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Over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some hints and tips in floral design and arrangement. I adore having fresh flowers around my home as well as in the gallery and shop. In this series of 3 tutorials I will show you how to use three bunches of store-bought blooms to create three different looks, demonstrating three different floral design trends. I will also be sharing some simple hints and tricks to make the whole task a little easier!
TREND 1 : Colour clusters.
For want of a better word I'm describing this trend as 'colour clustering'. In researching this project I had a lot of fun making a very inspiring pinboard on my Pinterest and I think these images I pinned demonstrates this trend beautifully.
(See Pinterest board for image sources)
This type of arrangement is high-impact and really allows the colour and texture of each bloom to shine.
Gather your supplies:
You will need....
Some cute vessels, mason jars are all the rage and make excellent vases, raid the china hutch and select vessels with pattern, colour and texture for an on-trend display.
You will also need some secateurs or sharp and strong scissors.
Jute twine or string is handy and adds texture, while stickytape is my top tip for larger displays.
Flowers - I chose chrysanthemums in magenta and vibrant green as well as some velvety sliver foliage (I think it's silverbeet!) to mix it up a little.
Prepare your vessel.
I wrapped my huge jar in jute twine using a bit of stickytape to secure it. This adds interest to the vase as well as hiding any unsightly bits that might fall into the water through its lifespan. A variation on this might be to use ribbon or ricrac.
Next, using your sticky tape, create a grid over the top of the vessel. (Thin tape is better but I was all out.) Inserting your blooms into the grid will hold them exactly where you want them and stop them flopping all over the place.
Adding a bit of sugar, or bleach to the water will help your blooms last longer, as will keeping them in a cool spot. Strip off any leaves that might sit in the water as this will make it yucky and cut your blooms to length at an angle, this will help them soak up water and removes any stem with air bubbles inside it.
Add your stems in layers with flowers that will sit lower in the arrangement first adding each type of flower at a time.
After tweaking, turning leaves and adjusting blooms I added some structural loops of an ornamental grass that grows in my garden and sat back with a cup of tea to enjoy my new floral display. It's now 3 days later and they still look as great as when I first made them!
X Steph
