Lisa Swiger shares her Quick Link top tips and a 'Beeauitiful' Bee Sculpture design with step by step instructions.

Lisa Swiger CBA

Lisa Swiger CBA of Blooming Balloons, North Carolina, USA is one of our Quick Link experts and she has very kindly offered to share some of her top tips with the 'Very Best Balloon Blog'!
Lisa's Quick Link Tips:
* Tie as tightly as possible. This gives better structure to your sculptures. * If using with helium, hi-float works great! I recommend tying off the link tip before hi-floating so that extra hi-float doesn't stay inside the tip, wasting hi-float and weighing down the tie points. * I always trim tips and tails. This gives a cleaner look and when using helium, improves float time. * When doing air-filled, I only inflate to about 9 inches. This makes it easier to do 3D sculptures because the balloons are spongier and can be handled more. * I usually twist the balloon chains around each other, vs. using 5" duplets to lock them together. This is just a personal preference. I like the stability of have the sculpture stand without 5" balloons holding it together. I add the 5" duplets at the end to finish the piece. * When I do use 4 balloon clusters or duplets to hold QL chains together, I always twist them around each other to lock them. I've seem people just place them in without locking and the sculpture comes undone! * When I build with chains, I usually have a 5" connector at each end to start and finish the row, instead of just tying the chain in. * When building something round (like an apple or a hot air balloon) that needs to hold its shape, I'll use 5" on the outside, but 11" for the inside to give extra structure inside and hold it out better.

Lisa's Lovely Quick Link Bee Sculpture

Bee Sculpture created by Lisa Swiger CBA

David Mahoney shows us how to create fabulous decor using the Balloon Overlay technique.

Balloon overlay is a technique that I have seen used by a number of different balloon artists over the years to create amazing logos and two-dimensional balloon sculptures. The techniques used vary slightly, but the end result is pretty much the same.

David Mahoney of Balloons Everyday in Carrolton, TX, U.S.A, is a great friend of the Very Best Balloon Blog. Once again, he kindly shares his knowledge and passion and shows us how to make these wonderful overlays in a few simple steps.

Overlays are a great way to create a custom design, especially if a customer does not have the budget for a three-dimensional balloon sculpture. David has mastered the technique and  acquired many happy customers in the process.

Materials

Most of the supplies needed for balloon overlays are available in hardware stores. Foam core or foam board can be found at art supply stores, craft stores, or sign shops. Overhead projectors and transparency film can be purchased at office supply stores or try searching online. Some audio visual stores may also have projectors for purchase or to rent.



1. Find the image you need to create your shape. Copy or print the image onto transparency film.
















2. Use an overhead projector to project the image onto your foam core or foam board. 

Trace the outlines with a marker. You'll be tracing two elements separately on different pieces of foam core: the "backing board"
that  the balloons will be added to, and the "detail pieces" that will add depth and detail to the sculpture.








3. Use an X-acto blade or hobby knife to cut out all the foam core pieces.

4. Spray paint the front side of the foam core to match the colour of the balloons that you will be adding.










5. Determine balloon size by finding the largest and smallest width in the design and decide on a size that will fit nicely in both areas. Typically on small designs, the balloons are 3-4". On larger designs, balloons are usually 6-8" in size. Inflate your balloons and tie each one individually, keeping the necks as long as possible.

6. Poke holes so that you can add your balloons to the backing board. To do this, you will need two awls and a foam Duplet template (as shown) that matches the size of your inflated balloons. Position the template on the edge of the backing board and poke the awl through both sides. Remove the first awl and rotate the template over to the other side of the second awl. Poke a third hole. 

An awl is a long, pointed spike.  A Bradawl is a tool for making holes in wood.

7.  Repeat Step 6 until you have poked enough holes evenly throughout the whole backing board.

8. Poke the necks of the inflated balloons through the holes in the backing board, using a small wooden dowel to push them through.

9. On the back side, stretch the necks of the adjacent balloons to tie them into pairs.

10. Once the backing board is covered, add the detail pieces. To do this, tape an uninflated 260Q onto the back of the detail pieces, then use an awl to poke additional holes into the backing board to slide the 260Qs through. Tie the 260Q ends on the back side.

11. Glue 1 x 2" wood strips to the back of the backing board to support and secure Electrical Metal Tubing (EMT) and EMT straps. THEN PLACE the tubing into base plates. 

Balloon Overlay Benefits

• High impact
• Ideal for corporate clients and private parties
• Simple to construct; no difficult techniques or framing required
• Budget-friendly option for customers who want a custom sculpture
• Easy to add details on the front to create any image, sign, logo, or character

Here are some more of David's wonderful overlay designs.

Download this great PDF and keep it safe for future reference.

I think that this is a great technique and one that could be used for many different design ideas. Thank you once again, David, for sharing your skills and knowledge with the balloon industry! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com

Tapertastic! A few ideas to create beautiful balloon decor working with Qualatex Taper balloons!

Taper Flowers created by Sue Bowler & friends
 at the Slovenia Event

With Christmas and New Year fast approaching, it's time to start thinking about the exciting decor you can offer your clients for their events!

Recently I attended the Slovenia Event and was asked if I could create decor for the 'opening' festivities. I had very limited time and was a little unsure how many 'helpers' I would have, so I decided to make decor that would have great visual impact but quick and easy at the same time!

(Just to note, I had a great team in Slovenia who helped me to make these awesome flowers... thank you!)

How Can I Find Training Courses as someone who is new to the Balloon Industry?

If you were to ask any seasoned professional what they would do differently if they started their balloon business again, you would find that most of them would have taken up training sooner. Balloon artistry is a creative skill, and there is so much more to it than you many think... but maybe you have already started to find that out?

Training Instructor TY Wong of Colour Life, Hong Kong

I know of a number of very successful balloon businesses who started their ballooning journeys in recent years offering only organic décor. They in their own words were 'self-taught'; however, as their businesses grew, so did their clients requests and it became evident that they needed to learn the true foundations of balloon artistry: Classic Balloon Decor. 

Rainbow Arch and Decor by Sue Bowler

Classic Balloon Decor is the foundation of balloon decorating. Foundations can be found in the early defining work of a discipline, and balloon decorating started with balloon garland arches, swags, columns and 'string of pearl' (SOP) arches.

Classic Balloon Decor is the starting blocks for ballooning, and almost all balloon artists/decorators start here! It's as basic as learning how to inflate balloons to a specific size, tying a duplet, twisting balloons into clusters as well as the art of adding balloons to line or framework! Once a decorator has these mastered, they can move onto more challenging projects! 

Decor by Sue Bowler

Classic Balloon Decor can be used in so many ways and for so many different types of events, including weddings, corporate decor or shopping malls; think large spaces where balloons can be used on large scale! It's not just about learning Class Balloon Decor techniques, it's also having a good understand of the elements and principles of design.

Creating the 'perfect' design is not something that just happens automatically, at least not for most of us anyway! There are a number of factors that make a 'perfect design', so let's take a look at what those factors are!

Elements of Design:

These are parts that make up the design, and 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, scale and proportion, balance, rhythm and harmony.

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

So you may be wondering ,how can you learn about these and where can you find training courses, especially during the pandemic?

It is true to say that the pandemic has definitely thrown a spanner into the works when it comes to face-to-face training courses! However, finding good training in many countries has always been difficult even during normal times. 

During the past few months, when many countries have been in lockdown, Qualatex has worked hard to bring training to the world-wide community in the form of webinars. To-date, there has been 10 webinars covering a wide variety of topics.

For anyone new to the balloon business, I would like to recommend: 

"Cooking with Cam & Eve - Ingredients for Success Part 1 - Qualatex Latex" as well as "Cooking with Cam & Eve - Ingredients for Success Part 2 - Qualatex Microfoil and Bubble Balloons."

I can even offer you a coupon code that will give you $5.00 off each of these courses!

GoMrQ

Both of these videos in addition to other fabulous online classes from industry leading instructors are available to purchase and download from Qualatex Online Education at Vimeo - Click HERE for a direct link or go to https://vimeo.com/qualatex

Can you learn from YouTube?

There are so many great tutorials available on YouTube, but for every quality video there is one that gives bad or ill-informed information You can easily learn really poor skills and techniques which is not a great way to start your ballooning career. I have used YouTube myself to learn how to make different styles of bows, and other non-balloon related techniques, so it's definitely not all bad. Just use discretion when browsing YouTube!

My advice to you would be to seek balloon artists whose styles and designs you like, and follow them on their Facebook and Instagram pages. If they have videos, which many do, then those are the ones that you want to watch.

Qualatex has their own YouTube channel - Q Corner, and I would certainly recommend that you check it out, as it is packed with many great tutorials and training videos - click HERE for a direct link or visit https://www.youtube.com/c/QCornerShow/videos

If you would like to learn more about the elements and principles of design, and how it will help you with your balloon designs, I have written a number of blog posts that will help you greatly:

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

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

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

Part 4: Beginners Guide to the Elements & Principles of Design - Rhythm

Part 5: Beginners Guide to the Elements & Principles of Design - Proportion and Scale

Part 6: Beginners Guide to the Elements and Principles of Design - Unity & Harmony

And of course, don't forget to tune in to Happy Hour with Cam & Eve, you can find that on Mr Q's Facebook page LIVE every alternate Tuesday at 1pm CST. You will need to check your international clocks if you want to watch it live, or you can catch-up afterwards as they are all available to watch, all you have to do is visit Mr. Q Facebook Page and click on videos! 

I hope that this is helpful to you, and keep checking The Very Best Balloon Blog as it too is packed with great information and so many helpful resources! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler

Maximise Your Sales for Father's Day!

Father's Day is right around the corner, giving us a great opportunity to promote and sell balloons and balloon related gifts for this special day!

Our target market is wives, mums, and children, and let's face it, choosing the right gift isn’t easy. Dads can be tricky to buy for. So what can you do to help them out, and make their choices easy, and the day special for fathers everywhere?



If you own a shop or store, create a fun and exciting window display that appeals to adults and children alike. Your window display is your silent salesperson who constantly promotes and creates many sales opportunities! Display what you want to sell; have a set number of predetermined design ideas that appeal to all budgets, remember, it might be a child spending their pocket money to buy a Father's Day gift.

Much like Valentine's and Mother's Day, many people leave buying their cards and gifts to the very last minute, so why not start a "Countdown to Father's Day" campaign? Use your social media channels and website to remind people that they only have X number of days to place their order. How about offering customers an incentive to pre-order their balloon bouquet or balloon gift design?

Dive into the latest trend on Instagram - #mermaids (1,331,460 posts and growing!)

Being trend-savvy is the key to success, especially in the world of balloon artistry. Knowing what's hot will give us the edge over our competitors and excite our clients.

A sea-world theme is a favourite for me. I love colour, and this theme allows me to use so many wonderful hues to create magical decor. Earlier this year I created a number of visual displays for Pioneer^®  Europe at Spring Fair. Spring Fair is the UK's No.1 trade show for gift and home products, held at Birmingham's N.E.C. One of the displays I made was designed to feature the new Qualatex^® Enchanting Mermaid Microfoil^®  balloon. 
It was also the perfect opportunity for me to showcase the NEW Qualatex Chrome Balloons™ and their unique vibrancy and versatility, especially when double-stuffed inside Jewel- coloured balloons.



I have been asked on several occasions how I made this display, so I thought that I would share it with you on the Very Best Balloon Blog.

It's all about the base!

The base is an integral part of the design. Without it, the design would not be as eye-catching as it is. It allows me to use many of the colours that are featured in the "Enchanting Mermaid" Microfoil. 

38" "Enchanting Mermaid" #57815

To start, I made a very simple Quick Link x-pattern wall using Chris Adamo's fabulous Balloons Online Design Tool. The wall consists of six chains using 6" Caribbean Blue Quick Links inflated to approximately 5", or five pumps on a Qualatex Green hand pump.

Two - chains of 10
Four - chains of 6
Total number of 6" Quick Links - 44

The chains are locked together using 5" Caribbean Blue and or 5" Tropical Teal duplets. 
Inflate to 3" or one pump using the Qualatex Green hand pump.
Total number of 5" balloons - 62.

With this type of "wall", we have spaces between each of the "X's" - the wall above has fourteen spaces to fill. This was where I was able to introduce a range of fabulous colours.
Each of the coloured balloons used one of the balloons listed below inflated to 5", 5.5", and 6" - the variation in size creates visual movement within the design, but be careful not to make the size differences too extreme. Each balloon is made into a Duplet with a 4" Caribbean Blue as the base balloon. This holds the balloons in place and keeps the wall flat at the base.

Chrome Silver 11" #58270
Chrome Silver looks fabulous when inflated. It creates a solid shine and has a reflective surface, unlike any other latex balloon. Chrome Silver also works extremely well when inflated inside a Jewel colour balloon (double-stuffed) - I renamed these "Jewel-Chromes," and they look stunning! 

Chome Gold 11" #58271
Chrome Green 11" #58273
Chrome Purple 11" #58274






To create the Jewel-Chrome balloons, use; 

Jewel Teal 11" #43753 
Jewel Quartz Purple 11" #43789

Jewel Sapphire Blue 11" #43793

18" "Happy Birthday Mermaid" - #57799 

To complete the display, you can add a selection of balloons that complement the "Enchanting Mermaid" special shape. Deco Bubbles are perfect for this display. They create a "bubble" look and allows to feature 11" latex balloons, making the display longer lasting. 

Qualatex has just released a fabulous new Chrome Balloon Custom Colour Chart, to download it click HERE or visit www.Qualatex.com

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Thinking of competing at the World Balloon Convention 2014, here are some great reason why you should!

Registration for the World Balloon Convention has now opened, so if your thinking of going to WBC then why not enter a competition too!

"To all of you who have doubts about whether or not to participate in the competitions , I say try , no matter be good or not , the important thing is to try and never stop to learn and always improve" . - Alessandro Patanè CBA

I can remember the very first competitions that I entered, it was at the Qualatex - European Balloon Symposium in Paris in 1996! I entered everything that I could, large sculpture, delivery arrangement and table centrepiece, what a huge learning curve and the start of what I can only really describe as a passion for entering competitions! 

So what motivated me? 

How to Present Your Decor Design Ideas to your Customers.

Our ability to present new ideas to clients in a professional way is vital to the success and growth of our business. 

Whilst clients find many of their ideas on Instagram and or Pinterest, their brainstorming is not exclusive to those social media sites. This makes it much more important for you to secure their business by wowing and inspiring your clients with your own creative ideas! 

There are a number of balloon related design tools available online - some are free whilst others will incur a cost. But it's my belief that if it seals the deal, then it's worth the investment! 

Many balloon artists work with design programs such as Adobe Illustrator, which allows them to create vector graphics. A vector graphic is a computer-made image which is made up of points, lines, and curves that are based upon mathematical equations, rather than a designated amount of pixels. This means that no matter how close you zoom in or out on an image, the lines, curves, and points remain smooth. 

The design proposals below were created by Chris Adamo using Adobe Illustrator. Chris explained to me that when he is proposing a design idea such as this, he will generally show three sketch options. 

"Putting in the extra work is worth it, this company has 30 to 50 stores nationally. It helps to set the client expectations and gives me a chance to get the designs via my partners uniform"

Design inspiration 1. using Adobe Illustrator by Chris Adamo, CBA.

Design inspiration 2. using Adobe Illustrator by Chris Adamo, CBA.

Design inspiration 3. using Adobe Illustrator by Chris Adamo, CBA.

I personally use a variety of ways to produce my design ideas - but nothing too technical! Not only can I use these ideas to present my ideas to my clients, I can also use them to create new designs for classes that I am teaching! Dedicating a few hours to forming a design allows your creativity to flow without the added task of physically inflating balloons.

As many of you will already know, Chris Adamo, CBA, of Balloons Online, Sydney, Australia, has very generously shared his Balloon Design Tool with the balloon industry. 

With this tool you can create Columns, Arches, Balloon Walls, both with round and QuickLink® balloons, and Gridz designs. Here is an example of decor that Chris designed that he was able to present to his client.

I love this design tool, it has helped me to create exciting and inspiring design! 

I designed this clown face balloon wall for a class that I taught a number of years ago in Israel. When I designed it then, I did not have the luxury of using a tool like this. I actually plotted each of the circles into a Pages document to create my own Duplet Square Pack Balloon Wall "graph paper." I have since replotted the design using the online design tool and it looks so much better and definitely easier to work from!

Below is the actual balloon wall made up! This was made by Nir and Avital Shechter CBA, of Balonire, Israel. After learning how to create my original walls, they recreated the same design some years later for a client! 

Balloon Wall by Nir and Avital Shechter.

So how can I take my design one step further to allow my client to see my vision for the decor that I want to create for them?

I saved the design that I created on the design tool as a PDF, and then removed the numbers around the edge by cropping it. I then inserted the wall into a Pages document, (if you use a PC you may want to save it in a Word document). To add detail, I visited Qualatex.com and clicked on Inspiration. I then selected Explore Decor. I then searched Clown/Circus in the search facility and this filtered out all the decor ideas within that category. Because I am a QBN member, I am able to download each of the images that I want to use in a high resolution as a png file with a transparent background, which means that when you add it onto your document you do not have a white background around it.

By using this method you can place several images on one document that will help the client to better visualise you ideas.

This Tropical Arch design is being taught as part of the 

Making Memories - Big Parties Course 

Did you know that you can download balloon images from the Qualatex website as png files with a transparent background, making it even easier for you to add them into your designs and proposals, or to give your customers ideas for decor. I have used this method on many occasions and I am always very excited to see how the real thing looks once it's actually built with balloons! 

Below is a video that will show you how I created the tropical arch design shown above using very basic steps that anyone can do using their computer... no special software required!

If this all seems a little too much work, then there are a few other alternatives that you can use. Rachel Porter, CBA, of Balloon Splendor, Washington, USA, has created a range of Balloon Art Clip Art that is available to purchase through her Etsy shop. There are many different styles of templates available that you can use to create good visuals to present to your clients.

And finally Virtualloon, a membership-based software that allows you to create your own designs using the Virtualloon designer software. There are many different functions available including the ability to add a background pictures of the venue and overlay your designs to show how the decor will look in the actual space. 

Whether you choose to use Chris Adamo's Online Balloon Tools or my simple method of building a design on a computer using Word or Pages, or learn how to use Adobe Illustrator or other similar software programs. Or alternatively use balloon clipart or invest in software such as Virtualloon. There are many options out there to help you to create decor ideas that can be presented to clients in a professional way! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler