Introduction

No matter what the event or occasion, the host will want guests to leave their event with a lasting memory or positive message from the event. Whether the event is to celebrate a birthday or wedding, or is a business conference or awards ceremony, the organisers set out to leave a lasting impression and create an event that its guests will talk about for days or months after and for years to come.

We find ourselves currently, in a difficult economic climate, where controlling finances are a priority, so finding the right accessories for any event has to be managed carefully, to avoid unnecessary over spend . Selecting accessories for an event can be costly and accessories such as flower arrangements can be a very expensive option. However, all is not lost, as many event organisers are opting to use balloons to decorate the venue. Balloons as an accessory will make a great impact.

Today, there are many variations of balloons in terms of shape, size and colour. In recent years, improvements in printing technology have also given rise to the printed balloon. So as well as selecting the shape, size and colour of balloons to create a wow factor at your event, you can now go one step further and print messages directly onto almost any balloon. From simple tailored messages to wish someone a happy birthday, to companies using balloon printing to reinforce specific business messages, almost anything is possible.

What To Condiser When Choosing to Have Balloons Printed

The most common approach to obtaining printed balloons is to find a specialist balloon supplier . Due to the volume of balloon requirements that pass through their business, some have over many years become balloon printing specialists and will have developed techniques for printing extensive quantities of balloons. For good quality balloon printing, the techniques have evolved from the relatively simple screen printing process which has been used over many years on a wide variety of materials including, textiles, paper, plastic, glass, metal and wood to name but a few. Using a company which specialises in balloon manufacture will also ensure that they know what printing processes works best with different types of balloons. As well as advising on the quality of balloon to select, the supplier will be able to offer advice on the recommended number of letters to apply, to ensure that your message is clearly readable . Perhaps the most important consideration is the type of balloon material upon which to print your message. For example, the most popular balloon is the latex or rubber balloon. This type of balloon is less expensive than others such as foil balloons and will stay inflated with helium usually for up to 12 hours. Whereas the slightly more expensive foil balloons usually last fully inflated for a number of days , although there are differences in printing techniques for latex and foil balloons.

Find out how balloon printing can be used to add a personal message for your guests.

How Do You Print on Balloons?

Having selected the type of balloon you want for your event, how does your supplier print your personal message on to the balloon?

For printing on both latex and foil balloons, screen printing produces the most effective results. The key difference however, is that whilst foil balloons, which do not stretch, have the message printed on whilst they are deflated, latex balloons are inflated before they have the message printed on them. After printing they are then deflated. Screen printing will bring back happy school day memories as I am sure that we can all remember taking an old t-shirt into school and screen printing a design or message on to it. (Have you still got yours?)

You will see offered for sale, in pound shops or on market stalls, balloons being sold very cheaply. These may just have a simple message printed on them such as ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘On Your Wedding Day’. Cheap balloons have often been printed using the litho printing method and are generally found to be of very poor quality. The litho printing technique results in the lettering becoming smudged as the ink used would have been less dense than that used in screen printing. With litho, the general process involves rolling a roller dipped in ink across the design before being positioned on the balloon. However, when the balloon isblown up the image will appear distorted or faded.

Specialist balloon suppliers will usually be able to print balloons on their own premises. If you consider special occasions such as the closing ceremony of a major sporting event, or a major charity event, then it is likely that a high number of balloons would be required. Imagine an event which needs several hundreds of balloons. A standard screen printing process is not going to be suitable for printing such large volumes. So many of the large scale balloon suppliers have invested in mechanical balloon printing machines, which will be able to cope with the demand and print up to 1000 balloons per hour.

Firstly, the machines need to be capable of inflating the latex balloons with compressed air. The inflated balloons then pass through the screen printing process. From here the machine continues the process by rotating the balloons around under fans to dry the ink. Each balloon can then be removed and deflated. In some cases the customer may require printing to be completed on both sides of the balloon, in which case the balloon may need to be turned round to allow printing on the other side to be completed.

Whilst on the machine, ink is forced through a screen placed on each balloon to give the desired design results. It’s important that the ink is dense and the colour will not fade when inflated. For more complicated designs a different printing screen will be need to be created if more colours or designs are required. Balloon printing now offers so many options that you can be really creative in your message, if the budget allows.

Screen printing on latex balloons provides the best results.

What Can be Printed on Balloons?

Pretty much anything can be printed on balloons these days. Printing technology has developed to such an extent that up to 5 colour designs on 1 or 2 sides of the balloon can be achieved. Taking this even further is another balloon printing technique which can print 4 different designs on 4 sides of the balloon. This can be a multi-colour design, message or company logo.

I remember visiting a print works around 30 years ago, and my memory is of a huge warehouse type building with so many different print machines, that it appeared to be a hugely complicated process. It probably was back then, where you had one machine for red inks, one for blue, one for yellow and so on. However, just recently I visited a design and print company who had just purchased a new 5 colour printing machine which was installed comfortably within a relatively small business unit. One machine which could print almost any colour you are ever likely to require.

As well as improvements in technology, specialist inks have been created for use on different materials, following many years of research and development. For example, the inks used in balloon printing must be able to be used on rubber or foil materials and cope with being used on contracting surfaces. Bearing in mind that a balloon is always likely to be inflated, the inks must also not rub off or flake off when the balloons are blown up. The inks must also not cause any harm if digested. Balloon printers have to be sure their printing inks won’t come off.

Having chosen the colour, shape and size of your balloon, the next thing to consider is the colour of the ink to be used on your selected balloons. Even if you’re not particularly good when selecting contrasting colours, your balloon supplier should be able to advise . The last thing you want is to spend money on choosing the balloon colour and ink colour, and then not be able to clearly see your chosen message. Naturally, on light coloured balloons, a dark coloured ink would be most suitable, whereas on dark coloured balloons a lighter ink colour would be selected. Think of it like when decorating the lounge at home. Leave the colour choice to the wife!

For companies wishing to print their company logo on balloons and retain their corporate colours, then the balloon supplier will offer a pantone colour matching system, to ensure as close a match to the company’s corporate colour as possible is achieved.

You can order helium gas hire machines if you prefer to inflate the balloons when you need them.

Different shades of colour can be created which allow the colour of the balloon to show through the design. This actually looks quite effective and makes the balloon colour lighter and darker. If you require images such as black and white photographs to be reproduced on the balloon, then printing on white or very light colour balloons is recommended. Photography produced on balloons is really effective.

With the advancement of print technology, Laserprint® techniques can be employed to create stunning results. Due to the natural movement of inflated latex balloons and the fact that printing is undertaken on a soft surface, registration of colours and designs need to be stringently checked to ensure that reproduction of designs and logos are as close to how they should be seen. Printers use registration techniques when two or more colours are used in print. It becomes more difficult to line up the colours, the closer registration is. There may be situations where a design or logo is too complex to print on balloons and an alternative solution may need to be found.

Which way up you want your balloons printed is important to consider too. Balloons are almost always printed form the neck downwards. When inflated with helium the neck of the balloon will be pointing towards the floor unless forced to hang in a different position. Helium filled balloons will generally be tied to string or a stick. However, remember the cheap balloons you can buy? Well these are most likely to have a simple message printed on such as, happy birthday. It is most common for these balloons to be inflated with a balloon pump or by blowing from the mouth directly into the balloon. These balloons will then hang down with the neck at the top of balloon. The last thing you want is for your logo to appear the wrong way round.

Printing on Foil Balloons

Foil balloons are ideal for long lasting requirements, such as point of sale or business events, where the balloons are required to remain inflated for some time. Usually up to 5 colours can be printed on one or both sides of the balloon. As in printing on latex balloons, similar screen printing processes are used. Foil balloons can be required in huge quantities, reaching up to or over 10,000 units. Just think how many cartoon or TV characters you see on foil balloons at fair grounds.

Balloons for All Occasions

In the current economic climate, there really is little excuse for not having any decorative accessories. Balloons are an easy, cost effective, but very colourful addition to any event. With so many colours, shapes and sizes of balloon to choose from, there is a balloon to match everyone’s taste. If you can afford a little extra, then printing your personal or corporate message or design onto balloons will add the finishing touches to your event. Whatever your message, speak with your balloon supplier for advice on how to get the best out of your balloons. Great designs on balloons will leave a lasting impression.

You like the idea of a baitboat. Which is the best baitboat and will you actually use it? Maybe you just like sitting on your seat box without wanting to struggle with loosefeed.
If you can not spod your loosefeed far enough then this is exactly what you need if your baitboat will be used regularly it will justify the expense The baitboats are excellent for getting your bait and loosefeed with the aim of a sniper .

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My favourite 4 are
The Waverunner baitboat ,Total Fishing Gears Patriot baitboat, Angling Technics Procat and also Angling Technics Microcat.
Any of these would do a great job for you

The best in my opinion is
The Total Fishing Gear Patriot Bait Boat is easy and really simple to operate it has a built in weed guard so that you can use it on the weediest of waters no snagging up here. Due to the fact all components are contained inside the virtually indestructable body. As you would expect from any product involving Matt Hayes, you’ll find the new Patriot Bait boat will help you fish at maximum effectiveness and most importantly catch you more fish. The Patriot has been built using the very best electronic components and digital circuitry, and then housed in a virtually indestructible hull, built to withstand the toughest fishing environment. Able to deliver over a litre of bait with precision accuracy at ranges up to 300 metres, and designed to be unsinkable, the Patriot bait boat truly is fishing made easy! Extreme range bait presentation if thats what you want this is the bait boat for you.The Revvolutionary hull is impossible to sink It also boasts a large 1.2 Litre carrying capacity and the carrying handle makes its transportation that much easier

This top fishing site has everything you could possibly need in the way of fishing tackle and also videos The Total fishing gear site also has info on learning how to tie fishing knots

Information From Webwayne

I had a dream that the last few months we have seen a lot of kick up from the free colonies. When Texas ultimately broke away from the Federation, I thought that was what genuinely began to rile things up. As it worked out, the secret symbols became just another mark on a flag.

For example, when Mexico invaded California in 2017, they were using cheap belt buckles for their secret sign. Now look at things, California has those absurd things right on there propaganda. Belt buckles, what was that all about anyway. I mean when Texas left, they used a Eagle, now at least that has some grit to it. When the U.N. finalized their European collaborations, and left the Koreans to fend for themselves, that instigated such a surprising back lash here, that I definitely believe California and their western belt buckles felt there was no real choice, but to band with Texas, and some how get Mexico to come to the event.

What a fright that was! Anyway, as it turned out, the Koreans disintegrated on themselves and China didn’t have much more to do than to come in and mop up, as well as feed those that survived the wars. Things have a odd way of working out, even if it doesn’t always work for our good.

Israel had by this time, pretty much leveled the middle east, and what was left was now concentrated in northern Iran. We were all waiting to see how that works out before anyone made any serious moves. The whole continent of Africa was in flames by now, and it looked like the world was happy to just let it burn. At least I still enjoy my belt buckles.