Classic fives are bunches of five balloons that are arranged in a beautiful order and when they are done correctly, they look absolutely stunning whether they are on a floor, a table or even a dance floor!
You will need
Balloons
Helium
Flight extender (optional)
Curling ribbon
Weight
Step 1
If you are using the flight extender, apply this first. Then inflate all five of your balloons and attach the ribbon. Decide which two balloons you want at the bottom of your bouquet.
Step 2
Take your bottom two balloons and hold them in one hand by the necks so that they are even. Firmly grab the ribbon about halfway down with your other hand and then let go of the necks.
Step 3
Repeat step two with the next two balloons whilst still holding the first two, then place the second two balloons above the first two in the gaps. So there should be two balloons going one way and two going the other way. Just make sure you have hold of all four ribbons before you let go! They should be touching, but not bunched together.
Step 4
Whilst still holding your four balloons in one hand, take the last balloon in your other hand and position it in the middle of the second two. Grab the ribbon half way down with the other hand and let the neck go with the hand you were holding it with, make sure it is touching the top of the other two but not bunched together.
Step 5
Keep firmly hold of all of the ribbons and tie them around or attach them to the weight.
Take a piece of the ribbon that is left at the end of the length after you have tied and gently run a closed pair of scissors along the length whilst keeping the ribbon and the scissors in contact with your thumb. Repeat with the rest of the remaining free ribbon.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
How to do your own balloons part 3 (bouquets)
How to do your own balloons part 3 (bouquets)
Balloon bouquets look great, whether there is one of them or thirty of them, they can look stunning and elegant and they are so simple to put together, no one will ever know that the beautiful decorations you did only took you a few minutes and they will think that you had the professionals doing them!
Classic threes
Classic threes are probably one of the most simple balloon bunches to do, and they look great when attached to a weight and put on a table. They are a group of three balloons, each one slightly higher than the last.
You will need: Balloons
Curling ribbon
Helium
Size guide
Scissors
Weight
Flight extender (optional)
Step 1
If you are using the flight extender, apply it to the balloons first and then inflate one using the size guide. Tie a knot in the neck, then tie a length of ribbon (approximately one metre) around the neck of the balloon. Make sure you tie a double knot and try to make sure the knot in the ribbon is as close to the knot on the balloon as possible.
Step 2
Repeat step 1 with the other two balloons. Now take two of the balloons, holding them by the ribbon about half way down and arrange them so one is sitting above the other. The bottom of the top balloon should be just touching the top of the second one.
Step 3
Keep holding the first two balloons in place with one hand and take the third balloon halfway down the ribbon and put it at the bottom, it should be sitting the same way as the others, with the top touching the bottom of the second balloon. You need to make sure that the balloons are just touching, but not too much. If they are too close together they will not sit right and they will look bunched up
Step 4
Keeping all three ribbons together, tie them around the weight or through the loop of the weight, once you are sure you have them in the place you want them, make a tight double know so it can’t slip through and come undone. Trust me, it is VERY frustrating when that happens!
Classic threes are the easiest so I have started with this one and will be posting instructions for bouquets of five shortly.
Balloon bouquets look great, whether there is one of them or thirty of them, they can look stunning and elegant and they are so simple to put together, no one will ever know that the beautiful decorations you did only took you a few minutes and they will think that you had the professionals doing them!
Classic threes
Classic threes are probably one of the most simple balloon bunches to do, and they look great when attached to a weight and put on a table. They are a group of three balloons, each one slightly higher than the last.
You will need: Balloons
Curling ribbon
Helium
Size guide
Scissors
Weight
Flight extender (optional)
Step 1
If you are using the flight extender, apply it to the balloons first and then inflate one using the size guide. Tie a knot in the neck, then tie a length of ribbon (approximately one metre) around the neck of the balloon. Make sure you tie a double knot and try to make sure the knot in the ribbon is as close to the knot on the balloon as possible.
Step 2
Repeat step 1 with the other two balloons. Now take two of the balloons, holding them by the ribbon about half way down and arrange them so one is sitting above the other. The bottom of the top balloon should be just touching the top of the second one.
Step 3
Keep holding the first two balloons in place with one hand and take the third balloon halfway down the ribbon and put it at the bottom, it should be sitting the same way as the others, with the top touching the bottom of the second balloon. You need to make sure that the balloons are just touching, but not too much. If they are too close together they will not sit right and they will look bunched up
Step 4
Keeping all three ribbons together, tie them around the weight or through the loop of the weight, once you are sure you have them in the place you want them, make a tight double know so it can’t slip through and come undone. Trust me, it is VERY frustrating when that happens!
Classic threes are the easiest so I have started with this one and will be posting instructions for bouquets of five shortly.
How to do your own balloons part 2 (the materials)
How to do your own balloons part 2
In part one we looked at the basic rules for doing your own balloon decorating, in this part we will look at the materials you will need to create your own balloon bouquets
Helium: If you have a significant number of balloons to do then you will need an industrial cylinder of helium, these can be rented from many different places.
Balloons: You will need helium quality balloons of at least 11 inches or more, the packet should say on it what measurements they are and whether they are helium quality or not.
Ribbon: To tie the balloons together, you will need a thin kind of ribbon known as “curling ribbon” it’s called this because if you run a blade gently over it, it curls.
Curling ribbon is available is a massive array of colours and is very cheap to buy at around £1 for 100 metres.
Scissors: You will need one pair of good quality scissors
Weights: If you are creating displays or bouquets, you will need something to weight them down with. There are a large selection of weights that are available to buy or you can make your own (this will be covered in another article)
Size guide: You want all your balloons to look the same size and shape and a size guide will help you to make sure that they do. They are a piece of cardboard or plastic that you hold the balloon through as you inflate, when you can’t pull the balloon through the hole, then it has reached the right size.
2 inch ribbon: If you are making bows to go on your weights, then you will need two inch ribbon, this comes in as many colours as the curling ribbon, but it can also be split down to the size you require.
In part one we looked at the basic rules for doing your own balloon decorating, in this part we will look at the materials you will need to create your own balloon bouquets
Helium: If you have a significant number of balloons to do then you will need an industrial cylinder of helium, these can be rented from many different places.
Balloons: You will need helium quality balloons of at least 11 inches or more, the packet should say on it what measurements they are and whether they are helium quality or not.
Ribbon: To tie the balloons together, you will need a thin kind of ribbon known as “curling ribbon” it’s called this because if you run a blade gently over it, it curls.
Curling ribbon is available is a massive array of colours and is very cheap to buy at around £1 for 100 metres.
Scissors: You will need one pair of good quality scissors
Weights: If you are creating displays or bouquets, you will need something to weight them down with. There are a large selection of weights that are available to buy or you can make your own (this will be covered in another article)
Size guide: You want all your balloons to look the same size and shape and a size guide will help you to make sure that they do. They are a piece of cardboard or plastic that you hold the balloon through as you inflate, when you can’t pull the balloon through the hole, then it has reached the right size.
2 inch ribbon: If you are making bows to go on your weights, then you will need two inch ribbon, this comes in as many colours as the curling ribbon, but it can also be split down to the size you require.
Part 1 (the basics)
How to do your own balloons
Balloons make a huge impact on any event, but the increase in the price of helium and the labour costs that companies charge, (trust me I know, I used to be a balloon decorator) can really drive the prices right up. In this series of articles I will tell you the easiest and cheapest possible ways to do your own helium balloons and how to make sure they have the maximum impact on your event.
Always try to do your balloons as close to the time of your event as possible. The helium escapes through the skin of the balloons after a certain length of time, so the later you do them, the less time it has to escape.
Get your helium from a registered trader, don’t bother with throwaway canisters, there’s never enough helium in them. When I used to trade, everybody that had bought a throw away cylinder from another shop (we didn’t sell them) brought it back and said the helium had run out. They say they will do about 50, when in reality you are lucky if they do 30.
If you want your balloons to last as long as possible and not be worrying about them going down, you will need a flight extender. This is a clear liquid that you pump inside the neck of the balloon and spread it around. This will coat the inside of the balloon, slowing down the process of the helium escaping. Some extenders are said to make balloons float for up to 50 times longer than they normally would.
I can’t stress the importance of good quality balloons, they don’t need to be pricey, but they do need to be quality. Look for thickness and flexibility, if the balloons are thick, they will hold the helium better, but make sure they are flexible, as brittle, stiff ones will burst more easily.
You can’t really beat qualatex for helium quality balloons, or unique party for the cheaper end that maintains the quality.
Make sure your balloons are meant to be helium filled, take one of your balloons and hold it by the neck. Let it dangle down, is the writing the right way up? If it is then when you fill it with helium, the writing will be upside down.
If you are transporting balloons to another place once you have done them, my advice would be to put them into plastic bags such as bin liners. If you don’t, the ribbon will tangle up like you won’t believe!
Balloons make a huge impact on any event, but the increase in the price of helium and the labour costs that companies charge, (trust me I know, I used to be a balloon decorator) can really drive the prices right up. In this series of articles I will tell you the easiest and cheapest possible ways to do your own helium balloons and how to make sure they have the maximum impact on your event.
Always try to do your balloons as close to the time of your event as possible. The helium escapes through the skin of the balloons after a certain length of time, so the later you do them, the less time it has to escape.
Get your helium from a registered trader, don’t bother with throwaway canisters, there’s never enough helium in them. When I used to trade, everybody that had bought a throw away cylinder from another shop (we didn’t sell them) brought it back and said the helium had run out. They say they will do about 50, when in reality you are lucky if they do 30.
If you want your balloons to last as long as possible and not be worrying about them going down, you will need a flight extender. This is a clear liquid that you pump inside the neck of the balloon and spread it around. This will coat the inside of the balloon, slowing down the process of the helium escaping. Some extenders are said to make balloons float for up to 50 times longer than they normally would.
I can’t stress the importance of good quality balloons, they don’t need to be pricey, but they do need to be quality. Look for thickness and flexibility, if the balloons are thick, they will hold the helium better, but make sure they are flexible, as brittle, stiff ones will burst more easily.
You can’t really beat qualatex for helium quality balloons, or unique party for the cheaper end that maintains the quality.
Make sure your balloons are meant to be helium filled, take one of your balloons and hold it by the neck. Let it dangle down, is the writing the right way up? If it is then when you fill it with helium, the writing will be upside down.
If you are transporting balloons to another place once you have done them, my advice would be to put them into plastic bags such as bin liners. If you don’t, the ribbon will tangle up like you won’t believe!
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