Beautiful Designs from Your Talented Mind
You don’t need an excuse to learn how to make flower arrangements. A well constructed flower arrangement can brighten any room of your home and bring an uplifting mood to all who enter. Then the sense of accomplishment you acquire by creating the arrangement yourself further increases the benefit gained.
Getting Started
In the flower arrangements you have received as gifts or purchased, you have undoubtedly observed several characteristics.
- most arrangements have a great sense of balance
- traditional designs are often symmtrical
- some designs play with symmetry or have innovative shapes
You may want to make flower arrangements that inspire yourself or others. Perhaps you want a traditional arrangement that brings a feeling of peace and relaxation to a room. Your desire may be to choose fresh flowers for both visual and aromatic reasons. On the other hand, you may want to create an innovative arrangement that captures the eye with flowing sweeps of cascading flowers and intriguing angles that stimulate the senses rather than calm them.
Whatever reasons fuel your passion to make flower arrangements, no arrangement you choose will be wrong. Its beauty will be obvious, and the knowledge that you created it can never be removed.
Choosing a Container
Vases come in all shapes and sizes, and are constructed from a variety of materials. They do not always conform to common shapes. The vase shouldn’t be the focal point of the arrangement, but you still want to make sure that what you choose a vase that complements the arrangement you are creating.
When you make flower arrangements at home, do not forget to check out containers you already have. Things like old cups, interesting cookie jars, an a bean pot and even canning jars can become creative containers to hold your arrangements.
If you choose a container other than a purchased vase to work with, be sure you protect it by inserting smaller containers inside to hold the water or flower foam.
Working with Flower Foam
Green flower foam keeps flowers in place once you’ve arranged them. This excellenct material contains preservatives that extend the life of freshly cut flowers. To use, just place the foam in a bowl of water, then, once it becomes saturated, cut a piece that fits the vase or container you will be using. Use florist’s tape to fasten the foam securely by wrapping it over the foam and down the sides of the container.
Selecting Flowers and Shaping Arrangements
The shape of the arrangement you envision should dictate the flowers you choose, or you can reverse the process, and let the flowers you want to use dictate the shape of the arrangement. There are arrangement shape guidelines to give you get a sense of how to create your display.
Triangular arrangements. Triangle arrangements are taller in the center than they are wide, just like a triangle. When you make flower arrangements in this fashion, choose flowers with long stems, often referred to as line flowers. Line flowers define the height and width of the arrangement and have very sturdy stalks. To make the triangular arrangement, choose three line flowers that you like, each a bit taller than the next. This is the standard for a triangular shape arrangement.
Oval arrangements. These arrangements are high and focused around a line of flowers in the center. When you make flower arrangements like this use more focal flowers in the middle for greater, concentrated effect or choose only one or two very large focal flowers, like sunflowers. Small blooms do not do well in oval arrangements except as they are used as filler flowers.
Round or circular arrangements. These types of arrangements are extremely easy to make and are nicely presented in shallow, round vases similar to goldfish bowls. The height of the arrangement is most important here, as flowers that are too tall can make the arrangement appear top-heavy and too large for the vase or other container.
Vase arrangements. Vase arrangements should be made as though you were making a bouquet. Tight bunches or even loose, airy arrangements work well. Try and achieve an overall flower height of about double the height of the vase. Trim flower stalks so that the tallest flower is at the center and the rest gradually get shorter. Then use filler flowers or seasonal foliage to fill any holes in the bouquet.