Sculptures
Santa Greeted with Balloon Workshop, Knoxville
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 | Sculptures | 5 Comments
Above the Rest Welcome for Santa!
Santa made his annual arrival at West Town Mall to the delight of about 300 youngsters. His grand entrance was brightened with Santa’s Workshop arch and spire and a busy elf wrapping up new toys. We LOVE creating the decor for this annual event because we get to design newdecor every year. This year was exceptionally fun for us because we got to incorporate a brand new advanced technique the we learned at the West Coast Balloon Convention earlier this year.
The tall spire to the left of the arch has two large red and green 3′ balloons at the base. Note that there are several other balloons twisting up the pole. So, how in the world did we stack all those balloons?
Santa's Workshop Spire
Actually, there is a 10′ pole running up through the entire spire. The trick was the “magic” technique we learned this summer. It was cool to do and learning that has opened a world of ideas for us for future events.
To the right of Santa’s workshop entrance, one of his elves was busily
Santa's Elf Preparing Presents
working to wrap up some newly made presents. After Santa’s arrival, the elf went inside the mall to continue his hard work decorating the outside of Godiva chocolate store.
With Christmas season rapidly approaching, we’d love to take planning stress off of your plate by creating fun or elegant holiday decor for your private parties, company dinners, stores, or special events. You can reach us at 865-719-8110 to schedule us today or email me at dianna@abovetheresteventdesigns.com
Double Decker Balloon Cheeseburger Sculpture Wins Top Award
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011 | Balloons, Sculptures | No Comments
It all happened in sunny California at the 2011 West Coast Balloon Convention Large Sculpture Competition. A giant 7′ tall double decker cheeseburger was created by a top-notch All American team of professional balloon artists! The burger designer, Steven Jones, of Balloon Designers in Seattle, Washington, gathered Rachel and I along with 7 other amazing balloon artists from around the country to build one delicious looking cheeseburger!
Steven and I constructing the top burger bun
Nine of us flew from the Eastern Time Zone way out to the West Coast to begin competing bright and early the day of competition. The energy was high in spite of a bit of jet lag as we began Steven’s ”cooking” process. He and I began tackling the job of building the framework for the burger, which involved using our math skills to get the correct proportion, our strength to cut and bend metal, and determination to wrestle with the fencing.
At the same time, Amy Bible (CO) and Robyn Bosma (CA), worked for at least 6 hours weaving the lettuce and onion condiments. They were assisted by Vicky Kimble (OH). Another “crew” including Sandy Pressley (MI), Bonnie Fisher (MI), Ilisa Alpert (MA) and Rachel Glandon (TN) got busy inflating thousands of balloons and building the pickles and tomatoes.
Rachel Rolling out the Pickles
Once the framing was constructed, part of the crew, including Leah Scott (OH), began attaching the golden balloons to the make the top of the bun. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, not exactly! Because our team was full of perfectionists who wanted the sculpture “just right,” we actually added balloons to the frame and took them off THREE times before we were pleased with the result! The great news is that in the midst of that process, we created a new way to add balloons that was much faster and definitely much easier on our very tired fingers!!! (We give Brazilian artists kudos for their inspiration!) YEA FOR NEW IDEAS.
After working for almost 12 hours, we had all parts made and the top of the bun complete. Finally! An unsettling feeling was setting in–not panic–just unsettling and much tiredness! You see, the top had to be done as the rest of the design was based upon it for proportion and because it had to be secured to the base framing before we could add balloons. And that bun was one stubborn item indeed!
A second wind set in for the team once the top was done. Rather quickly, the top layer of burger was “cooked”, then a layer of lettuce, and the middle bun was started. Rachel came up with a brilliant idea to use a classic technique for the bun layers that saved our fingers and lots of time. Way to go girl!
Adding those Important Details
As the burger began to take shape, it was really exhilarating to see everyone’s energy return, even if it was short-lived! About the time we “thought” we were almost finished, the “meat” began popping in a chain reaction. Geez, we had to start ALL OVER again inflating the balloons for that part. Some frustration and a lot of tired began setting in, but we endured.
Finally, after building framing, inflating 3,000 balloons, 18 clock hours, about 144 man hours, and NO SLEEP, we were finished! One Big Ole Burger was ready for consumption, well at least ready for viewing. We finished well within the competition’s time limit and only one hour over the team’s original completion time. SUCCESS!
Convention delegates took numerous photos, commented on the quality of the structure and voted our design as the Favorite of the competition. Additionally, at the final night gala, the judges chose the “Big Ole Burger” as the Best Large Sculpture design! Yep, First Place! Our great team won a Double Decker Award!
So what did we do with the 7′ cheeseburger at the end of the convention and after it had been viewed by a few hundred people? In this case, we actually popped it and took it back down to the framing before breaking apart the frame. Guess you can say it was “Completely Digested.”
Double Decker Award Winning Team After 18 Hours Work
Thanks Steven for asking us to be part of this exciting experience! For Rachel and I, this competition was full of amazing learning experiences! We got to work with balloon artists we had admired from afar and learn from them, made great new friends, got to practice persistence and flexibility. Plus, we were both inspired to compete in Large Sculpture Competition at the upcoming World Balloon Convention that will be held in 2012! Watch out world, we’re going to compile one Above the Rest team!
To any of our great clients who may be wanting something very unique for your special event, remember to think “Outside the Bun” and know that we can design a great sculpture for you! See some of our other sculptures at www.abovetheresteventdesigns.com.
To other balloon artists who read this blog, you definitely need to step in the world of competing at convention! The learning is second to none and the benefits are far more than a little lack of sleep and fear. See you in competition–or on our team! Let us know if you’d like to join the fun!
Here is a link to a time-lapse video of the 18 hours our crew spent on building the Big Ole Burger! Hope you enjoy!
No More Big Ole Burger
Balloons Help Frontier Airlines Take Flight
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 | Balloons, Sculptures | 1 Comment
Today, June 7, 2011, was an exciting day in Knoxville! Frontier Airlines began flying from here to Denver offering a “low-cost” fare for the flight. This is a big boost for our area in numerous ways. For me, it was great for two reasons–First, my daughter lives in Denver. So now I can fly to Denver without driving to Nashville first saving me time and money; and she can fly in directly as well. YEA!
Second, Above the Rest Balloon & Event Designs was asked to create the balloon decor to start the maiden voyage off in a very positive way! As passengers arrived to check in, they were greeted with five tall green and white columns which started their early morning check in off with a smile.
Then, when they arrived at the waiting area, they were indeed surprised! The scene included quite a welcome! Free food! Frontier Airline officials! Mayors! Airport Dignitaries! Animals from the Knoxville Zoo (because Frontier airline’s tag line is “A Whole Different Animal.”) and, the best part (in my unbiased opinion) –an 8′ balloon airplane flying amongst numerous balloon clouds!
Frontier Airline Takes Flight in Knoxville
"A Whole Different Animal" for Flying Arrives in Knoxville
Welcome to Frontier Airlines
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!
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!
Big Yellow Balloon Duck Makes a Splash
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 | Balloons, Sculptures | 3 Comments
I love a challenge, and lately our clients have been giving us challenges for sure! Last month a 13′ Rainbow Trout sculpture; this month a 4′ tall Rubber Ducky sculpture!
BYD (Big Yellow Duck) Balloon Sculpture Awaits his July 4 Entrance
What fun Rachel and I had this past week when we created the “BYD” (Big Yellow Duck) for one of our favorite clients, Bath Junkie. Not only was this our first super-sized balloon animal sculpture, we had to design him to withstand traveling a 1.5 mile parade route in 90 degree weather. What we didn’t know was that he would also travel an additional 4 miles after the parade. Bath Junkie owners transported him down Smith Road to their Turkey Creek store to draw attention to their store; and that evening took him to Zuma Fun Center where he still was as of Tuesday. Sure proud he traveled so well! Did anyone happen to see a Big Yellow Duck dressed in an Uncle Sam hat traveling down Turkey Creek? I’d love to know if you did.
The BYD stood 4′ tall without his hat and 6′ with it. He was 40″ in diameter at the base. Over 600 balloons were used to create him and it took about 12 hours to design, build, and rig him on the car/float. It was fun getting to use several techniques to create the sculpture.
Amber, Jill, Dale and Brent are Ready for Fun
A rubber ducky was the perfect float design for Bath Junkie’s float for the Farragut July 4 parade because he represents fun and they wanted to say their store is fun! In addition to the BYD, we got to create 3 bubble bath tubs complete with floating bubbles for the store owners to wear and interact with the parade onlookers. I’m quite prejudiced but I do believe the Bath Junkie float was the best of the parade–too bad this parade doesn’t give awards for best float.
Showing off his Fancy Balloon Tail Feather