BalloonsByDesmond

A long over-dued update

2011-06-03T13:18:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone!

It has been a long time since I've posted anything here, and that's due to the final semester in University.

Finally school's over, and into the working world!

Will still be doing events and balloons on a part time basis, and even if I'm not free, many of our other balloonists will be, so don't hesitate to look for me if you need any party solutions!

Here's some updates since the last post. =)

Did a few events here and there, and here's a few of them!

1.) Balloon decoration and sculpting at a condo's function room, Birthday Party.

[A back drop for their cake cutting table]

[Balloon Palmtree!]

[My 2 lovely assistants for the day]

[Monkey on the Tree!]

[Pretty birthday gal with maid]

2.) Another Birthday Party, got invited by Izzy, who runs a party events company. She and her colleagues do excellent face painting!

[Birthday girl: "I wish everyday is my birthday.". Boy beside her in yellow shirt: "Hurry up, I want that cake!"]

[Yay!]

3.) People Association's Course Coordinators' Network Workshop cum Balloon Dress Parade

This event deserves some special elaboration. It was supposed to be a networking and 'have-fun' session for the course coordinators from various CCs, and also a chance for them to experience how a balloon workshop is conducted. So I thought just having fun would be the main priority. Little did I know that all the other balloonists conducting the other workshops are so detailed and prepared for their balloon dress! So I had to improvise (borrowed idea from Chingay) and attempted my first balloon dress. I think it needs more work, but hey, it was hell of a fun experience! Thanks to Ken, my assistant, for his help, as well as Ivy, the model, for being a good sport. Also thanks to Siew Ching from PA for inviting us.

[5 fantastic balloon dresses on stage]

[Ivy, our balloon model for the day]

[Ken and Ivy with myself]

[With Guest of Honour, Mr Yam Ah Mee]

[With all other dresses and designers, indeed a fun, yet humbling experience!]

Balloon Sculpturing or Sculpting?

2011-01-24T13:56:00.000+08:00

Seems like there's two way of saying what we do. But both are fine to me!

Basically, entertainment of the crowd with balloons is what we do. So let me know if you need any of such party solutions for any upcoming parties!

Balloon Decoration, Xmas Party, Birthday Party! =)

2010-12-27T12:10:00.000+08:00

Hey World,

Recently had the chance to work with Ms Lily Tan, an excellent balloon artist, on her balloon decoration assignment at The Fullerton Hotel. Learnt a lot from her. Here're some photos:

Then, we also went to this beautiful house to colour up their Xmas Eve party with our balloons! The place was jaw-dropping-ly HUGE! Can't tell you where is it, or who lives here, but it's really, REALLY HUGE!

[Our Balloons Stash =)]

Last but certainly not least, just yesterday I did a balloon sculpturing party at Bottle Tree Park, for this lovely 1 year old girl. Very cute girl! Thanks Sharon and your family for the great hospitality! Didn't take a lot of photos, but here's to the lovely mother and daughter! =)

Doraemon!

2010-12-04T23:07:00.000+08:00

Got a request from a friend to make his girlfriend a Doraemon!

Keep these requests coming in! =)

Marche~!

2010-10-09T00:04:00.001+08:00

Yes! Marchè!

Ok, before more is said about Marchè, here's why I've not updated this blog for so long..

Studies!

What else right? So yeah, had my hands tied for this past few months with both exams, internship, studies, project works, and all other whatnots. Blogging now is already a luxury! So lets keep it short, shall we?

I had the chance to work in Marchè for the past 2 months or so.

No, I'm not there as a waiter or your dear Rosti cook. Here's some photos of what I was up to~

[Took this on my first day~]

[Cute bunch of ladies, jia you in school!]

[This girl is so adorable, so shy and had to coax and beg and 'threaten' to have this photo taken! xD]

[And she came again! =)]

If you want to come look for me, or just by chance you're planning to go to Marchè soon, do come on Saturdays, 1pm -3pm, because that's when I'll be appearing there weekly! (Say the password "Balloonbydesmond" for a super special balloon I'll make especially for you!) =P

Alright, that's all for now. Take care! =)

Busy BUSY, and the cute doggies are still for sale!

2010-06-15T00:15:00.005+08:00

Hi!
Wow, it has been months since the last update!
School, exams, and of course BALLOON EVENTS got the better of me.
As titled, the doggie pushies are still for sale, so get yours NOW!
Buy 2 for $12 promotion is still on!

What's new?
I got on U-Weekly, during their interview with Alpha Plus Consultancy!
Some regular shows and stuff, but no photos, since kinds busy during the show. Need to take more photos!
Anyway, Here are some of them:

[U-Weekly]

[U-Weekly, Balloon Sculpturing edition]

[U-Weekly, Magic edition]

[Intermediate Balloon Workshop @ Bukit Panjang CC]

Special thanks to my dear gf for the lovely photos for the workshop. Recover soon! =)

Cute Soft toys Doggies for sale~

2010-02-23T10:21:00.010+08:00

Wei Lai and myself bought these cute doggies when we were doing a bazaar booth in NUS.

Miss it? It's ok.

Now going at a special price of $6.90, you can get one for yourself too!

Can't decide between 2? Get both at $12!

[I call this hapa dog, or it might be Cavalier King Charles Spaniel]

[Beagle]

[White Labrador]

[Husky*]

[Schnauzer]

[Havanese and Golden Retriever*]

[Bring me home now!]

If you notice any of the names of the dogs are wrong, do let me know, I'll be very grateful for your help. =)

Stock for Husky, Schnauzer, Havanese and Golden retriever limited. Get them before they're gone!

*Husky and Golden Retriever are temporary out of stock. Do leave your contact particulars or contact me if you're interested in them, and I'll let you know as soon as they're in stock.

Chingay 2010!

2010-02-23T01:53:00.004+08:00

Recess week was partially burned by Chingay 2010, and I can say I have totally no regrets! (Not till I go for the tests and get my results that is. =P)
Alpha Plus Consultancy got the chance to work with Jalan Bersa CC to produce nearly 20 balloon dresses for girls to put on and parade with, along with their Samba theme this year. APC also provided the crowd with pre-show entertainment with our balloonists going up close to the audiences and giving away balloons to them!
As for the preparation of the balloon dresses, I had the chance to work with a great bunch of people. Including David, Jessica, Gabriel, Debra, Glen, Chun Kiat, Baofa, Jastina, Jocelyn, Irene, Irene's mum, Joel, Stephen, Elyn, Valarie, Kun Rong, Jia Nie, Joanne,Wei long, and also the girls like June, Felicia and the rest of the girls! Phew, hope I didn't miss out anyone.
All in all, the whole process had been a blast. Learnt a lot of things, experience a lot of new stuff. Met a lot of new people. Great, just great. =)
Enough of talking, time for some photos!

[Preparation @ Kallang CC]

[Presenting the Balloon dress' Bra Factory!]

[Work work!]

[There's always time for a nice pose.]

[Repairing the dresses and accessories @ the holding area while waiting for the parade to start]

[Not forgetting my roots.]

[Phyllis, myself, Norvin, Joel]

[Me with Joyce and Yi Ning]

[Me with the 2 malays girls,
didn't get to catch their name! =( ]

[Me with June]

[Group photo whilst parading with the girls]

[Me, lucky and honored, to be in this picture, with the rest and the whole full cast of girls]

Hurray! Totally enjoyed Chingay 2010. Looking forward to next year, where we could be back with even more dresses! =)

Busy busy~

2010-02-02T02:17:00.002+08:00

Hi all!
Gone with Christmas, New Year, and sooner than I knew, the new school semester has already gone into its week 4.
Had been rather occupied with studies, especially since I foolhardily took up Japanese language 1, which is just so hard to master. =/ Anyway, another reason why I was busy was of course due to balloon-related activities!
Done some decoration jobs, as well as shows in parties, carnivals, not forgetting workshops for CC and schools.
Didn't manage to take pics of all the activities, but to cut the long story short, here are some photos!

[Decoration job @ Aranda Country Club, done with Bf, Glen, Ck]

[Santa Claus]

[Indoor table centrepieces for Fairfield Sec Event, done with Joel]

[Workshop with NTU's WSC]

[Workshop with NTU's WSC 2]

[Workshop with NTU's WSC - Group Photo]

[Workshop with NTU's WSC - Merci!]

More Photos!

2009-12-20T22:45:00.000+08:00

These are the photos for the Holiday Inn event, along Orchard Road.

With Givan and June

Taken with a group of students from South Africa

Photos are up!

2009-12-08T16:25:00.002+08:00

Balloons for Terence's Girlfriend:

(Puff heart wand, Tiara and two Roses)

Only this photo is up, since Ter's gf is a little shy of posing with them. =P

Updates

2009-11-24T23:09:00.006+08:00

Recently busy with studies and exams, hence there were no updates for a while.
But balloons are still part of my life! =)

Last sunday just paraded Orchard Road with June and Givan, as we did some promotion for Holiday Inn. It was great fun giving out the flower bracelets, while wearing something super conspicuous. Haha, not forgetting the great looking costumes on the two girls! Photos should be coming in by next week. Looking forward to repeating this gig on the coming Friday!

Today also is the day where I made and pass the balloons to Terence, for his gf's birthday.

Happy Birthday!

Will post the photos when I get them. Also, thanks to all people who contributed ideas for this 'project'.

Here's something I made while walking home. Thanks Wei Lai for teaching! =)

Balestier Hill Run - Pek Kio MIG

2009-09-28T11:59:00.001+08:00

Pek Kio Magic Interest Group (MIG) had the chance to set up a promotional booth on 6th September, during a marathon like event held in Balestier Hill Secondary School. So we went down and had a blast of a time!

[Making a balloon hat]

[Thanks Grace for capturing this nice shot!]

[The whole Pek Kio CC/ MIG crew for the day]

Fairfield Methodist School (Secondary) - Appreciation Dinner

2009-09-28T11:26:00.007+08:00

Thanks to Joel's invitation, got to join in the fun of preparing for his former school's Appreciation Dinner. The plan was to decorate the venue and making table centre pieces. Was still a little little rush, but a great improvement from the previous event with Joel. Cheers! =)

This was counted to be my first balloon decoration job, and though it may not be very grand or well done in professional view, it was a great experience. Had fun playing with helium too!

Here're some photos of our work:

[Table centrepieces ready to be displayed]

[Garden-like decoration]

[Fairfield photographers in action]

[Bear Centrepiece]

[Swan Centepiece]

[Bunny Centrepiece]

Balloon twisting @ Sembawang's Mac

2009-09-21T19:53:00.001+08:00

Not an official gig there, was simply over there with a secondary school friend. Wanted to teach him some balloons sculptures for him to do for his friend's coming birthday. Managed to do up an Elmo and walked him through making one. All the best with it man! =)
The funny thing was that after the Elmo was completed, suddenly someone placed a sticky note from inside of the Mac, saying that one of his friend wanted a balloon, and guess what, he wanted the Elmo. Lol. So the Elmo got given away, forgot to take a picture of it with the receiver. Then after a while, more of the friends from the same group came over and asked for some balloons. Happily did some for them, and left soon after that. Haha, an interesting experience. If not wrong, they're the Frisbee playing people at the Sembawang basketball court. Hi if you're reading this! (Though not really possible. =/)

Workshop with NUS Community Service Club - Grant A Wish VII

2009-09-19T21:19:00.002+08:00

It was Friday and Glen volunteered to conduct a balloon twisting workshop for my school's Community Service Club (CSC), for their Grant A Wish VII project. Glen, Baofa, Givan, Winnie and myself went down to conduct and assist in this workshop. It was a fun workshop, and thinking how happy the kids would be when they receive balloon sculptures from the CSC people really made all the teaching efforts worthwhile. Look forward to work with them again!

[All set to start]

[Workshop in progress]

[Glen, Winnie, Givan, Baofa, Me!]

[Group photo with the CSC gang]

Sunflower for my gal =)

2009-09-15T23:10:00.006+08:00

Went to meet my gal after her work today, and sat at Hong Lim Park to do up this sunflower. Had fun doing it, with some curious looks from people passing by while heading home.

[Sunflower 1]

[Sunflower 2]

[Kuma kuma and its girlfriend]

Both gal and myself are more satisfied with this version of sunflower.
Do let me know if you would like to give it to someone as a gift, will be more than happy to make this for you. =)

Wedding Dinner

2009-09-07T22:45:00.020+08:00

Went to attend my Cousin's wedding dinner last night, and enjoyed it. Hope that they'll have a blissful marriage for a long time. =)

While I was there, I decided to do something special for my cousin, the bride. Started to work on a puff heart wand, and luckily, completed it in time when they reached our table for the toasting and photo taking. Hopefully she'll be sending me the photo so I can share it over here!

Also did some balloons for another cousin's son. Enjoyed playing with him, really an adorable kid!

[Erwin and me]

[Puff heart in the making]

Balloon Line work @ Tanglin CC + Semi Jamming at VivoCity

2009-09-05T23:29:00.014+08:00

Went to Tanglin CC to do some line work, and was overwhelmed by the number of kids queuing for balloons. Got down to business soon and together with Baofa, Veronica and Irene, manage to fulfill most of the requests, as well as stop on time.

After that, the four of us went to vivo for dinner, and headed to the top floor to do some balloons for fun. Someone playing truth or dare came to ask for a balloon and was stunned by me giving her a simple scrape in a shape of a ball, but I shortly made it up by passing her the sunflower I made. Credits to David and Joel's video for the sunflower, and David for the parts that make up the butterfly (The caterpillar has grown up!). Here're some photos.

[Sunflower]

[Butterfly on cube]

Assisting Vivien in overnight decoration at Northpoint,

2009-09-04T15:25:00.008+08:00

The theme for the event was marine life, and the whole gang of us were ready to provide as much help as we could offer. Hours were quite challenging (10pm-8am), and most of us were extremely tired nearing morning. Nevertheless, we made it through.

Photos of this event

First Paid Balloon Gig.

2009-08-30T23:58:00.005+08:00

When I was twisting a bunny for an indian family during the President Challenge event, the father of the family asked if we do parties as well. Referred him to Glen, and was delighted when the gig was allocated to me! The job was to entertain a crowd of kids during a birthday lunch @ Dempsey Hill, Vintage India, the following day, where the youngest daughter of the family was the birthday gal. Thankfully, Irene was free to assist me in the gig, and here are some photos of the party. Sadly we didn't manage to take many of them, as we were busy twisting for all the excited kids. =)

[A Puff Heart Wand for the Birthday girl]

[A finale big balloon hat for a lucky kid]

I'm very pleased with this balloon-ing experience. Had fun with the kids. =)

President's Challenge at Ngee Ann City

2009-08-30T01:06:00.007+08:00

Headed down to Ngee Ann City to help out Glen and gang in their fund raising activities. Reached there a little late due to my tuition in the afternoon, but still managed to do contribute in some ways.

[Flower-weaved-heart]

[Me and Puff Heart using 260s]

Was happy to help out using these 2 items, as well as some other balloon sculptures.

Joel's Ex-sch Founder's Day Event.

2009-08-05T10:51:00.010+08:00

Yesterday I went to an event of making table centrepieces, together with joel. It was his former school's Founder day, and they were celebrating it with a dinner in their hall.

So we met up the day before to buy the necessary balloons at the Balloon Baron. Got our stuff, of course after nearly a halfday 'workshop' under David, haha. Joel initial plan was to do a Bear with flowers for and '6 flower' flower bundles. I had the impression that it should be quite easy to complete the models, as i only pictured us making just 35 tables of stuff, moreover we had almost the entire day to do them. It took the actual doing of the balloons to knock some reality into me.

The next day, joel was there at his church before me, and had already done quite some geoblossoms for the bases. After doing some, I realised that making these stuff wasn't easy at all! Got ourselves very wet due to them constantly exploding. Bad quality huh, David. (I think he wouldn't deny that since those geos were qualatex balloons, and he already hates them so much.. =/) Ok, then the making of flowers. I actually thought we'll be making not much of those, but ended up having to do almost 200 of them, or at least we tried to. We ended up doing 2 laundry baskets full of flowers, and had to stop due to time constraints. Making the bears were quite successful though, although we didn't make a lot of them as they required more time to do. The bears were a better looking one as compared to the simple bear.

Assemble part of the process were quite tedious as well. Connecting the flowers to their stems, tying them together, trimming the length, and combining it with the geo bases, all these were little little things that took up so much of our time when done in bulk! Worst thing was that the balloons were constantly bursting, i suspect due to the hot temperature. It was till the final hours of the evening when things got clear that what we'd done wasn't enough. So joel thought of the idea of using the table number stand to do a simple 'flowers on vines' presentation, which i think was the best of the situation. Great thinking man. =)

So luckily, all the table were ready with at least a certain balloon scrupture on them before the dinner began.

I think this event provided me a great experience, and gave me an idea of how important it is to plan carefully. I think we made the mistake of underestimating the amount of time required to do the scruptures, esp the flower bundle. The distribution of the scruptures among the tables were rather messy too, due to the inability to make enough identical scruptures for all the tables.
Because of all this inperfections, I had a great time an learnt a lot. =)
Some of the photos are can found here:

Photos

That's all for now! Time to rest my poor fingers.. or not! =P