Wednesday, December 21, 2011

' New Years' design from Luc Bertrand




Luc Bertrand has asked me to share his 2012 design with you through
'The Very Best Balloon Blog'!

It is a fantastic design that is perfect for your shop windows as well as for New Years parties! It is vibrant, fun and full of emotion... I love it!


Luc Bertrand CBA
Luc Bertrand CBA 2012 design


Here is the complete product list to re-produce the design! Luc has kindly given his design as a gift for Qualatex customers and all the many delegates that attended classes and the Qualatex Event!

  • 29864 Smiley Face Wild Berry x 1
  • 29640 Smiley Face Blue x 1
  • 29628 Smiley Face Lime x 1
  • 29632 Smiley Face Yellow x 1
  • 30404 Number Two Silver x 1
  • 30469 Number Zero Gold x 1
  • 30555 Number One Magenta x 1
  • 30519 Number Two Sapphire x 1
  • 25571 Wild Berry 5" x 18
  • 25999 Wild Berry 11" x 12
  • 43553 Dark Blue 5" x 8
  • 43742 Dark Blue 11" x 8
  • 48954 Lime Green 5" x 20
  • 48955 Lime Green 11" x 12
  • 43559 Goldenrod 5" x 12
  • 43748 Goldenrod 11" x 8
  • 43937 Black 260Q x 5
  • 43651 White 6" Hearts x 5
For display purpose, to ensure that the 260Q remain looking good, treat them with a small amount of Hi-Flaot, even though you are air-inflating them!



Thank you Luc for sharing this beautiful design... I love your 'Number Characters', I think that we will be seeing many versions of these in the future... what a great way to use Qualatex Number Shapes!

If you re-create Luc's design, please share it on the Qualatex Facebook page we would love to see it!

Seasonal best wishes!

Sue

Friday, December 16, 2011

An elegant centerpiece idea for a New Year's Gala Party!


Sue Bowler
Picture 1
I was recently looking back through some of my photographs and came across the centerpiece that I designed and created for the Gala Party at the World Balloon Convention 2010.  I thought that this design would be perfect for an elegant New Years celebration party! 


I would like to clarify at this point that the design you can see in picture 1 is not the final design that I used, this was the first of a few that I created during the design process and as you can see this is not a centerpiece, more of an arrangement! Why... because there is no visual gap between the base and the top elements, which means that if I was to put this in the middle of a table, the guest would not be able to see each other! But this picture shows clearly both the base and the top designs, which is why I have used it in this blog!


Celebrate New Year Sparkle # 99797 34"

Looking at the fantastic range of Qualatex New Year's Microfoil and latex balloons available I can see how this design would really work well for a New Years party! The color palette is Black, Gold and Silver, Stars and Swirls are the main design element that repeats throughout most of the New Years balloons, allowing us to create unity.

Rather than teach you how to re-create this design as shown above, I thought that I would take you through each of the elements step-by step, you can then decide if you would want to make the whole design or maybe just part of it, which is what we did for the World Balloon Convention.

There are quite a few different elements that make up this design.

Picture 2
I started with a Lomey dish base, this is a product made by Smithers Oasis, many balloon distributors sell this and other Smithers products. I then secured a square of DRY floral foam using a cool glue gun.
TIP 1. Do not be tempted to use too much floral foam, the more you use, the more you have to fill or hide!
Picture 3
Talking about hiding the mechanics, I knew that this may be a problem, so I started by creating a 'skirt' of fabric around the edge of the foam before I even started to add any elements. Try using a fabric that has a finished edge rather than a 'raw' edge that may fray and look untidy. This fabric is also a Smithers product and has a lovely metallic look. I used floral 'reel' wire to gather up the fabric and then pulled it into the dry foam, I did not need to use any glue! If you look at Picture 1, you will see that I used a Silver fabric for the base cover.

Picture 4
Now I added in the 13" Tapers (these balloons need to be heat sealed, if you are unsure how to do this see Tip 2 below). These were placed in different positions. Picture 4 represents the base design and Picture 5 is the top element. If you were going to only create a base design, you will need to work with Picture 4 as the Tapers in Picture 5 would make your design too tall for a base - 
Remember the 14" height rule!
Picture 5



To secure the tapers into the Dry Foam, I used Premium Balloon Cups-N-Sticks. If you can get the clear one's these are perfect!

The Tapers create the visual line of the deign creating both horizontal and vertical lines and are the main focal point, all the other elements that we add are known as 'accent elements' and should compliment the design and not compete!



Picture 6


Picture 7



The first of the accent detail is adding in 4" Microfoil Stars, picking out all the colours in the design. If you currently do not use these wonderful little balloons you should! They are for me what really makes our centerpiece work amazing. They can be prepared well in advance as they will last forever!


 


TIP 2. If you are unsure how to heat seal the small Microfoil balloons then visit my earlier blog - Heat Sealing Qualatex Microfoil Balloons!

Once again I use Premium Balloon Stems and Cups-N-Sticks to position them into my design. However, if I remember correctly, on the day of mass production, I think that we started tying the stars into groups of 3 and then used a floral wire 'pin' to secure the cluster in position.

Pictures 7 & 8 shows you how I placed the stars for best effect.

Picture 8






Picture 9




I love the technique shown in Picture 9, it is still all balloons, but allows us to create some beautiful lines within a centerpiece! What you need to do is take a 260Q, remove the bead or lips, then take a floral wire 18 gauge or 1.02mm wire- try and get the longest wires possible and plastic coated too, otherwise the steel can get rusty and you will need to clean them before you use!
Bend the very tip of the wire over using a pair of 'Pinch Nose' pliers and then wrap the bent tip with a little floral tape. Now gently pull the 260Q over the wire, using the removed bead you can secure the 260Q to the wire at the tip. Now 'scrunch' the 260Q by pushing it up the wire, see Picture 9 then use a little floral tape to hold the balloon in position. I used 3 of these together to create the elements in Picture 9.

Picture 10
I also used 160Q's and 260Q's inflating the tips only (Picture 10) , using the warmth of my hand bend these into curves, again to create elegant lines within the design.


Picture 11
Position both the 260Q 'Scrunchies' and the 160Q & 260Q 'Curves', into the design, look back at Picture 1 and see how these elements create fantastic visual movement.






Finally, I added 2 x 3-balloon clusters of under-inflated 5" (one on each side), which I double stuffed to create a really intense metallic color! The 'Silver' balloon are Black inside Silver and only inflated to approx. 2", be careful not to make them too big!

Picture 12

This is not the easiest of designs to explain or create, but there maybe some ideas and techniques that you can use to make yours!  I hope that you have some great bookings for the New Years celebrations! Good luck!
New Years Sparkle # 27673 18"

With seasonal best wishes!

Sue 

The tools that you will need:
Floral Tape

18 Gauge or 1.02mm Floral Wire

Pinch Nose Pliers

Reel Wire


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Here are a few of my favorite 2011 Qualatex Group Facebook photographs!

Wow, so many great designs have been shared in the Qualatex Facebook Group this year!
I revisited all 3230 photographs that have been posted and selected just a few of my favorite photos from 2011! A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the group, it is wonderful to see all the amazing balloon designs. I hope that you are enjoying being part of the Qualatex Group as much as I am!
Please keep posting your fantastic creations working with Qualatex balloons! I look forward to meeting many of you at the World Balloon Convention in March!


Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket CBA
Tania Torre
Tania Torre CBA

Andrey Osokin & Dmitriy Tishenko
Andrey Osokin CBA & Dmitriy Tishenko CBA

Artmix  Decor Danta Longhi
Artmix Decor - Dante Longhi
Colin Stewart
Balloons Sbb Reliadrop

Montp Pann
Montp Pann

Nadia Azar
Nadia Azar
Patty Jacobo
Patty Jacobo CBA

Pieter van Engen
Pieter van Engen

Rebecca Kanar
Rebecca Kanar
Tommy DeLorenzo
Tommy DeLorenzo
Daniel Ravia
Daniel Ravia


Yolanda Verberk
Yolanda Verberk

Bombaloon
Bombaloon

Go Hong Seok
Go Hong Seok

Have a great week!

Sue

Friday, December 9, 2011

My favorite balloons for 2011... what are yours?

With only a matter of a few weeks before we reach the end of 2011, I have started to reflect on the year that has passed... and oh boy was it quick!

I do not want to dwell on the less positive side of 2011, I think that our daily news reports do that very well and I am certainly not an expert when it comes to politics and economics!

So I thought that I would start this series of blogs reflecting on 'balloons'.
Like many of you, my life revolves around balloons and has done so for the past 20 plus years! I get very excited when I see all the new styles and designs each year and cannot wait to see what I and others can make with each and every one of these balloons!

Our favorite balloons for 2011

So, if someone asked you 'what was your favorite Qualatex balloon for 2011, what would it be and why"? I asked a few of my friends in the industry to help me out with this.

Tope Abulude CBA, Balloon Inspirations says that his best selling balloon for 2011 is:

Minnie Mouse # 27568
"I would say the Mickey & Minnie Mouse bubbles"




Mickey Mouse #27569






"I have made various types of arrangements/sculptures with them, and they have proved to be quite a hit for us this year!  The shaped head makes it possible for me to make simple, inexpensive sculptures for my client...so they get a unique piece of Art that's not available in Clintons (in your face Clintons :p) On the latex side, my customers really like the baby pink and wild berry happy birthday mix and polka dot wild berry":o"

Kevin Proctor CBA, Premier Balloons
Deco Bubble Scroll Filigree # 23593 20"
"Deco bubbles for us!
They're so versatile and work for any occasion or season! None of our competitors do them, they're cheap to us, the floating time is....yonks! They're all so easy to add value to them and they're just so different to a 'normal' balloon!

We use 'decos' a lot in bouquets as well as centrepieces. I'd say polka dot with an 11" inside would be the most popular but its a close call between that and the clear 20" deco with an 11" print inside.
Also....adding to the deco bubble praises, we use a lot in decor as well, great for indoors and out!

Colour of the year - I'd have to say 'bubblegum pink' (I've given it that name) which is a double stuffed jewel magenta with a std white inside, customers go crazy for it - try it, it looks so vibrant and bright!"

Colin Myles CBA, Smiley Balloons

"My favourite just now is the three foot super agate, any colour but preferably all the colours in a room design, I think I am in love with them"!

Enza Mondello CBA, Balloon Express Patti
"My is 11" super agate all colours"!!!!!

Andrey Osokin CBA
My favorite super agate ))
Roses & Butterflies 24" Deco Bubble # 29718




Mike & Sara Harris CBA - For Every Occasion

"Yep, most 'defo' the heart and butterfly deco bubbles for us - you can utilise them in so many ways and they are easy money! Big thumbs up but new designs would be greatly welcomed"!



Big Polka Dot Wild Berry 11"
Renata Fric CBA, Magic D.o.o
'Top seller for us was Polka dots balloons... and the colour wild berry. Great response was on the 24" deco bubble with print, as they really give great effect in the decor, specially as table decor and like Kevin says, they are great for indoors and outdoors, what is specially in a hot summer time very good and you can even deliver them in the van"










Neil Armstrong CBA, Sensational Balloons.
'The new bubble Festive Trees & Snowman has become a big hit with the 11" merry Christmas festive assortment plus also the 24" printed deco bubbles have been very good because you can attach a lot more to them and not worry about them coming down!'
Festive Tree & Snowman # 31851 22"



So now it's my turn, here are my favorites! I have a few actually...
Damask Accent Patterns # 34430 18"
I think that I would have to start with the NEW Diamond Accents™, a little bit of a late runner for 2011 as they did not make the 2011 Qualatex Catalogue, so I think they will feature in my 2012 list too!  For me, these are every designers dream! The shape of the balloon fits so well into a Balloon Bouquet creating beautiful lines, but it's also the strong designs that make them so very special! 
Over the past few months we have seen more and more ways of working with this fantastic shape balloon, especially for air-filled decor! 
Design created by Luc Bertrand CBA
I strongly believe that if you give a group of creative balloon artists a balloon, each person would come up with their own unique concept and way of working with them... and that has to be great for our industry!  Luc Bertrand created this New Year's design using the Qualatex Diamond Expression New Year Sparkle # 27673 18", but this same concept can be used for any of the Diamond Accent balloons. This design can be hung as a mobile that will freely turn with air currents or hung against a back-drop... and they last so long!
My other great favorite this year and I am sure that it will be the same for 2012 too, is the Damask print! I just love it! The combination of the Damask Accent with the Damask Print-A-Round latex, it's elegant and stunning!
Damask Print-A-Round # 31471

The colour Wild Berry has been a huge hit with both balloon artists and the public.
I could continue to list all my 'other' favorites too, I agree with everyone above, the Mickey & Minnie Mouse Double Bubbles have opened up a huge world for us in terms of retail and decor designs. I also 'LOVE' all Deco Bubble's... a balloon artists best friend, visually fantastic, very adaptable, durable and long long lasting!
And of course Big Polks Dots & Super Agates... in every colour :) 

It would be great to hear what your favorite 2011 Qualatex balloons are and why, you can add your comments at the bottom of this blog, we would love to hear from you :)
I am just off to try out Kevin's "Bubblegum' Pink!

Have a great weekend!

Sue