The "MAD" girls

I would just like to introduce my four fabulous, fun female staff members (note the alliteration). Ian and I stayed on the other side of the lens (so we didn't crack the camera).

Katherine, Alicia, Jessica and Wendy. We have had the busiest October and November of the whole of the 18 years I have been in business. On Thursday 3rd December, we had a day full of jobs. Back to the workshop which as you can see is already full of large balloons - a quick dinner and then The Telstra 500 V8 supercars installation at Sydney Olympic Park. The fact that the girls can raise a smile after 10 hours work (with another 6 hours ahead) is a credit to them.

These four ladies are all highly talented individuals and their dedication makes a real contribution to the success of MAD Balloons. I couldn't do it without them. You can see some of their fabulous work with BIG balloons that was achieved at Homebush station SOP a short time after our healthy and nutritious dinner.

Love your work ladies!!

Great Day for UP.......

Inspired by Steve Jones (Aeration Decorations) recent post on BHQ, the Australian Industry Association got our act together and teamed up with Events Cinemas (formerly Greater Union) and Hoyts Cinemas for the launch of the new Disney/Pixar movie "UP". There were a number of initiatives, including the foyers of many cinemas having large colourful columns in them, as well as people being handed a balloon after some sessions screenings.

I was contacted by Events Cinemas Castle Hill who were looking to transform their foyer, and also draw attention to a large kids area that they had created with games, colouring in and much more.The foyer posed a few challenges. We tried to re create the scene in the movie where the house is being taken up by the many balloons tethered to it, however we needed to make sure that the whole thing was high enough so that it could not be destroyed by anyone jumping up to grab them. In the end we dispensed with the house, and settled for adding little replica dolls of Russell and Carl Fredricksen to the bottom of the balloons.
The display was up for the whole of the school holidays, and was lots of fun.

Last week I took my family to see the movie. My wife shed a few tears, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The whole concept was heaps of fun and I was pleased that the Disney/Pixar people had done some research about balloons to come up with it. They did take the license a bit far when the balloons tied to the house managed to float for three days, instead of the usual 14-18 hours that they usually float for. Apart from this though they have come up with another movie that appeals to all ages and has something for everyone. Good job!

World Balloon Convention

STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS

Awesome news. I have just been chosen to be the Australian instructor at World Balloon Convention in Dallas, Texas - 15-18 April 2010.

The list of instructors is very much the "who's who" of balloon instruction.....and they included me in that list - YAY!!!!!

For more info go to http://www.worldballoonconvention.com/

P!NK - Final Australian Concerts

Australia recently adopted the artist P!NK as one of our own. She did a massive (and record breaking) 58 shows in Australia in the one stint. To celebrate this, the promoter, Michael Koppell, contacted MAD Balloons to do some large balloon drops for her two last shows in Sydney. 1500 balloons and 5 large crowd balloon balls.

My staff were very excited about this as they are all P!NK fans. Katherine is a big fan.

(I'm a fan of the lovely pink cupcakes that were provided for the show......)

We had to set the drop up at the foyer just near the main arena.

Each net was 9 mtrs long and had 750 balloons in it

.....and there were 5 veeeeery large balloon balls that we also dropped on the crowd for them to play with.

You can see that by the sheer size of the balls and balloon nets that we could not get them up in the lift. So we had to drop ropes from the catwalk (33mtrs above the floor) and get them up that way.

Anyway........

The view of P!NK's concert from the catwalk was pretty fantastic.

.....as P!NK was about to do her bungy jump, we let the balloons go, so they would co-incide with the end of her bungy jump!

So how did it look?????? You be the judge.

The client was very happy, the crowd went absolutely crazy and had heaps of fun bopping the balloon balls around.

So, if you need a BIG special effect, just call the MAD team below............

(payment in cupcakes is accepted!!)

Anneke, Jessica, Dave, Ian, Katherine

UP IN LIGHTS! -in images at least...

Hi there everyone.

This is my first post on my new blog. I am still very new to the big scary world of blogging so I hope you will bear with me.

IMAGES is the leading industry magazine, and is something that I have read avidly every month since I started in business nearly 18 years ago. I had the great honour of being the profiled decorator in the Jul/Aug/Sept 2009 edition. I have always looked up to the world famous people who have been profiled in IMAGES with such awe. To be counted among them is a humbling experience.