Contemporary Orchid Art

Welcome to the Flower School .com video library, I'm Leanne Kesler, director of the Floral Design Institute. Today I want to share with you the art of floral design. Sometimes we create to be creative. It's still sellable, but a little bit edgier, and a little more contemporary. 

The container, this wonderful woven disc. Now, there's no water source, so I have to provide a water source for my beautiful orchid. For that, using a clear water tube and then wrapping it with yarn, giving you a decorative container to use that will hold water. To do that, one, U-Glu strip, pulled off, having it opened out carefully, stretching it, then placing it right on the edge, and then pulling all the way down over the tip and back up to the opposite edge, so that you get a full coverage of the tube with a little bit of U-Glu. Then taking your yarn, and I've found easiest, which is stick my finger on the inside where there is no glue, I start wrapping, nice and snug, wrapping and wrapping. 

You don't have to worry about being super neat and tidy, you can just kind of go down, then go back up. You do want total coverage. Keep wrapping, making sure you get clear up to the tip top. Going back and then coming back down. Then as I get closer and closer to the bottom, making sure that I do get the bottom, coming around and around, and then just giving it a cut, and fastening it down to the glue at the base. Just winding it around, pressing it into the glue, and again, till you get that whole bottom covered, and then clip that off as well. So now I've got total coverage. Then for fun and a little more sparkle, repeat that with a bit of the bullion wire. 

I've already placed two tubes, one on the inside, one on the outside, got one more. I just bullion wire wrapped around the neck, and then carefully feeding it through the weave and securing it in place. Once the tubes are in place, you can go back and add water using a test tube filler, reaching in, getting the interior. Then going back to the orchid and thinking about the link that I need. I want to use the two pieces separately, so it's definitely going to cut right off here, save him. 

Then thinking about how long it needs to be to reach the inside tube and then to sit flush on the disc. Just hold it up and double check. We need to cut a little bit off. Then finding the perfect spot to weave through, over a little more, and down into the tube, and then draping across. Coming back with the second piece, cleaning off that cut a little bit more, making it nice and tidy. Thinking about the length, and repeating that horizontal line, creating rhythm through repetition. Give it a cut, and place it down in the tube. 

The beauty of this woven disc is you can use it to help secure things, so like this bud, just pulling the disc weave out, and then placing it in front, and doing the same thing with the orchid, just securing it into place, so natural mechanics. Then adding some texture and contrast. First, a very subtle touch using some of the Australian foliages, giving it a cut, and then just feeding it down into the tube, up across, tucking it. Another bit, right in, a little bit fuller on this side. It barely shows, but it adds just a little bit of contrast, coming up on the lower tube, repeating that vertical movement. 

Then to balance, because visually all the weight is across the top and I want to bring your eye down a little bit to add some substance that visually secures your eye right down here. For that, I'm going to do a pop of yellow, the surprise of billy balls tucked in low, just adding a little bit of impact to the rest of the design. 

A classic round? No. A contemporary round? Yes. Sometimes flowers are for the art of it. 

For more creative inspiration, check out our website Flower School .com. The website contains hundreds of floral design how-to videos, floral design classes, online floral classes and DIY Flowers. 

If you have questions you can reach us there or by telephone at 503-223-8089. I love to see your art. What have you created with an artistic style with fresh flowers? Take a photo and post it on social media. Tag #FloralDesignInstitute so we all can see. Because sometimes you have to follow your heart and play with flowers as an art form. Now it's your turn. Have fun and do something you love.