During my second year as a floristry design student I have made lots of designs that involve different practical skills to produce. These designs are aimed at a commercial customer however they all have a contemporary twist to them.
Bear Grass and Steel Grass Designs
The first week's designs are simple, modern and funky! It involves a protea pin placed in oasis and grass surrounding the flower. The different grasses create completely different finishing results.
These designs are quick to produce and very effective.
Natural Funeral Design
In commercial floristry, funerals play a big part in your business. This week, I aimed to produce a funeral design with a modern twist using twigs, callalillies and other natural material. I decided to create a pillow frame out of my twigs with the callalillies running through the frame.
Posy Pad
Posy pads are mainly used for funerals however they can be used for table arrangements. This design involved covering the pad with moss and using an echeveria as the main focal flower. To give my design a little something different I added beads running through the design.
Fan Arrangement
This arrangement required all the flower material to be placed in a fan shape above the pot on the dog wood. Firstly, add the dog wood vertically into the oasis in a fan shape. Then add your flowers vertically into the oasis too but making sure all the heads are in the same place, and the stems to be removed of foliage to create clean lines.
Halloween Arrangement
During this week our tutor set us requirements to use an oasis ball and hazel twigs. We had orange flowers so I decided to cover my ball in black sisal to tie in with the Halloween theme and then place my hazel twigs hanging over the ball like a haunted tree.
Moniek Vanden Berge
This week we copied one of Moniek's contemporary arrangements. The design was a long horizontal line made using deck reeds and then the flowers were added along the design.
Gregor Lersch
Gregor Lersch focuses on frames during his designs so this was the aim for this week. We created a frame to go on top of a long, thin vase out of white wire and then placed the anthuriums and callalilles through the frame.
Modern Wreath
Wreaths are popular for funerals and also at Christmas for door displays. The skill I used for this design was weaving china grass around a part of my frame and then pinning aspidistra leaves over the rest of the frame. The Singapore orchids were then placed around the frame.
Corrugated Cardboard Design
By using corrugated cardboard, you can make discs of all different sizes and shapes. My design was tall, starting of larger at the bottom and creating a cone like shape. After I had made my cone frame using twigs for support I added my flowers to fit in with the shape of the frame.
Bronze - Net Design
Making a hay mat out of copper mesh and hay creates a natural looking base for you to add your flowers. I decided on a long, semi circle shape with my callalillies running across the frame and the cymbidium orchids placed individually on the hay mat. I created feet for my hay mat by covering plastic test tubes covered in the purple wool.
FleurEx
I entered FleurEx this year and I was required to create a hand tied design within a framework to depict the 'Magical Winter Moments Tour in Bruges'. I used a bouquet frame for my design and weaved natural material through the frame to build up a collar for my flowers. I used roses and hypericum for the bouquet and placed them inside my frame.
Assessment
For our second year assessment we was required to produce a contemporary design for a commercial outlet. My commercial outlet was the Foot Heath and Well Being Clinic in Hessle and I decided to create a Christmas tree design but with a modern take. I made a frame using bamboo sticks and copper mesh and then I glued Singapore orchids and other materials randomly on the frame.
