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

Chris Adamo shares his "Top Tips" and Advice on Selling Balloon Walls to Customers

As contribution to my recent series of posts on Balloon Walls, Chris Adamo has very kindly offered his thoughts, tips and advice.

Chris Adamo, CBA
Balloons Online
Balloonpro.co
The Balloon Crew, Sydney, Australia

"Balloon walls are as diverse as the balloon industry itself! Whether self-supporting, rigged or floating, we as professional balloon decorators have a huge range of products, techniques, tones and textures to choose from. 

If you look at it from your customers perspective, I can guarantee that they do not know of this malleable product type, or that we can offer a huge range of styles versus the one's that they have seen before. 

It is up to us to suggest the most appropriate wall style based on the variables, and it is our responsibility to establish what those variables are. Customer service is just that: serving your customers. Selling product is not service, take the time to ask questions and understand everything about your customer's event, then you can suggest the right product. 

Some questions are:

• Indoors
• Helium is possible
• Rigged is possible
• Outdoors
• Most probably framed
• Longevity will be an issue
• Wind / sunlight / rain?
• Size / Purpose / Budget
• Low budget or large size = hollow quick link wall? 
• High budget / premium finish = foils or organic 
• Theme / Message
• This is the fun part! If creating a logo or colour theme, we need to think of what construction method will offer the most useful lines or texture to best emulate that design.
• Vertical & horizontal lines = QuickLinks or alternate size pack
• Diagonal lines = duplet square pack
• No lines OR abstract colour = organic

Pro tips:

1. Balloon walls can be BOTH beautiful décor AND functional, perhaps your client wants to block a door / view / room partition? Perhaps the wall can help direct the flow of thoroughfare? Solving problems with décor is a win win = your customer can justify a better allocation of budget.
2. Don’t forget the golden ratio (1:1.6 or simplified to 2:3), when designing a wall to fit a specific space, your wall will sit with more of a natural disposition using 1/3 white space and 2/3 wall. 

Now we have decided on the style of wall (construction method) and size we need to create a design. Designing your wall at this stage gives you the benefit of formulating an accurate quote, and it gives you a sketch or digital render to help converting your sale.

The online design tool at www.balloonpro.co was created to help streamline this very problem. One can create multiple designs in minutes with a colour matched digital render using Qualatex balloon colour swatches, a stock order list and a production break down."

If the online design tool is new to you, and you would like to know a little more, I recommend that you check out the short video below to see many of the different design functions available.

Chris shares one of his fun wall builds. Here is a bit of behind the scenes from the design and construction of his "Avengers" - Alternate Size Pack balloon wall.

Avengers Balloon Wall by Chris Adamo

In preparation for Christmas, Chris has shared two fabulous design templates that he created on Balloonpro - Balloon Design Tool, you are very welcome to use these.

Santa Face Balloon Wall Mural using QuickLink X-Pattern technique

Christmas Tree Balloon Wall Mural using Duplet Square Pack technique

I am a regular user of Balloon Design Tools! I love how I can work on my designs on my laptop, create a few different options and then send them over to my clients for approval... without even touching a balloon!  

You can try out this fabulous tool for 7 days for free. After that, you can sign up with either a monthly (cancel anytime) or annual subscription. Plus, there are many other fabulous free resources as part of your membership!

If you missed my earlier Balloon Wall Posts, simply click on the links below: 

Part 1 Fabulous Balloon Walls - Created with Latex Round Balloons

Part 2 Fabulous Balloon Walls - created with QuickLinks™️

Once again, a huge thank you to Chris, who has to be one of the most sharing people in the balloon world! I know I truly appreciate everything that he does for our ballooning community! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler

Part 1 Fabulous Balloon Walls - Created with Latex Round Balloons

There are many different ways to create walls with balloons. We can use latex rounds, QuickLinks, non-rounds and foil balloons such as Qualatex Starpoints, and others too! So, we need to determine which type of wall we want to create, or more importantly, which wall best suits our or our customers needs?

So why are we proposing a balloon wall to our clients - a client would generally never ask you for a balloon wall unless they have seen something specific on Instagram or Pinterest! It is your job to sell what a wall can do for them - sell the emotion and not the product! To give you an idea of what I mean by selling the emotion here are a few examples.

• Suction power doesn’t sell vacuum cleaners; seeing the dirt it gathers does.
• Ingredients don’t sell expensive face creams; the confidence they give you does.
• And carbon footprint stats don’t sell electric cars; pride in eco-friendliness does.

Here are a few reasons why you might suggest a balloon wall to a client:

• To create their corporate logo
• To create a theme background
• To create a theme entrance
• To create a photo or stage back-drop
• To enhance a trade show or exhibition stand

I love designing and making balloon walls, and will always propose them to a client whenever possible. I have a client that now always insists that they have a balloon wall photo backdrop at all of their events! 

There are a number of different techniques that we can use to make balloon walls using latex round balloons:

• Duplet Square Pack
• Alternate Size Square Garland Pack
• Traditional 4-Balloon Garland Pack
• Organic

Duplet Square Pack

This is one of my favourite techniques. I really like that balloon walls made with this technique have a flat, smooth surface (not bumpy like balloons), straight sides, and really good definition on straight and diagonal lines. This type of wall can be made with a double-sided pattern or with a plain back; however keep in mind it is not as robust as other wall techniques.

Here are a few examples of décor using the Duplet Square-Pack Technique.

Elegant Tropical Balloon Wall and Organic Garland design by Sue Bowler, CBA

Baby 1st Birthday Balloon Wall Backdrop
Design by Sue Bowler

Zoe Adam-Jones, CBA of Jaz Trading, designed and made this
fabulous backdrop using the Duplet Square Pack Balloon technique
at the 2019 Qualatex Event in Brazil.

Watch as Chris Adamo, CBA, demonstrates the duplet square pack wall method for his mountain scene design. For more information and tips check out the great article in Balloon Images Issue 2

Alternate Size Square Pack Garland

When making balloon walls using this technique, you can guarantee that it will be robust and will always looks good! It is probably the most widely used method of precision wall. It is made by alternating clusters of four balloons in two different sizes packed on to 50lb Dacron line. This produces a square shape garland.

Alternate Clusters of four balloons in two different sizes

The garlands when built are laid side by side and interlocked, then joined together 

The difference in size between the two sets is relative to the size of balloon used.

2" - 4½" = use a ½" differential

4½" - 7½" = use a 1" differential

7½" - 11" = use a 2" differential

5cm - 11.5cm = use a 1.5cm differential

11.5cm - 19cm = 2.5cm differential

19cm - 28cm = 5cm differential

Practice to see which sizes work best for you. The garlands once built are placed side -by-side and interlocked, then connected together.

This method produces quite a smooth design with a flat surface, it allows for good diagonal lines and triangles. However, not all balloon wall types work with different patterns!

Here are some examples of balloon walls using the Alternate Size Square Garland method:

Chrome Silver & Gold with Black - Alternate Size Square Pack Balloon Wall
Design by Sue Bowler

Check out Chris Adamo's demonstration where he shows the alternate square pack method to create an ice cream truck photo op.

Ice-Cream Truck Photo Op by Chris Adamo, CBA,
of The Balloon Crew, Sydney, Australia

Ice-Cream Truck by Chris Adamo

Consistent sizing of balloons is paramount with balloon walls! Some methods are not very forgiving of badly sized balloons or inconsistent  'dupleting'  of balloons. To form the duplets, we must make sure that the balloons are tied as tightly together as possible, leaving no slack latex between the knot and the inflated part of the balloon.

Everyone will pack clusters on to line at a particular tension. It is usual to have only one person pack the garlands while others inflate and tie. This is not possible on large jobs, so you will need to practice consistent sizing and packing with your crew. 

Organic Balloon Walls

It would appear that there are many different techniques used to create Organic Style Balloon Walls. I suppose this is not surprising, as there are equally many different techniques to create Organic Garlands. I personally have used two different methods, and I will share one of the techniques that I used. We will look at other methods in Part 2.

I was contacted by a brand development agency who asked me to create a balloon and flower wall for a press event in London. 

When building a wall like this, it is important to consider how stable it needs to be. The balloon themselves are not heavy, but when you load it with lots of faux flowers, the weight increases considerably. So my first consideration was how was I going to support my balloon wall?

Thinking about what would work best, I came up with the idea of using a wire grid frame. My next task was to find a grid frame that would be suitable. After a little research, I found the perfect solution!

One of the client's criteria was that the balloons needed to be pastel tones to suit the faux flowers that they were supplying for the wall. 

Organic Balloon & Flower Wall by Sue Bowler

I loved making this wall and learned a great deal whilst building it. I was really happy with the end result, as was the client. This wall took around eight hours to build, including the construction time to build the panels. 

A huge thank you to Chris Adamo and Zoe Adam-Jones for sharing their knowledge and inspiration! 

In Part 2 of this Balloon Wall blog post, we will look at a fabulous collection of Balloon Walls made from QuickLinks™️.

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @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 Convention - A Bonus Design from Sue!

Wow, have you had time to recover from watching all those amazing classes from the Q Corner Convention yet? What a truly fabulous five days that was, and definitely one that will go down in ballooning history! A huge thank you to Susan Dhillon, Eve Antonello and the entire Pioneer Balloon Company team who made this happen in such an incredibly short time! And of course, a very special thank you must go to Keith Stirman and Dominic Cassidy of Q Corner, who did an incredible job of both hosting and running this event, all while coping with very little sleep, and a fair share of technical glitches! 

As with all classes, 90 minutes is never quite as long as you think, and I still had one design in the wings that I sadly did not have time to show. So rather than waste the balloons and the design that I had prepared, I thought that I would make a short video that shows the bonus designs, plus a few additional tips! 

To understand the new design, you will need to watch the original class, so I have added the video here. Please note that the convention was filmed in parts, in which each of these parts is a number of classes (mine was the first to be recording in Part 6).

Here is the bonus video, I hope that you enjoy it! 

To help you to recreate these designs, I have included product and material lists.

Product and Material Lists

100th Birthday Celebration Balloon Arrangement 


#57050, #57048  (pkgd.) 2 - 18" Rose Gold Round Microfoil™️ Balloons

See listed below the range of latex balloons that I used: 

#58283 - 260Q Chrome Gold
#12939 - 260Q Chrome Rose Gold
#85111 - 7" Chrome Gold
#12936 - 7" Chrome Rose Gold
#43562 - 5" Ivory Silk
#43591 - 5" Pearl Peach
#57340 - 5" Rose Gold
#43584 - 5" Pearl Ivory

1 - 16" Cake Board Base  Silk Roses & Greenery
Double-sided Tape
Strong Sticky Tape
Uglu™️ Dashes/strong glue dots or Clik-Clik™️ Balloon Bond

Happy Birthday Tropical Hat Box Arrangement

#57280, #57278 (pkgd) 2 - 18" Birthday Hibiscus Stripes
#10464 1 - 14" Mini Pink Flamingo

#58283 - 260Q Chrome Gold
#85111 - 7" Chrome Gold
#43548 - 5" Onyx Black
#99326 - 5" Jewel Magenta
#43575 - 5" Pink
#25571 - 5" Wild Berry


1 x 12" Cake Board Base
1 x Black Hat Box
1 x Premium MaxiCup™️ II
1 x Premium Balloon Accessories MaxiStick™️ II 
2 x Premium Balloon Accessories Original Cello-Cup Clear 

1 x Premium Balloon Accessories Balloon Stick Clear
Pink Satin Ribbon
Silk Flowers
Low Temperature Glue Gun
Uglu Dashes
Double-Sided tape
Strong Sticky Tape

I created this Tropical Centrepiece to compliment a design that I recently made with Balloon School Pro, Setting the Scene Part 1 - Duplet Square Pack Balloon Walls and Setting the Scene Part 2 - Tropical Theme Organic Garland and other accent details! This is a paid download - to find it click HERE

Tropical Centrepiece

1 x Plexipole Base & Pole

#68824 1 - 20" Deco Bubble
#10464 1 - 14" Mini Pink Flamingo

#43793 - 11" Jewel Sapphire Blue
#85112 - 7" Chrome Blue

#85142 - 7" Chrome Green
#43602 - 5" Jewel Sapphire Blue
#99332 - 5" Fantasy Assortment - this includes both Jewel Sapphire Blue and Jewel Teal
#43552 - 5" Diamond Clear
#43607 - 5" White
#58284 - 260Q Chrome Blue

Tropical Leaves
Metallic Confetti
Hi-Float
Uglu Dashes

Fairy Number Design

#97429, #97430 (pkgd.) 1 - 18" Pastel Ombré 

#12245 1 - 14" Mini Fairy

#86369 1 - 16" Number Two Jelli Ombré 

#43566 5" Pastel Pearl Assortment - in the video I said that I used the Sorbet Assortment, but this was an error.

#43607 5" White

#58283 260Q Chrome Gold

1 x 12" Cake Board Base
Uglu Dashes

Double-Sided tape
Strong Sticky Tape
Heat Sealer

I hope that you enjoyed the bonus design and the few little extra tips! And don't forget, that you can catch-up with all of the classes anytime! Simply visit Q Corner on YouTube, find the class that you want to watch, and enjoy! 

Happy Ballooning!

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