What Does a Bride, a Bustle and a Balloon Have in Common?
Monday, May 30th, 2011 | Wedding | No Comments
On Sunday, May 30, Rachel and I had an opportunity to be involved with a vey special event. The wedding of Katie and Zane Deatherage. This was a very special wedding for numerous reasons. Katie and I have been together for the past 11 years. Our relationship began when she joined the middle school Student Council of which I was advisor. She very quickly became one of our best leaders which meant she and I spent a lot of time together. Even when she went to high school we stayed in touch.
Thanks for the years of service Katie!
When I started Above the Rest, Katie was in college at UT and became one of my crew members. Again, she showed her strong leadership abilities. For the past 5 years, she has learned, taught new crew members, led, set numerous events, some even by herself and most of all, I feel like Katie is like a daughter to me. So you can see why being involved in her wedding was very special.
Initially, we were going to do a giant balloon drop at her reception. However, the week of the wedding, we learned that it was not really possible to put rig points in the ceiling of the Capitol Theater. On to Plan B. I told Katie we’d do something else that she wanted. Katie and her mom asked if we could put a pair of Balloon Buddies on her candy table and also install a 30′ fabric wall in the lobby of the theater. Well, of course, we would!
Part of Katie's Entrance Decor
Sunday afternoon Rachel and I designed and set a romantic entrance wall that complimented her red and black colors. Then we added red lights to wash the wall and ceiling in red.
Outside, we created a set of stancions to give the feel of a Hollywood red carpet event; and as Katie had requested, a pair of bride & groom balloon buddies were placed atop her candy station.
The addition of the decor enhanced the lobby of the theater and also guided people into the seating area.
Katie, her mom, friends and family all had worked very hard in advance to create centerpieces (using our
Welcome Guests!
materials) all handmade programs, table cards, candy wraps, and so much more in order to have a professional look.
After her emotional ceremony, the celebration began, which is where the blog’s title comes into play. Katie had a stunning gown with a very long train. The hooks that the seamstress added on the train did not keep it bustled so it fell every time Katie moved. Her mom tried pinning it, didn’t work. So in Mrs G. (me) entered. I went out to the car, got into my tool box and came to her rescue–ta da! The power of 260 balloons (that’s the long entertainer balloons) I used a combination of 260′s and cable ties to secure Katie’s bustle up so she could move, and it even looked good. What a laugh! How perfect that balloons came to the rescue at Katie’s wedding–only could the employee of a balloon artist be saved by balloons!
So what does a bride, a bustle and a balloon have in common? Happy memories and moments of laughter!
My dear Katie, I wish you and Zane the very best, know that I love you and that I will miss you dearly as you move to Memphis. Thanks!
Congratulations Katie & Zane! May God Bless You Always!
William Blount’s “Lucky 7″ Casino Themed Prom
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 | Balloons, Prom | 3 Comments
The Prom Committee for William Blount High School chose the theme “Lucky 7″ for this year’s prom. However, they didn’t was the stereotypical casino look with dice, playing cards, and poker chips. Instead, they wanted their prom to have a more elaborate theme of one of the ornate hotel lobbies. After listening to what they desired, we brainstormed and decided to show them examples of the Bellagio lobby decor which was designed by Dale Chihuly. If you don’t know, Dale Chihuly is an expert glass blower, and the sculptures he creates are stunning indeed. I loved viewing his exhibit when it was here in Knoxville and again when I visited the Bellagio.
9' Long Glowing Chihuly-Style Chandeliers
To recreate his look, we used special glass-like entertainer balloons to create three 9′ chandeliers and centerpieces. This type of balloon lets light glow through it very well, so each of the designs in fact did glow and looked gorgeous. (Far prettier than photos) Creating the chandeliers wasn’t easy because with this type of balloon, there is a short window of when they look their best and when they start to deflate. Plus, each balloon was inflated individually and curled to create the Chihuly look. There were over 250 balloons in each chandelier. The “backbone” of the chandelier was several strands of lights–which often popped balloons, so we had to be very careful when adding balloons. Rigging the chandeliers 20′ in the air required a lift and some electrical engineering on our part, but we did it quite successfully.
The students liked the idea of the massive Chihuly glass sculpture that’s in the lobby of the Bellagio for over their dance floor. So, we got to work designing
Where do I want this color to go?
and building a frame for their 15′ square chandelier. After some brainstorming and discussions, we decided to build the frame in 8 separate pieces so we could get it through doorways and be able to maneuver it while installing it overhead.
We chose the colors and then Rachel gathered her creative juices to lay out the design. Once the design was chosen, we got busy individually tying on the 100+ shiny foil tapers to the framework. It took us both working–Rachel laid the tapers on top of the framing while I got the easy job. I lay on my back and attached the balloons to the frame. I even got to use a pillow.
At the Knoxville Expo Center, we took turns installing the completed chandelier to the ceiling because we had to hold it high overhead, balance the framing and rig it securely to the ceiling. It was quite tough on the shoulders and arms. While it took some thinking, a few rather unusual twists of arms and fingers, we completed the task of hanging the chandelier and even had lights glowing from within.
A Head's Up Job for our Crew
The end result was absolutely beautiful and created the perfect atmosphere that the Prom Committee had in mind. For us, we learned a great deal while we were figuring out how to build the framework and even more about the installation process–all good stuff so we’ll be even faster if we ever get the opportunity to create a design like this again.
View of 15' Square Balloon Chandelier from Below
Above the Rest’s First Balloon Dress
Friday, April 1st, 2011 | Balloon Dress, Balloons | No Comments
After an episode of “The Unpoppables” (a series about 3 California balloon artists) was aired on TLC, we received a call with a request for us to create a balloon dress because the person had seen it on the show.
Having never made a balloon dress before, Rachel and I were both excited and nervous about making a balloon dress. The good thing for us was that the request came from a long-time friend not a paying client. So we told her we would make one if she agreed to model it for us at the Fox 43 Bride’s Day show. She agreed.
Rachel got an image in her head of what she wanted to create. We consulted an experienced balloon artist friend regarding how many balloons to order, took measurements, and got a dress form. After we received 300 Caribbean blue entertainer balloons for the bodice, and 400 rounds for the skirt Rachel began weaving the bodice. I began putting together the skirt.
Rachel Concentrating on Her First Dress Weave
Balloon dresses don’t have a long life span, so Rachel couldn’t start weaving the dress until a few days before the show. Even then we had to store it in a bag and keep in the cool air of the studio’s garage to keep it in tact.
Rachel quickly discovered that weaving and making the “bubbles” precise and straight was harder than she initially thought. The whole process took her much longer as well, and her hands became quite sore. Therefore, the length of the bodice shortened and the length of the skirt became longer.
I actually sewed 400 yellow, orange, magenta, and caribbean balloons together making each row a different layer. The layers were sewn together on top of each other.
Rachel is "sewing" Laura into the Balloon Dress
The day of the bridal show, Laura arrived very excited. She stood still as Rachel finished fitting the dress to Laura and “sewing” her into the dress.
Laura Happily Models our First Balloon Dress
Fascination with Laura's Dress
During the show, Laura’s dress was a huge attention getter. People pointed, exclaimed and most often wanted to touch the dress. They asked her numerous questions about how it felt, was it uncomfortable, could she sit. To which she said very comfortable and yes she could sit. Men, of course, made comments about popping the balloons. Women and children wanted to touch.
Overall, both Rachel and I were thrilled with this first-time accomplishment. We learned a lot about the time involved in making the dress–we had over 15 hours. We also know we’ll make another sometime in the future–who knows you may want us to make a balloon dress for you to make a big impact at a trade show?
Thanks, Laura, for watching the show and asking us to stretch our abilities. We have wanted to make a dress for a while. Your request and enthusiasm pushed us to actually do it. We are grateful!
Monkeying Around with Balloons
Thursday, March 31st, 2011 | Balloons, Sculptures | No Comments
It’s so much fun when a client gives me an invitation to their special event so we can design decor to match. That’s especially true with baby shower invitations. The most recent one we got had the cutest drawings of baby monkeys I’ve seen.
Precious Monkey Invitation--We Can Compliment Yours
Using the invitation as my inspiration, I designed balloon monkeys to match. We created about a dozen. Some we hung from the venue’s ceiling on balloon vines and others were table centerpieces. It was the cutest decor we’ve ever done, in my opinion.
The venue’s ceiling was high enough for us to hang about 15′ of green vines and then attach 5 sweet monkeys to them.
These monkeys were created by using special entertainer balloons, then twisted together to form their bodies. Features were then added along with a curl of hair and a balloon flower.
Creating balloon designs to match invitations is a great way to pull your event together in a fun way. So if you happen to be planning a baby shower, bridal shower, birthday or any other type of event in which you have an invitation, feel free to ask us to match it. Most of the time we can come quite close, and if we can’t we can at least match the color scheme.
Hanging around for the Shower
You’ll have to imagine the whole ceiling covered as the camera couldn’t get the full view. Weren’t they fun?
Dogwood Balloon Blossoms–Come on Spring!
Friday, February 11th, 2011 | Sculptures | No Comments
Today, Rachel and I worked non-stop to create an exciting trade show booth display for our client, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Federal Credit Union (ORNL FCU). They are one of the major sponsors for this year’s Dogwood Art’s Festival Home & Garden Show. It was an honor to create the decor for them again this year.
When I met with my clients, we brainstormed about the look and feel for their booth. They wanted it to be “Above the Rest,” wanted it to be easily seen from anywhere in the convention center, wanted it to be inviting and of course, wanted it to represent our lovely dogwood trees of East Tennessee. That’s exactly what we did for them.
The booth has four 8-10′ dogwood trees, and each tree has numerous dogwood blossoms on it. 
While we worked very hard to create the trees and arches today, it was fun seeing the bare brown tree trunks come alive with spring when we started adding the blossoms. Many fellow exhibitors stopped and gave lots of positive compliments on the look, which I especially appreciated because those exhibitors are very talented landscape and interior decorator experts who have great looking booths.
Dogwoods are blooming, it's gotta be Spring!
I hope any of you who are in Knoxville this weekend that you take time to visit the Dogwood Home & Garden Show to not only see our festive display, but that you visit the ORNL FCU booth to purchase a raffle ticket to win a Smart car, furniture or an outdoor bar or open an account with them.
Many, many thanks to my fabulous crew–Rachel, Alexandra, Katie and Julia (welcome aboard Julia) who worked their fingers hard to preprep many parts of this decor and special thanks to RACHEL who never took a break today and as always brought her best design eye to the job! Appreciate you all!
5′ Balloon Snowmen are Hit of the Christmas Parade
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Oh what fun it is to make a Christmas float that has 5′ balloon snowmen on it!
Rachel rebuilding Frosty
The City of Knoxville’s theme for this year’s Christmas parade focused on snowmen and Christmas trees. Not only was it our delight to create this float, we heard screams of delight along the parade route from onlookers. When I watched the video playback on WBIR’s website, the announcer even said, “Look that entire float is made from balloons. It’s my favorite float so far.” (My guess it was her favorite float still by
the parade’s end, but I’m prejudiced.)
My fantastic crew prebuilt ten fully decorated Christmas trees at the design studio as well as the four 5′ snowmen who sat on each corner of the float. We then trucked in the decor and installed it on the City’s float which sat atop the Civic Coliseum garage on a not-so-cold but blustery afternoon. On site, we installed
Sister Frosty
Most of the afternoon’s decorating went fairly smoothly–well, except that as we traveled to the Coliseum someone (that’s me) turned a corner too quickly which caused two of our 5′ snowmen to pop. Being the amazing crew member that she is, Rachel just climbed in the truck and restructured the snowmen’s bodies again.
Mrs. Frosty
As evening approached and skies grew bright orange as the sunset, we turned on the lights, double rigged the snowmen down and headed off onto the parade route. For me, the best part of the float design was that the snowmen actually bobbled as the float rolled slowly down the streets. The wind had died down some, but we hit some cross-winds just before the main route that actually spun one of the snowmen’s head all the way around. I jumped out of the truck cab, turned it back around and off we went with the snowmen, just bobbling about on the float. The City Councilmen and women joyfully waved at onlookers to their delight.
At the end of parade it’s always hectic as we have to disassemble the entire float in about 15 minutes because the float company has to leave immediately for a parade in North Carolina. This year we added speed because Kelly and I had tickets to see Fiddler on the Roof that was starting in about 30 minutes after we got to the parade’s end. With lightning speed, we stripped the float of its festive sculptures and off we headed to enjoy the play. All in all it was a very fun day and one that made our clients happy–that’s all we want!
Little Brother Frosty
Frosty
Balloon Therapy
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 | Public Speaking | 1 Comment
Last weekend, Dianna and I had a chance to be guest speakers at a women’s rehabilitation center. So what does that have to do with balloons, right? Well, we taught them “twisting” of course. 
A full hour of healthy fun and entertainment with balloons for a group of women who may have been expecting a normal guest speaker who stands up and just talks. Oh no, we were able to give them a healthy dose of laughter and a touch of accomplishment when we were finished.
With it being Christmas season, what better theme than to create a balloon Christmas tree full of their very own creations to fit the holiday season. The ladies did an awesome job learning some basic twisting techniques and created very cute gingerbread men and pretty snowflakes. They were so determined and interested in completing the task before them that it was just delightful to be there helping. At the end of our time, we left them with their balloon “ornaments” attached to their Christmas tree. They were both excited and full of a sense of accomplishment.
Teaching twisting to the group of women was a great experience. Not only did it boost my confidence as a balloon artist, but I was able to touch someone in a personal and healing way. I am so glad we get to do it again in the near future.
Dianna’s Thoughts:
If you know me very well, you know that I used to love to teach, but when I get to teach with balloons, that is definitely something I especially enjoy. When I get to add to that the opportunity to listen to someone who is hurting and get to provide them with words of encouragement or a simple hug, now that is amazing. That’s how this latest speaking engagement was for me, amazing. I loved getting to use the art medium I love to be able to touch someone’s heart.
There was one lady who needed extra help to successfully finish her snowflake. In the time I helped her twist the snowflake, she shared with me that that her husband of several years had just died, that her grief was strong, how she found help to get well, about some physical problems and that she would soon be leaving to go home alcohol free. As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes, we hugged. She continued and a smile spread across her face, we hugged. What a blessing that something as simple as a balloon twisting class could touch a heart. I thank the good Lord for providing me with such a blessing.
How Many Balloons Does it Take to Make a Gingerbread House?
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 | Sculptures | No Comments
We love decorating West Town Mall’s entrance for the annual arrival of Santa! Every year, we get the opportunity to use our creative juices to design completely new decor that will delight the several hundred children who come to see Santa arrive, and this event always comes on the heels of when we come from home from several days at an exciting balloon convention (FLOAT). So we are naturally very inspired to try new designs and techniques. This year was no different.
At FLOAT, Rachel attended a class on weaving with large balloons. I knew I wanted to create a gingerbread house for Santa’s arrival, so we decided to use the new technique to build the house. We loved it! While the technique was time consuming (probably because it was new to us), it was so fun to do and created a real log cabin look.
The entire scene featured 3 decorated Christmas trees that were surrounded with snow and two of the newest foil balloon designs–the North Pole sign and a skating penguin. On the right was a 6′ x 5′ gingerbread house complete with a fluffy snow-covered roof top and gum drops. Candy cane swirls adorned each corner. Finally, 12 4′ tall candy canes created the stanchions that kept the children off the road while they waited in anticipation of Santa’s arrival.
It was great fun watching the little ones’ eyes open wide in amazement and then see them pose with happy grins on while their parents took photos–sure wish I could put photos of the kids in this post!
After the event was over, we disassembled the gingerbread house, “gingerly” loaded it in the van and the following day took it to A. L. Lotts Elementary where we very “gingerly” reassembled it in their lobby. Lotts Elementary is one of our area schools that annually makes several gingerbread houses for the Fantasy of Trees (annual fundraiser for Children’s Hospital) so our super-sized house was perfect for their lobby. What was so fun for us was the reactions of the kids as they were heading to gym class. “Whoa look at that!” “That’s awesome!” “How are you doing that?” “Can I pop it?” “I want to eat it!” “Can I have one?” and tons of other kid perfect statements.
While we were building the house again, it was so incredibly fun because of the kids and their reactions. The best was when a second grade girl came down the hall and was stopped in her tracks. She grabbed both hands of her best friend and with wide open eyes exclaimed, “Oh..my…gosh…that’s…the…cutest…thing…I’ve…ever…seen!” And that’s exactly how she said it–very slowly and deliberately with complete excitement and appreciation. Love it!
The older kids were quite inquisitive wanting to know all sorts of things so we created a sign to give them info. Like there were over 800 balloons in the house; it took over 19 man hours to put it together, there was no framework inside, and of course, that the fun ladies at Above the Rest created it and that we’d be delighted to create designs for any of their celebrations.
I sure do love what we create, especially when we get to see so many people amazed and excited! Balloons are one amazing medium indeed and am excited to be decorating for the upcoming holdays! Feel free to call and we’ll add fun to your holiday celebrations!
FLOATing with Amazing Balloon Decor at Convention
Thursday, November 11th, 2010 | Balloons | No Comments
What a great week we had last week when we attended the 3rd FLOAT convention in Ohio! We learned a ton of new stuff from design, to speed tips, to framing, to marketing and tons more! Plus we got so see many of our balloon artist friends from around the world and meet new ones as well! There were artists from 8 countries and from all other the US. Man, it was great to see everyone and get invigorated and inspired.
Fun Champagne Bottles and Glasses for New Year's Parties
Rachel and I were so excited about a new technique we learned that we used it today to create a gingerbread house for Santa’s arrival at West Town–I’ll post photos of it in a bit. There are many other things we are excited to incorporate in our designs and to share with our wonderful clients. We got to see first hand the latest balloon designs that are coming out for Christmas and New Years. Here are photos of just 2–we love them!
New Skating Penguins, Perfect for Christmas
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If a Pig Can Fly, How Long Can a Balloon Pig Last?Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 | Uncategorized | No CommentsI just have to share this one as it just astounds me! On April 24, 2009, it was my pleasure to decorate the stage decor for the Farragut Chamber’s Annual Silent Auction Dinner with a fun, whimsical farm theme. There was giant sweet corn growing, being tended to by Farmer Brown and his friendly cows and pigs, some of which could fly.  Now that's Some Corn!  With an Oink, Oink Here At the end of this fun evening, Tim Williams of Matlock Tire, asked for one of the pigs, which I of course, gave him. Well, Tim not only took the balloon pig home, he dedicated himself to taking proper care of his new precious balloon pig, providing him with adequate lack of heat and direct sunlight. Tim was apparently the perfect caretaker for this pig because for the past year and a half, Tim has often reported that his pig was still in great shape. Of course, I didn’t believe him, because after all, I have never imagined that one of my balloon designs, especially in latex, would ever last longer than a few weeks, and definitely not a year and a half. Tim kept saying he would send me a picture of the pig, reporting that overall he looked really good with just a bit if shriveling on the ears and snout. “Sure, sure,” I’d always say. “You’ll never send me a picture.” Well, Tim took the challenge last week and proved me wrong, big time! Not only did he send me photos of the pig, he did an entire photo shoot of his 1 1/2 year old balloon pig. Here a just a few of the fun photos he took. The first photo iTim took is of the pig “flying” a year and a half after being made. Pretty good looking for that old of a balloon sculpture if you ask me. And you have to love the second photo Tim took by the light of the full moon, a close up of Mr. Pig, with his slightly shriveled snout. Other than that a pretty darn good look 1 1/2 year old balloon pig–AMAZING! That is definitely the longest one of my designs has lasted. Just goes to show that not only can pigs fly when balloons are involved, but our designs can also last an amazingly long time! Plus, it shows that Tim is a fantastic caretaker of balloon pigs! Incredible but true, guess that’s why our designs are just simply Above the Rest!  Not only do pigs fly, they last a long time!  By the Light of the Harvest Moon a 1 1/2 Year Old Balloon Pig NewsletterContactPagesCategories |