Hello to the Balloon Market Blog nation! Make sure you’re sitting comfortably, because this is going to be a looooong one.

Today we’re going to learn how to make a balloon arch with helium with our very own balloon guru, Rach! This is also known as a ‘string of pearls’ or a single line arch. If you hear it called anything else, let us know in the comments at the end!

If you’re making this for an event, watch out! Latex balloons have a very limited float life and may only stay floating for 8-12 hours. Where you can, inflate your balloons as close to the event as possible.

You will need:

• Balloons that float when filled with helium – we’re using 13 x Qualatex 11” latex in the video above
• Helium
• A balloon sizer – you could also use two chairs to keep the sizing consistent
• 2 x heavy weights – we like to use steel off-cuts in a cardboard box which weigh roughly 400g
• Nylon line – we use 25lb in this video for an indoor arch, but if you were to make one to go outside you may need something heavier
• Ribbon of your choice
• Scissors

Firstly, measure out your nylon line. The length of this will depend on the size of the arch! You can work this out by the following formulae:

If you’re unsure of the length, it’s always best to make it longer than you need. You can always cut it down if it’s too long!

Attach both ends of the nylon line to your weights. You may need to do several knots as the line is quite slippery!

Next, inflate your first balloon with helium. We’re sizing our 11” Qualatex balloons down to 10” using our balloon sizer, if you don’t have a sizer you can also use chairs at 10” apart to keep your sizing consistent.

Tie your balloon straight on to the nylon line, making note of the way you are tying it on. Rach always puts the balloon neck to the back of the line and then ties her knot.

Repeat this with all the other balloons until they’re all inflated and on the nylon line, keeping your sizing of the balloon and the way that you are tying the balloon onto the line consistent.

If any of your balloons need to be moved along at all, you can wet the nylon line and just slide your balloon along a little bit to make sure it’s all evenly spaced out.

Once you’re happy with the spacing, it’s time to give it some finishing touches!

Cut a piece of ribbon for each balloon, making sure they’re all the same length.

Take your first piece of ribbon and bring it round the back of the neck of the balloon and tie a knot. A single knot is fine – like tying on a scarf! Repeat this for all your balloons.

Once all the ribbon is on the balloons, go along with your scissors and curl the ribbon. You can do this by just having the ribbon placed between your thumb and the edge of the scissor, and just gently running the ribbon through. If you wanted to see how to do this, watch this video!

Now it’s nearly there! If the arch needs evening out, you can re-tie it onto the weights, making sure both sides are even.

And there you have it! With practise, the possibilities are endless! Here’s one we did for an event a while ago:

If you’ve made an arch like this or have just made your first arch, we’d love to see. Send us an email with your creations, or if you have any questions leave a comment down below and we’ll do our very best to help.

Happy creating!

Emily

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