Spring Flower Hand-Tie
Soft and delicate, the flowers of Spring are such a joy, and many are only available this time of year. In this Flower School How-To Video Leanne works with a lovely assortment of narcissis, fringed tulips, muscari, allium, dusty miller, and painted plumosa, to create a tight, compact handtied bouquet that simply shouts "Spring!". Enjoy!
Video Transcription
Spring blooms in a polychromatic color harmony, fabulous in a hand tie. Let me show you how it's done.
Spring brings so many fabulous materials and so many colors, so I've pre-hydrated everything, prepped it so it's ready. Narcissus, Muscari, some dyed painted plumosa, allium, which has also been color-enhanced, fringed tulips, and just a little bit of dusty miller.
Begin with just a bit of the dusty miller, clustering it together quite tight, then adding in the blooms, one at a time, just tucking them, giving a little bit of a turn, keeping it very tight, because it's very compact. The Muscari are short, so I have to make sure that I don't have the stems a lot longer than they are. The allium, it's long, but I'll just be cutting them down and give a little bit of a tug, then turning, filling it in. You can see with the Muscari, picking them in a cluster so that they have enough visual value. Using them one at a time, they would just disappear, so taking a cluster, tucking it in, adding in more, and turning, and then just keep repeating until you have a beautiful symmetrical round.
As you work, it can help to look at it in the mirror to make sure you're staying symmetrical, and you just keep turning it and tucking, getting the blooms just where you want them to be, adjusting. And then as I get closer to the end, double-checking again if the symmetry is there, and do the colors fan out correctly, so I get a little bit of everything as I'm working. Tucking in another tulip, another allium, and another, giving it a turn. Last bit of the Muscari, maybe one more of the narcissus. Then as I've got all my flowers in place, going back and adding just a little bit of the plumosa, letting it trail, giving a tiny bit of movement to the design. Giving it a turn, and then I'm ready to cut and tie off.
To tie it off, just a bit of bind wire, wrapping it above my hand, going around two or three times, but not too tight, because I don't want it to be a tourniquet. And giving it a twist, secure it. Clip off the excess, and I can just take my knife and cut it down to fit the vase.
In the recipe, I started with two stems of Dusty Miller. Then I have three fringed Tulips, five of the Narcissus, seven of the tinted Allium, and a full bunch of the Muscari, and a bit of painted Plumosa, three stems broken apart into smaller pieces, all tied together with bind wire.
Oftentimes in the spring, we think stems are too short, but just think small and it's fabulous. You'll find more creative inspiration on the website, FlowerSchool.com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there, but now it's your turn. Gather up your favorite spring blooms. Create a lovely hand tie. Be sure to take a picture and post it on social media, #FloralDesignInstitute. That way, we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
