Two Million Magic Milestone - Thank you!

It's funny how things can creep up on you, and that's exactly what happened last week when I noticed that the Very Best Balloon Blog had crept over the 2 million page views marker! I cannot tell you how thrilled and excited I was to reach this magic milestone! 

I posted my very first blog post in June 2011, and over the past eight years I have published 419 posts! I really enjoy researching new topics and finding valuable and helpful content! I love the challenge of learning something new that I can share  in turn with the balloon industry! But more than anything, I love to hear all the fabulous feedback that I get from those of you that have found the blog helpful and informative!

I am always looking for exciting new topics to write about, so if you have any suggestions please email me suebowlercba@gmail.com.

And finally, I would like to say a massive thank all the amazing contributors who generously give their time to share designs ideas, knowledge, skills, fabulous videos and photographs. You all know who you are, you are the very best! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

#suebowler

Qualatex @ The Moscow Balloon Festival 2019

Beautiful "Mythical Caticorn" Column Design
by Larisa Ketskalo, CBA and Anhelika Vahurna, CBA.

This year the Moscow Balloon Festival celebrated its 20th Anniversary, and it certainly did not disappoint! I first attended the festival in 2002, and so much has changed since my first visit! This event is sponsored by different balloon, equipment and accessory manufacturers, and many of the competitions are sponsored by different balloon companies. It is always very interesting to see how different manufacturer's products have  an impact on a design - but in my opinion the Qualatex Chrome balloons really stood out this year! 

1st Place Winners of the Master Sculpture Competition
Olga Baranova, Olga Samoilova, Tatyana Dyusmetova,
Ekaterina Poroshkina, Artem Sadovnikov, Tatiana Afanasieva.

Many of the Russian balloon professionals who attend this event are extremely talented. I would even go as far as saying that they are probably some of the best in the world! It was an absolute joy to be able to see their incredible work up close!

Attendee's attending the festival were greeting with fabulous Qualatex decor created by
Olga Baranova, CBA & Olga Samoilova, CBA.

Two of the teams at this year's festival were sponsored by Qualatex, and I am delighted to report that each team did exceptionally well. Between the two of them they won many of the competitions!

SD Shar Team:
Alexander Solomatin
Vadim Shushkanov
Dmitry Novikov
Vadim Nesterenko
Olga Nesterenko
Armen Egshatyaan

Olga Baranova,
Olga Samoilova,
Tatyana Dyusmetova, 
Ekaterina Poroshkina,
Artem Sadovnikov,
Tatiana Afanasieva.

First Place Winner of the Masters Large Sculpture - Team Captain Olga Baranova, CBA

Here are a few words from team captain Olga Baranova who, in a message on Facebook, describes her joy, happiness and gratitude to her team members. The text was in Russian and with the help of translate I have changed it to English, and although it's probably not a perfect translation, you can definitely feel her excitement!

"The 20th Balloon Festival in Moscow!!! The most prestigious and most awaited event of the year!!! The whole thing flew by one breath!! Joyful meetings, nice news, open family faces!!!This year, the team "Group of Comrades" performed at the Moscow Festival for the seventh time, and showed a very high level of skill in all categories of festival works!!! We did it! We did it, we have the first place in the nomination "Big Sculpture" in the Masters League!!!! We made a gorgeous dress, very worthily worn by Katya on the podium!!!My dear, comrades, thank you for this competition, for the atmosphere on the set, for understanding with half words and half-looks! And despite the fact that the preparation was not easy at all, we did decent work and became winners!!! Our bird of happiness revealed its wings!!!! and yes, happiness is!!!!!"

Here are a few more photographs and designs from Olga's Team!

Grand Prix Winner (the team that scores the most points overall) and Third Place Winner of the Masters Large Sculpture - Team Captain Alexander Solomatin, CBA.

Team Captain Alexander first attended the Moscow Balloon Festival 2008. He attended one of Alberto Falcone's classes, and this experience changed both his balloon perspective and life forever.  

 I asked Alexander if he would tell me a little bit about this years festival and what it meant to him.

"This year the Moscow Festival was very important for me. This was the first time after a long break that we reunited with almost our original team, which in 2014 saw us win our first prizes in the industry. Working with my old friends side by side gave me great happiness.  

It took us a very long time to find an idea for our large sculpture; it was our 20th sculpture and we didn’t want to do something boring or repeat ourselves. As a prototype we chose the dragon 'Drogon' from the 'Games of Thrones' series. We have waited a long time to create this dragon. The biggest problem creating such an impressive figure for the balloon festival is that it is very difficult to make it realistic and well detailed. So we decided to make only a head, and the image that we chose made it rather risky because we decided to build it on the diagonal of the site, and with the direction not from bottom to top, but from top to bottom. Initially, we transferred the image to a large scale grid, and day-after-day we measured each corner by a millimeter, this allowed us to create an accurately scaled wireframe structure. 

In total, the creating of this figure took us around two weeks. It was precisely calibrated and meticulous work on each line and every corner of the figure that gave such a realistic result in the end. We are very happy that we decided to do it and we believe that at the moment it is the pinnacle of our career. I would like to express my gratitude to all members of our team: Dmitry Novikov, Vadim Shushkanov, Vadim Nesterenko, Olga Nesterenko, Armen Yegshatyan."

The picture of the complete Drogon head can be seen above and in greater detail on the video.

It is always an absolute joy and pleasure to attend the Moscow Balloon Festival. Seeing in excess of thirty large sculptures in one room is awe-inspiring! The level of design, creativity, and skill is truly breath-taking! I love how each team embraces the competition categories, and different members of the team take on lead roles in each of these categories. The fashion show is one of my personal highlights; not only are the costumes pure works of art that demonstrate an incredible skillset, the designs and models are also choreographed to music, which makes the show even more exciting!

My role at the festival was to share some of my design ideas and to showcase the magnificent range of Qualatex balloons to the delegates. Here are a few of the designs that I demonstrated:

"Selling the Dream" Tropical Balloon Wall by Sue Bowler, CBA

Valentines Designs by Sue Bowler

International Woman's Day - March 8th by Sue Bowler

Halloween Surprise Box design by Sue Bowler

A huge congratulations to the organisers, Europa Uno Trade and all those involved for another tremendous event! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

Hoops, Beautiful Hoops! - Inspiring Design Ideas

White with Greenery Wedding Wreath by Sue Bowler

From tiny to giant, hoop and wreath designs have become increasingly more popular within both balloon and floral markets. As they continue to pop up on the wedding and party scene, these impressive works of art can act as stunning ceremony backdrops, as reception decor, or as unique staging for photos.

This very pretty Pink, White and printed
Diamond Clear hoop is perfect for weddings
and baby showers. 

I have actually been creating hoop designs for a while now, long before the organic style became the hottest trend! My first hoop designs were primarily constructed using the precision of Classic Decor style, which I still enjoy using quite a bit. And while I do also like building organic style decor, I still consider the basic elements and principles of design. For example, the balloons should be in  proportion to the size of the frame. How we use colour and space is also important, as getting this wrong can result in a haphazard-looking mess.







If you want to make a smaller hoop design, this can be done using hoola-hoops. Another option for smaller hoop designs is actually a recent discovery of mine, using wire hoops. You can find wire hoops like the white wire hoops that I used for the "White with Greenery Wedding" featured at the start of this blog post from Oasis Floral Products . The Ivy Garland and Peony flowers are also from Oasis Floral Products.

I occasionally will use the Structured Organic style to create hoop and wreath designs. Structured Organic style is done using a combination of the classic technique to create the hoop, then adding an organic element to the design afterwards. I really like this style as it adds a level of formality to the design without it looking too structured. 

To make larger hoops, you can purchase pre-made metal hoops, which are perfect for balloons, flowers and greenery. There are some truly inspirational designs on Instagram, just look under the hashtag #balloonhoops shown below.

One of my favourite hoop designers is #balloonilicious

Another alternative to metal hoops is to use round, heavy duty PVC conduit that is available in hardware stores. You can usually buy it in 12ft (3m) lengths, and easily connect them together using compression joints. I recommend making hoops that use approximately 14.5ft (4.5m) of conduit. However, it should be noted that these are not as strong as the metal hoops, and therefore cannot support too much additional weight such as flowers and greenery, without distorting the roundness of the hoop. The rainbow hoop below was made using PVC conduit.

This fabulous "Rainbow Hoop" design was made by a group of student's
during a Simply Organic's class that I recently
taught in Paduva, Italy.

Here are a few more examples of hoop designs that use florals and greenery to add accents.

Photo credit: Alisha Crossley Photography

To find even more inspiration check out this great article: How to Create and Display Circular Wedding Arches. The designs shown are all floral, but with some creative thinking they could easily be adapted for balloons or balloons with floral accent details.



"Wedding gates. Moon gates. Infinity arches. Circular wedding wreaths. Circular wedding arches...

Whatever you call them, large circular floral arrangements are topping the wedding charts this year..."

I love creating hoop designs, and I truly look forward to seeing some of your amazing creations! Don't forget to hashtag #suebowler so I get to see your fabulous creations! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebower

Shop Locally Campaigns - Encourage Your Community to Support Local Businesses

If you're like me, you too enjoy the convenience of using the internet to meet your shopping needs. No hustle and bustle, no parking costs, and goods usually delivered within a few days! However, as many of us are aware, this convenience is actually having a huge impact on the High Street. And as a result, we're not just losing shops and stores but also losing the opportunity for a local community too!
With Halloween only a few weeks away, and Christmas not too far behind, it's important that we encourage our local communities to make a conscious decision to shop locally and spend some time and money with the shops, small businesses and independent traders which ensure the community remains a vibrant places to live.

After reading a great post on Facebook about a recent local initiate called Fiver Fest from Tony Davy of Party On Up in Stroud, England, I wanted to know more! 

"The Totally Locally Fiver Fest is a big celebration of Britain’s fantastic small businesses and shops, many run by families or individuals, but ALL contributing massively to the economy of the UK and the well-being of our towns.
Towns and High Streets taking part put on special £5 offers over 1 week, to show the diversity and value of what they sell, and to say thank you to the communities that support them.
It comes from the (now famous) Totally Locally £5 message showing the huge impact of people spending just £5 per week in their local independent shops can have on our High Streets. 

Totally Locally was put together by Chris Sands, an award-winning expert in branding and marketing, based in Hebden Bridge in the North of England.

Totally Locally is not funded, is not a big organisation and is not connected to any organisation or government initiative. It runs alongside Chris’ company, The Good Company, as a stand-alone project. 

Totally Locally is something special. It started out as a small idea in the North of England and has grown into a multi-award-winning worldwide movement. Groups of volunteers in towns and areas use the free kit (yes it really is free), following guidelines and using templates and a full event strategy, and use it to make their town a stronger, more vibrant & resilient place. And all we ask in return in that if they come up with a new idea, it is shared with everyone else. There is now a network or Totally Locally Towns across the world, sharing ideas, working together and making a difference to their independent businesses. It works. It has been proven from Yorkshire to London to New Zealand. A new vibrancy, a spirit of cooperation, and a better High Street."

Does your town or community have a local shopping initiative? Check out Totally Locally for more information - this can easily be adapted for just about any location ! 

But what can you do now? You could easily start your own "Shop Locally" campaign - you might even be able to enlist the support of other local businesses too! 

Christmas can be an excellent time to increase local support and media interest. At a time when people are busily buying food and presents, encouraging them to shop locally can start a trend which will continue into the New Year.

Check out this great Declaration of Independents - packed with great quotes that you could use in your shop locally campaigns or download it from www.totally-locally.co.uk

Every year, especially around Christmastime I make it my personal mission to shop locally whenever possible. Every little counts and will go towards helping to sustain our towns and local independent shops and stores.

Happy ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#sue bowler

Cheers! Learn How to "Craft a Brew" with Nick Anderson, CBA! With a Great Video Tutorial!

Here is a super fun "Beer Fest" design by Nick Anderson, CBA, of Zippidy Doo in Brisbane, Australia. This ultra-mod beer glass design is perfect for your next Octoberfest celebration, or for the many Beer Festivals held around the world! 

Nick has very generously shared his design recipe with the Very Best Balloon Blog. 

Beer Fest Balloon Sculpture by Nick Anderson

To see how to make this design, check out the step-by-step video below.

Below is the ingredients and recipe, which features some very helpful tips:

Material List

48 x 12" Qualatex^® QuickLinks™️ Gold
12 x 12" QuickLinks White
18 x 12" QuickLinks Diamond Clear
8  x  6" QuickLinks Diamond Clear
48 x 6" QuickLinks Gold
8  x  6" QuickLinks White
Optional:
5" White
You will also need 11" White balloons to create the 'frothy' part of the beer.

Method

• Start by inflating 8 x 12" Gold QuickLinks to 10" (keep the sizing consistent within the design), then tie into a ring. Repeat until there is six rings total.
• Next inflate 8 x 12" White QuickLinks inflated to 10" and tie into a ring. Inflate 8 x 12" Diamond Clear QuickLinks to 10" and tie into a ring.
• Next inflate  eights chains of 6" Quick Links using 1 x Diamond Clear, 5 x Gold and 1 x White in each chain and connect together in that order. You will use these to connect the rings together as shown in the video.
• The Beer glass handle, inflate 6 x 12" Diamond Clear QuickLinks to 10". Optional: add 5" balloon clusters in between each of the QuickLinks handles for extra flair! 
• To create an attractive foam on the beer, finish the design by tying in organic style white clouds of bubbles using 11" White balloons.
• Optional: to create an even stronger base, add a cluster of four Diamond Clear 10" QuickLinks tied to every second end within the hoop to strengthen the base. 

Ensure that you tie the QuickLinks together tightly as this will guarantee a resilient and strong structure.

A huge thank you to Nick for sharing this great design, I am sure many of our readers will really enjoy making it! 

Cheers and Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

There is Much More to Training Events than Education, It's all about being part of the Balloon Family!

I recently returned from two wonderful trips where I had the opportunity to teach at ballooning events. Last weekend I was in Sandefjord, Norway hosted by Petter and Åse Vabog, owners of Ballongbutikken, who were celebrating 30 years in business. And a few weeks before that, I attended the Qualatex Event in Sāo Paulo, Brazil, hosted by Pioneer Balloon Brazil.

The Qualatex Event 2019 Sāo Paulo, Brazil. 

Ballongbutikken 30th Anniversary Event, Norway

As we all know, attending any kind of training event whether it's one day or even several days, is an investment. Obviously it's a financial investment of course, but it's also an investment in your personal time, knowledge, and friendships. Friendships within the ballooning community should never be underestimated. They can be a lifeline when you are having difficulties, or you need help or some friendly advice. There will be people that you meet that will become special and maybe even lifelong friends.

I have worked in the balloon industry for almost 30 years, and during that time I have met many truly lovely likeminded people who are creative, and who are as passionate about balloons and the balloon industry as I am. During this time I have been able to make many friends, some who have become very special to me and who I really enjoy getting to see and spend time with when I am teaching around the world! 

Learning to network and make new friends when you are at events like this can often be as important as actually learning from the classes being taught. 

These two events were both  incredibly special, but for different reasons. The Qualatex Event in Brazil was truly magical. There were many delegates that were fresh to the balloon industry who were overall excited and eager to learn. And with four days of action-packed learning there was plenty of time to forge new friendships!

I just love how warm and friendly Brazilian's are - they're always ready for a big hug! 

In Norway, many of Ballongbutikken customers, who are now probably good friends too, shared some lovely and often touching stories of how Petter and Åse had time and again shown so much kindness, help, and support through their ballooning careers. It was very apparent that these customers were proud to be part of the balloon family.



For me, I always love the opportunity to  spend time with and work with some of my favourite ballooning family! Working at events like this is 100% team work, friendship and 51% fun of course - what else would you expect working with the Q Corner Boys - Keith Stirman and Dom Cassidy.





You may find the thought of attending a training course or other event such as these a little daunting - but  you shouldn't! You'll quickly learn that the balloon industry is nothing but a caring and supportive community. You will meet up with some incredible people, many of who may feel as nervous as you do. But I can assure you that you will quickly  feel very relaxed and enjoy everything that the course or event brings and more! 

Here are a few of my favourite photographs from these two events.

Fabulous entrance decor at the Qualatex Event Brazil by Zoe Adam-Jones, CBA
of JAZ Trading in Queensland, Australia.

Team work makes the dream work! Zoe was starstruck when she got
the truly talented Luiz Carlos da Costa Silva and André Figueiredoas
as part of her decor crew! 

Tunico Oliveira of Estação do Balao won first place in each of the competitions
and was awarded Top Designer.

Petter and Åse Vabog at Ballongbutikken 30th Anniversary Event

Jakob Hall passes his CBA Exam - he was 16 years old 3 weeks ago! 

Aloha Tropical Balloon Wall and Decor by Sue Bowler, CBA.

There is a fabulous album of photographs from the Brazilian Event - if you would like to see more click HERE

If you are interested in attending future training courses and events, click EVENTS and remember to change the region to see all that is happening in your area.

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

The Secrets Out! Chrome™️ Rose Gold and Chrome Copper Balloons are Here!

Can you imagine being sent a secret parcel that contained not one, but two new Qualatex® Chrome colours? That's exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago! I was so excited, I could barely keep the news to myself - I am really not very good at keeping secrets!

Hopefully by now, you have heard that Qualatex has launched two incredible new Chrome Balloon colours, Copper and Rose Gold. 

Needless to say, I was thrilled to get to experiment with these two new colours!

41" "Glitter Gold Wedding Cake" with Rose Gold and Gold Chrome accent detail.

In a recent blog post - Fabulous NEW Jelli Balloons Design Inspiration - With Step-By-Step Design Instructions, I showed you how to create a tabletop "Jelli Balloon" design. The design above is made using the exact same principles. Unfortunately due the shape of this particular balloon I needed to use helium to inflate it as the base of the balloon is too small to support it with air.

The Glitter Gold Wedding Cake balloon contains a variety of subtle and beautiful colours, which fits in well with the contemporary style. I felt that the NEW Chrome Rose Gold and the Chrome Gold along with some additional accents consisting of silk roses and a spray of eucalyptus leaves, would compliment this balloon perfectly.

If you would like to find out how to create this style of design, simply click HERE.

I used my remaining sample Chrome Rose Gold balloons to make a table centrepiece. I have made this style of design a number of times, but my instincts told me that it would look even more impressive using Chrome Rose Gold balloons and I was not disappointed! It was absolutely stunning; the shine on the Chrome Balloons is spectacular, and the Rose Gold confetti gave the design an elegant luxe look! 

Keith and Dom, the Boys of Q Corner, were also very happy recipients of the new Chrome balloon colours and like me had the opportunity to play!

Check out Q Corner to learn how to make this very sellable air-filled Joined Number design.

"Birthday Metallic Dots" Design by Dominic Cassidy, CBA.

Last week saw the launch of the magnificent new Chrome Copper balloon. There are so many words that I could use to describe this beautiful balloon colour - it's rich, warm, elegant, and can be used for so many occasions.

Chrome Copper Centrepiece Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

A collection of designs from Dominic Cassidy - how fabulous does the Chrome Copper look with Green! 

If you were wondering how the Chrome Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, and Copper balloons compare just check below! Each of these colours are wonderfully vivid, with a fabulous metallic lustre, and brilliant shine. The Gold, Rose Gold and the Copper work so perfectly together! And fun fact, did you know that to make Rose Gold you mix Gold and Copper?

I hope that you are as excited about these new balloon colours as I am. I am sure that we will see the launch of even more exciting new Chrome colours in the near future!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler