instagram Algorithm and The Importance of Understanding It

After watching a free tutorial about Instagram and how to get your 'Dream Followers' earlier this week, I realised as the instructor spoke about how to use the Instagram algorithm to get better engagement that I need to be honest, and confess that I really did not know what the algorithm actually was! Yes, of course, I had heard the term many times, but I had no real idea of how it works, and how it can influence my Instagrams account's effectiveness. 

1. The Instagram Algorithm Predicts How Much You Care About a Post

Your Instagram feed isn’t just based on who you follow, it’s also based on who and what you like. Instagram algorithm keeps tabs on posts that you like. The more photos that you double-click, the more signals you give to the Instagram algorithm that you want to see more content like this in the future.

The more the Instagram algorithm thinks you will “like” that post, the higher it will appear in your feed. Therefore it is important to get your followers to double-click on your posts so that you will always appear in their feed.

2. Instagram Algorithm watches engagement with your followers

According to Instagram, the most important engagements for feed ranking are comments, likes, shares and reposts, and for video posts, views, which is especially helpful to know when you are planning your posts, content, and captions.

It is important that you create content that your followers will enjoy engaging with. If you have the ability you should plan what you are going to post each day. Try to plan a week, or even a month in advance. 
Variety is key, you don't want to be posting the same kind of content every day, or your followers will become bored or worse, unfollow you! 

Here are a few suggestions for some more unusual types of posts from your norm.

• Post an inspiring quote - A surprisingly large proportion of successful posts are quotes/memes, so every business should share this kind of content on occasions as a part of their posting strategy.

When I posted this quote on my Instagram feed it received 100 likes and 4 comments.

• Ask a question - These can vary greatly, here are a few ideas:

Is there a household chore you secretly enjoy? If so, which one?

What famous landmark would you love to visit?

Or the one that I have used below:

This should initiate quite a few responses. Something you really need to be hot on is responding to comments, even emoji comments. You could respond with another emoji- If someone shows a sad emoji then you can respond with a hug emoji for example. 

Questions are a fun way to interact with your audience, and a good indicator that people enjoy what you are posting.

Make your posts exciting! 
I have used CANVA to create both of the posts above. This makes them much more visual. You can either post them using a background that you feel is appropriate to the post, or you could start branding your posts so that they all have the same look and feel about them, and ultimately become instantly recognisable as one of your posts! If you are unsure how to go about branding your business, check out Creating Your Brand Image by Zoe Adam- Jones. Through a video tutorial, she shows you how to create your brand image. 

Creating Your Brand & Image - Digital Marketing with Zoe Adam- Jones CBA

Comments are the most valuable form of engagement, as a comment is a tangible indication of a follower or customer's loyalty and commitment to you and your brand. The fact that they spent the time to write a comment means your audience is highly engaged with your content. 

Each share of your posts is like a mini organic advertisement for your content, and it rates very high on the engagement scale and is therefore something you want to encourage. A simple way to get people to share or repost your post is to create a competition. This is something that I am seeing more often on Facebook, and I am sure that Facebook algorithm works in a very similar way?

This is a competition that is being run by one of our local butchers on Facebook. They are asking people to LIKE the post, Leave a COMMENT and to SHARE to their own page, all the things that will generate great algorithm. At the time of me copying this post they had already generated 996 comments and 1.2 shares! I wonder how many new followers they have attracted too!

Some while ago I shared this Instagram Social Plan - One Month of Post Ideas by Fiona Flintham - fionaflintham.com.

If you are struggling to find things to post about, this plan will give you some great pointers - and have you noticed that it's not all about the products that you are selling! 

3. It's all about the timing!

Posts that are more recent are more likely to be pushed to the top of people’s feeds. This means that posting when your audience is online is crucial. How do you know when they are online? Check your insights! For example, looking at my insights, the best time for me to post is between 3pm and midnight as that is when my followers are most active on Instagram - hmm, I seem to do most of mine in the mornings, so I will look to change my timing and see if it's make a difference!

The one thing that I truly love about creating posts like this is getting to learn so much while doing the research! I have started to put some of these ideas into practise over the different social media platforms that I work on and the initial results have been amazing! If you are on the QBN Members Facebook group, you may have seen a post that I shared asking members - 

If you could have a day working with anyone in the balloon industry who would you choose and why?

This post received 27 likes but more importantly 202 comments! The responses have been amazing and I feel that this post has re-connected many of the group's members who may  have been inactive for a while! 

Understanding algorithms is not easy, but getting an idea on how to engage with and grow your followers through exciting and consistent content is definitely a solid step towards making those algorithms work for you! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me on Instagram @suebowler