Balloon artist floats to top
MAKING a life-size postcard of Australia out of balloons is no easy feat - just ask Hervey Bay balloon artist Stacey Taplin.
It took a team of 26 professional balloon artists more than 27-hours to construct the massive postcard, which took out the bronze medal at the World Ballooning Convention.
A Stylish Celebration Balloon artist Stacey Taplin was one of a select group of artists chosen to represent Australia at the convention in Texas earlier this year.
The Australian team spent more than a day constructing a massive balloon postcard to represent Australia, Ms Taplin said.
"Our postcard featured all of the well-known sites like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and an outback sunrise," she said.
"It took a lot of time to construct, but it looked amazing when it was finished.
"We even added balloon shine to make it shiny."
After tasting victory at the World Ballooning Convention in the US, Ms Taplin then went on to the Australasian Balloon
Convention in Adelaide, where she again wowed the judges with her creativity and talent.
More than eight hours of work went into Ms Taplin's award-winning balloon dress, which was made from about 180 foil balloons.
"It took a lot of time to construct, but I was really happy with the end result," she said.
"I was awarded first place for the dress, as well as my table centre."
While Ms Taplin is taking a break from ballooning conventions, she said there were plenty of balloons in the Bay to keep her busy.
