Luc Bertrand CBA shows us how to inflate a Qualatex® Mousehead inside a Qualatex Deco Bubble and how to tie Deco Bubbles with confidence.

We all love Qualatex Deco Bubbles. But when it comes to putting a latex balloon inside one, especially shaped balloons such as hearts and the Qualatex Mouseheads, it can be a little daunting the first time that you do it!


Luc Bertrand, one of our leading industry instructors has made this great step-by-step video clip that shows you how to inflate both a Qualatex Mousehead and an 11" round balloon inside a Qualatex Deco Bubble and how to close the balloons and add a little finishing touch!

An interview with Brazilian Balloon Artist Luiz Carlos Da Costa Silva of Cenário Balões.

Last month I was very excited to make my first trip to Brasil to spend a week working with Team Pioneer Brasil at their Head Office in Jundiai. During my visit I had the opportunity to visit Cenário Balões and to meet up with owners Luiz Carlos Da Costa Silva and his wife Rosana along with their very talented team at their amazing facility in Sao Paulo!

Giant Teddy Bear by Cenário Balões

Cenário Balões was founded in 2002. Luiz was already involved in the party sector, renting out bouncy castles for children's parties and decided to include balloons as part of their service. But after attending his first basic balloon course he discovered his passion for balloons and decided to make them his main business.

Party Decor by Cenário Balões

Wedding Balloons and the great outdoors!

I will be decorating a wedding later this year. The bride has been pretty specific with her decor ideas with thanks to Pinterest! Don't get me wrong, I love Pinterest and think that it is a great source of inspiration. But I think that many of us are aware that a great deal of the shots, especially wedding designs are staged and therefore are not always as practical as they appear in the picture!

So what do you do when a bride asks you to provide large helium filled balloon bouquets that are to be positioned outside the entrance of the venue that you are decorating?
Unfortunately, unlike my bride,  I don't see beautifully arranged sets of helium filled balloons. I see a tangled mess of balloons flying horizontally!

Honesty being the best policy, I decided that it would be in both our best interest to explain all the potential problems of putting balloons outside, but also gave some great ideas and suggestions of what would work well instead.

So what are the potential problems when decorating with balloons outside?

Here are a few great suggestions and solutions from a group of industry experts from the QBN Facebook Group.

How much am I worth - how to calculate your hourly rate.

I often get asked ‘how much should I be charging for my time’?

If you were looking to become a hairdresser, lawyer, plumber or florist, I could probably tell you roughly what you could expect to earn or at least point you towards internet guides that gives this type of information. Unfortunately the job title Balloon Artist is not listed on any of these guides.

I would imagine that if you are reading this blog, you are self-employed or considering becoming self-employed. Working out what we should charge for our time is very much our own decision but having a guide to help us especially when we first start out would be helpful.

So what is our job? Knowing what our job is and entails will help us to determine what we are worth. Are we an event decorator, party planner, retailer, entertainer or all of these? Questions such as “are we qualified, have we invested in our art”, will also help to determine how much we can charge. Can someone just starting out without any experience or training expect to earn the same as someone who has many years of experience and is very well trained?

Why Colin Myles loves Qualatex® Quick Link Balloons™

'It was not so long ago Qualatex® added Quick Links to their range of products. I was excited then, but as time has gone on I am becoming more excited. Already there have been some amazing techniques developed and fantastic designs produced. 

I initially thought that Quick Links would be more suited to large scale balloon work, which of course they are tremendous for. What I did not realise was how they would be so useful, even for small designs delivery pieces.

I am possibly coming from a slightly different angle when thinking about designing with Quick Links, as over the years I have done a lot balloon weaving and also work with bubbles made from 260Q balloons. What I have come to realise is that anything that I can do with a chain of bubbles, I can translate to Quick Links!

Colin Myles Butterfly made with 260Q's

The butterfly on the above is of course made with 260Q's and the one below is with 6’’ Quick Links. This lets me play and experiment with different designs quickly and cheaply using 260Q balloons with the knowledge that I can create the same design on a much larger and more profitable scale.

An Interview with Award-Winning Artist Rachel Ellen

I don't think that anyone would be surprised to learn that I love Rachel Ellen designs. From the adorable characters, the fantastic colours that she uses, and the sheer cuteness that she brings to all her designs.

Birthday Ballerina by Sue Bowler CBA

I have created a number if designs inspired by Rachel Ellen balloons and I am happy to report back that Rachel loves them too! At Spring Fair earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview Rachel (Ellen) Church and find out a little bit more about the artist behind the beautiful Rachel Ellen balloons and accessories.

Rachel Church

Create a fantastic finale to any event with a balloon drop!

We all know that balloons make an event or celebration special and there is nothing quite as magical as balloons cascading over a dance floor or filling an arena at a concert!

RELI-A-DROP is a balloon drop net system created by Colin Stewart CBA of Stewart's Baskets and Balloons. 15 years ago, after a problematic and disappointing experience with a purchased drop net, Colin decided that if he wanted to be assured of a 100% success rate with his balloon drops then he should make his own. Colin's #1 criteria was to install a pre-check system into all of his nets to allow users to check that the net will open when the release line is pulled.

I recently met up with Colin whilst he was on a working tour of the UK and Ireland to talk about the RELI-A-DROP system in greater detail.





Below is a step-by-step video clip that will guide you through the steps to create a perfect balloon drop.

QBN Beginners Guide

As with all skills we have to start somewhere. In the balloon world people 'find' balloons through different routes.  Some through an already established business, such as a greetings card or gift stores and others more casually through a hobby.

When I started out, I suppose I would have come under the banner of being a hobbyist. I started my balloon business in 1990, I really did not know anything about balloons or how to run a balloon business or any business for that matter, but I was excited about building a business around balloons and that was enough for me to get started.

I was very much a beginner for the first 4 years of my ballooning career and fortuitously for me I was encouraged to join the Qualatex Balloon Network™. Why so lucky? After 4 years I had come to a bit of a crossroads with my business, I was busy enough decorating weddings and parties but I was not making any money and I was beginning to question myself if this was a viable business to be running?

Joining the QBN really helped me to turn my business around. It was the first time that I had ever even considered the business side of running my balloon business. It was a real eye opener and it gave me the knowledge and confidence to start running my business in a professional and profitable way!

You don't need to spend 4 years like me trying to work out how to make balloons into a fantastic as well as profitable business. Just read below and find out more about the Qualatex Balloon Network!

How to make a Tropical Balloon Flower Step-by-Step!

Tropical Balloon Flower
by Sue Bowler CBA

Since posting my last blog 'Flower Power', I had several requests for a recipe to make the Tropical Balloon Flowers that I featured in my blog!

I designed the Tropical Balloon Flowers for the Gala Party at the 2013 Slovenia Event. My objective was to create an elegant flower that had a Crocosmia like appearance in terms of having long elegant stems rather than the more traditional 'Daisy' like flowers that we usually see used for decor.

How long you make your flowers is entirely up to you! For the Slovenia Event Gala Party, I wanted the flowers to be freestanding and tall so that I could position them around the room. Each flower stood approx. 10ft tall (3m).  However you could make them much shorter and use them for table decor too!

Flower Power!

Design by Sue Bowler CBA

Floral based designs are synonymous with seasonal occasions such as Mother's Day and Valentines. They can be used for many other occasions too such as 'Get Well' or 'You're the Best', or they can be used to decorate summer parties, creating a wonderful array of ballooning floral treats!

Qualatex® has so many beautiful balloons that we can work with to create many varying types of flowers. 

From Big Polka Dots to Agates, Geo Blossoms® and Hearts, not to mention all the Q's too... look at the amazing flowers that Carolynn Hayman of POP! Designs & Creations has made using 160Q & 260Q balloons!

Part 3. Working with Colour Trends - Strawberries & Tangerine, a fresh trend for summer 2015!

Picture courtesy of www.wantthatwedding.co.uk

Ooh, what a wonderful and exciting colour combination! Strawberry Ice, delicate, warm, and appealing combined with energising and fun Tangerine!

Picture courtesy of www.wantthatwedding.co.uk

These two don't instantly appear to be a match made in heaven but when put together they look awesome! We have some great balloon colours that we can work with to achieve this fresh look!

Here are some fantastic designs ideas working with this fabulous colour palette!

Designers Fiona Fisher and Luc Bertrand share their inspiration behind the Spring Fair and Toy Fair stand decor.

The International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany and the Spring Fair at Birmingham NEC, UK are both key trade shows for Pioneer Europe to exhibit at. 

With many competitor companies within a very small area, it is essential that the Qualatex® stand is exciting, inviting and pleasing to the eye. It should also show professionalism and creativity. 

Most of us don’t work big trade shows like these, but often we get to advertise our services at events and also need to make the best impression at first sight. This philosophy is not unique to trade stands, this is something at we should all consider when creating our window displays or exhibition stands at wedding and other trade fairs.

To find out more about how the fabulous decor was designed for both the Spring and Toy fair, I asked the decor designers Fiona Fisher CBA and Luc Bertand CBA if they would share their inspiration.

Balloon samples to help determine the colours 

and theme to be used.

Choosing the theme and colours with 

Debbie Magill, Michelle Comerford and

Luc Bertrand!

Each year the teams working on the shows get together many months in advance to decide on the look and colours that will be used for the stands. It was agreed that a modern contemporary look was high on the list of priorities using 'Spring and Flowers' as the theme.

Deco Bubble Design Ideas for Communions & Weddings!

For a little extra inspiration for the communion season, I have added some links to some great downloadable PDF instruction sheets of designs working with Qualatex® Deco Bubbles, and although the designs shown are wedding themed designs, you can simply switch the product and replace with some of the great communion latex designs! Remember that Luc describes communions as 'little weddings'!

To download the instruction sheets just click on the link at the bottom of each of the designs.

http://www.qualatex.com/downloads/instuctions/elegant_weddin_bubbles.pdf 

Big is Beautiful Especially When it Comes to Using Giant Balloons

Breathtaking, spectacular, magnificent, and awe-inspiring are just a few words that I feel when I see decor created with Giant Cloudbuster™ and 3' balloons! The impact that they make in a large space is simply stunning! And if I feel like that as a professional balloon artist who works with balloon 24/7, imagine how our customers are going to react!

Heythrop Park Hotel - Balloon Decor by Luc Betrand CBA

I have an amazing souvenir I’d like to share with you first. Luc Bertand, CBA, of WAW Balloons Belgium was tasked with creating entrance decor with 'wow' factor for the Qualatex® Event at Heythrop Park in the UK in 2011. He did not disappoint! When delegates arrived at this beautiful country house hotel they were greeted by this breathtaking display of balloons! Luc used 3' latex and the 4', 5.5' and 8' Cloudbusters to create the awesome display!

Heythrop Park Hotel - Balloon Decor by Luc Betrand CBA

And by night with the venue lit up and the addition of two helium-filled arches using 3' latex balloons, Luc created a truly fabulous visual effect!

To assist me with this blog, I asked balloon professionals Colin Stewart, CBA of STEWART'S Baskets and Balloons, Toronto, Canada; Laura Vernis of Penguins Decoraciò , Barcelona, Spain; and Rocky Toomey, CBA & Terry Mulryan Toome of Future Affairs Productions, Rhode Island, USA, who all regularly work with 3' and Cloudbuster™ balloons to share a little of their personal experience working with these amazing balloons.

Balloon Decor by Colin Stewart CBA

Why do you enjoy working with giant balloons?

Colin: I love to work with giant size balloons. The enthusiasm from my customers is overwhelming. It provides a decor package that 80% of the general public has never seen! Giant balloons in a room fills it with so much colour and so fast! Customers are not used to seeing anything like this.

Balloon Decor by Laura Vernis

Laura: When we started our company 20 years ago, we used other kinds of materials in our decorations. When we started working with balloons we did not like to work with the small sizes. We find working with giant balloons super easy and so much fun!

Balloon Decor by Laura Vernis

The giant ones give the customer more WOW effect. Bearing in mind that most of our clients are events companies. They always want innovative and contemporary decorations.

So with the giant balloons, it is easy for us to work the aerial and sculptural volume especially when we work with outdoor areas and high ceilings.

Balloon Decor by Laura Vernis

Our clients are always surprised with our techniques with the balloons. We keep abreast with trends that we see on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and other social media channels. We also try to be very purists with the colours and make many of our own by using the double stuffing technique.

Rocky: At Future Affairs Productions we have incorporated all the large balloons into our designs for many years.  When we do large concerts, these are something we insist on using during their balloon drops.  We save the large balloons for the finale after all the others balloons have dropped. They have such a great impact for the audience.

Does a giant balloon have a giant pop?

Rocky: Working with the large balloons can seem intimidating to a new person.  Surprisingly though, the large balloons are quite hardy and are less likely to burst. They don’t make the loud “POP’; they are actually quite uneventful when they do pop! On one of my events, I had hundreds of the 5 and 8 ft balloons tethered down on a lawn area behind a festival stage for over an hour prior to throwing them over the fence to the crowd with very few casualties.  

Balloons by Colin Stewart CBA

Do you use helium or air when working with big balloons?

Colin:We fill Cloudbuster and 3' balloons with both helium and air.  We helium fill Cloudbuster balloons for outdoor events, secured to a heavy nylon pennant tether line and fly them 100ft in the air, these are great for car dealerships, sales, promotions and much more!

When we work in-doors we use both helium and air-filled Cloudbuster and 3' balloons. When helium filled, it gives us the opportunity to fill massive high level spaces that we could never normally fill. We often use a rig-line system that allows us to fill big spaces with both helium and air-filled balloons. 

Balloon Cloud by Sue Bowler CBA

I used the same rig-line system that Colin recommends a few years ago when I created a 3' balloon installation for a client. My brief was to create a 'Balloon Cloud' and fill space at different floor levels. We were able to secure a rigging line at a halfway point so we could fill the space below with air-filled balloons and above with helium filled balloons, it worked really well! If you want to find out more about this project just click on the Balloon Cloud link above.

Rocky: When inflating the large balloons we use the Conwin Air Force 4 inflator and depending on how we are going to use them we have different ways of sealing them. 

If they are to be used for a drop in an arena or to be tossed to a crowd at a festival we first fold over the long neck of the Cloudbuster and use a standard 8 inch Zip Tie, or Cable Tie and pull it tight to seal the balloon.  We do not cut the remaining length of the cable tie, as this will cause a sharp edge where the tie is cut. Instead, we bend the tie around the neck of the balloon and secure this with gaffers tape. We do this because this balloon will come into contact with many people as they bounce it around the arena.

If we are using the Cloudbuster for a ceiling treatment, we seal it much in the same manner, using the cable tie to secure the neck once the neck is bent over. This time we do cut off the cable tie so it is not visible to anyone looking up at the top of the balloon. Here we do not use gaffe tape to further wrap the neck because once the event is over, we bring the Cloudbusters down and snip the zip tie with a wire cutters and let out the air. As a result, we can get many uses out of the same balloon.

To attach them to the ceiling we use 15 to 30 pound monofilament and use the Click-Click Magnetic Hanging System.  Using the Regular ClikMagnets for the 5 ft balloons and use the Super ClickMagnets for anything above the 5 foot Cloudbuster. This system is fantastic and cuts down tremendously on the rigging times and costs compared to using a lift or a ladder.   Always do a site inspection of your venue and bring this Click-Click system with you on that visit. Test your ceiling to make sure there is metal up there where you want to hang your Cloudbuster for this system to work.  Nothing can be worse than costing out a job that is impossible to do at the price you quoted because you didn’t do a site inspection first!

Is it possible to re-use Cloudbuster balloons?

Colin: If I use the Cloudbuster™ balloons outside, they usually stay there for several days. I tend not to re-use these balloons as they become weathered, they may have been rained or even snowed on so we never re-use these. However, when air-filled and used inside they are usually on display for a much shorter time. When I return to de-rig the job, I will carefully remove the cable tie that I have used to close the balloon and then I can easily deflate the balloons and re-use them on another occasion.

Rocky: Word of caution here.  Never count on reusing old stock for any event. My rule is to treat each job as if you had no used stock of Cloudbuster and always order 10% more then you actual need.  First inflate your old stock on the job, and then use the new stock as replacements. This way if you can use the old stock for the job you have new stock ready for the next job and just replace as needed.  This in turn increases your profit margin on jobs going forward. 

How well do Cloudbuster balloons blend with the Qualatex 3' balloons?

Colin: They are a little different as Cloudbusters are made from a blend of natural and synthetic latex, so they have a slightly different appearance. But to be honest when I am working with like colours, once they are positioned they all blend together really well! 

For more information check out this great flyer! You can either download as a PDF or view by clicking HERE.

There is also a great Cloudbuster™ Balloon Inflation Tips Instruction Sheets that you can download, simply click HERE

 

Once again I would like to thank Colin, Laura and Rocky for their great advice and tips when working with these magnificent balloons.

Happy 'BIG' ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Part 2. Working with Colour Trends - Shades of Blue

Let's look at what other colours are 'hot' for 2015?

Pantone® has released their top colours for the spring season and have chosen the theme

  "En Plien Air" ("in the open air").

Cool, refreshing and calming shades of blue will be trending this season with Aquamarine topping the charts!

Blue is a very popular colour combination for many different occasions, some of the more obvious ones being the celebration of a new baby boy, male birthdays, "Under the Sea" theme parties and of course the famous "Tiffany" theme...

U.S. Patent No. 6,758,715