A very Happy New Year to Everyone, wishing you a year full of fun and laughter XXxx
So we finally announced the mystery instructor for Birmingham in June 2026, it will be Mr Patrick Van de Ven from Holland who is coming over for the two day event on the 23rd/24th June. It will be a small gathering of approx. 35 people attending and we only have 10 spaces left after the early bird special. So please be quick if you’d like to attend, booking details, Patrick Van de Ven.
The next thing to sort for 2026 is my tutorials, now what to do? I posted yesterday on Facebook about the dilemma, I would like to give them away for free but we do spend a lot of time working the designs out, working on proportions and what is the best way to put the design together. Then filming and editing getting it ready to post, I was surprised that many think I should just give this all away for free, now as we do not have sponsorship I do need to make a few pennies to help pay the bills etc. I do get asked a lot when I post a design is there a tutorial available, when I mention I have paid sites it all goes quiet. What people really mean is… is there a free tutorial, he he. So the plan at the moment is to start a new Facebook page and charge £18 to view the tutorials for the year and to post one a month. Making it just £1.50 per tutorial which I think is pretty fair and hopefully affordable to everyone. BUT I’m still thinking about it and things might change, we will make a decision by the end of the month.
We have filmed the Snake and Winnie the Pooh for the new tutorial page and also posted onto Balloon Chat the model of the month for January, which is the Bee, this is the link if you’d like to view, Bee Tutorial.
I did my first balloon gig for 2026 yesterday at a soft play/bouncy castle barn. I have been there I think four times now and the staff are nice and friendly and it’s a nice place to hold a party. The bonus is it’s only a ten minute drive so nice and handy as well.
That’s me for this week, we will be running a free Zoom later in the month as usual so please keep an eye out on Facebook for the dates etc
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Off to find the random balloon picture of the week. I went with my one balloon Snake design… and yes I know it’s two balloons with the eyes and tongue… he he. On Facebook this has had so many likes and comments etc, possibly the most talked about design for some years that I have posted. This is just a more line work quicker Snake design than the detailed one that we came out with way back in 2021.
