A Bermudian entrepreneur is hoping to conjure a new business out of thin air — with a company specialising in balloon creations.

Mickey Butterfield aims to get her new venture — called Clusters — off the ground in time for St Valentine’s Day.

And she wants to take her balloon business to new heights with a following wind from the 2017 America’s Cup.

Ms Butterfield said that St Valentine’s Day on February 14 was a good opportunity to get Clusters off to a flying start — but that the run-up to the America’s Cup offered a major opportunity for growth.

She added: “I have called the tourism people to see if I can get in on the America’s Cup in 2017. I hope it will mean a lot of business.”

The former Customs officer started her career as a balloon artist several years ago when she wanted balloons for her wedding — but found that no one could create what she wanted.

Ms Butterfield said: “We couldn’t find anybody — so we did it ourselves and I ended up liking it.”

But she added it was a trip last year to a spring convention for balloon artists in Denver, Colorado, organised by Pioneer Balloon Company, America’s biggest manufacturer of latex and microfoil balloons, that sparked the idea of turning a hobby into a moneymaker.

Ms Butterfield said: “Pioneer had a competition — I didn’t win anything, but they put my creations on their website.”

She travelled to England last October to take Pioneer-sponsored courses and has one remaining exam to do before she is fully qualified as a balloon artist and expects to return home full-time in May.

She added: “I was operating my business as a hobby — they gave me the tools to make it a job.”

And she said that, once fully qualified, she hoped to persuade the US firm to stage a show on the Island.

Mr Butterfield added: “I want to get them to come to Bermuda and show the Island what you can do with balloons.”

She explained that Pioneer balloons come marked with a special number, so the original user can be traced if they find their way into the wider environment.

Ms Butterfield said: “Businesses that use balloons should have people trained in how to do them and do it correctly so they don’t mess up the environment.”

She added she had already been in touch with tourism authorities in a bid to drum up America’s Cup-related business — and that she hoped to hold an exhibition of her work at Hamilton’s City Hall in the near future.

Ms Butterfield said: “I’m very excited by the whole thing — I hope all my work will mean a lot of business in the future.”

Pioneer, headquartered in Kansas, but with other locations around the world, sponsors the largest convention in the industry, the International Balloon Arts Convention, which attracts more than 1,000 artists from nearly 40 countries.