Air filled balloon centerpiece

 Hello!

So the first thing I am going to teach you to do is make an air filled centerpiece!  This is so super simple and I sell hundreds of these at the store I manage, USA Party Supplies http://www.facebook.com/usapartysuppliesindy.  We sell most of the supplies needed to make this if you live in the Indianapolis/Greenwood area.

You will need:  (1) 4x4 ceramic tile.  (1) 260Q  (1) 18" mylar  (8) 5" balloons a hand pump and packaging tape.  The "Q" in 260Q stands for Qualatex.  Qualatex in my opinion and many other balloon professionals is the best balloon made!  I try to always use Qualatex when I make any balloon arrangements!

You start with a 4x4 ceramic tile.  Super cheap at your local hardware store like Lowes or Home Depot.  Approximately $  .40 a piece.

Then you need to either tape it on all 4 sides (see picture below) or you can wrap it with mylar paper, tissue paper, anything to cover the sharp edges that can pop the balloons.

Supplies you will now need are as follows:  (1) 260Q animal balloon.  (8)  5" latex balloons in your choice of colors.  I like to use 4 different colors or 2 different colors.  USA Party Supplies carries all these balloons. 

You will need to wrap the 260Q around the tile like you are wrapping a birthday gift.  Start at the top, wrap under tile, twist 260Q and come back up the other sides of the tile so you are back on top.  Tie together as shown.  See how there is about 2-3 inches of extra balloon off to the left?  Do not cut it you will need this shortly.

Next, you will need to make a quad of 5" latex balloons.  This is made by tying two inflated 5" latex together (called a duplet), then tying another two latex together and then wrapping the two duplets together.  You will need to make (2) quads which is (4) duplets.

Now, you need to fill an 18" mylar with air.  You can use a hand pump or even a balloon stick and blow it up with your mouth.  Warning, you may get light headed by doing this! 

 At this point, you will need to tie the mylar balloon tail to the extra yellow 260Q as shown below.

 You will now be ready to slide 1 of the quads onto the centerpiece base as shown below.

Now add the 2nd quad above it.  Feel free to stretch that 260Q balloon, that is why we use a 260Q instead of fishing line or ribbon, other methods of grouping quads together.

Make a curling ribbon bow as shown below.  If you do not know how to do this, there are several YouTube instructional videos, just google it! 

Slide the curling ribbon bow in between the two quads.  You will make another curling ribbon bow and slide it perpendicular to the one you just slid in.

Finished product will look like this!

This air filled centerpiece will last for several days!

I hope my first instructional post was helpful for you.  Feel free to ask any questions you may have!