Tiny Blooms
All floral designers have experienced the dilemma of leftovers. Branches, foliages and blossoms remaining after creating larger arrangements. Leftovers but still too beautiful to throw away. In this Flower School How-To video Leanne creates a spectacular tiny arrangement with a grid of pussy willow and short stemmed blossoms. You will love these alternative mechanics and techniques. Enjoy!
Video Transcription
Welcome to the Flower School .com video library. I'm Leanne Kesler, director of the Floral Design Institute. And today I'm here to share with you a beautiful, tiny arrangement where you would have stems that are very short, but you can still design with them using alternative mechanics.
The mechanics are created using the leftover bits of pussy willow that we had. You know how sometimes you have those beautiful branches, but those little side laterals that have to be pruned out, and you don't want to discard them. So, I worked with them creating a grid that will sit on top of the vessel, using bind wire, cutting it down into bits, and then just lashing the branches together, binding them, repeating, and filling in so that the grid itself becomes a beautiful design element. Part of the arrangement. Then once you have everything in place, going back, and just clipping down and folding it so that it doesn't poke anyone.
To enhance the unity and make it just look that much better, I'm going to take some polished rocks and add them to the base. Just enough to soften visually and carry the brown from the pussy willow down to the bottom of the vessel, then filling it with water premixed with flower food. Bring it up high because I'm remembering that my stems are very short, so I want them to come up to the top. Get out the little cooties, set the grid on top, and we're ready to design.
We're going to start with some of the cappuccino spray roses, cutting it down short, and then sliding those right down into the grid and repeating. Then coming back with the cymbidiums, giving it a cut, nestling it in place, and tucking, thinking about their faces, letting them look in towards each other. If you've had classes with me, you know that I always say orchids are creatures. They like to talk. So, let their faces face each other and tucking, and then just a little bit of green, some galax, and looking at it for balance. Deciding do you need another rose? Maybe set another one right in here. Do you need another of the cymbidiums? Tucking it in, and then adjusting with additional blooms and additional leaves to finish it off.
As I work, I always want to think about looking at it face down. So, you fill in from the front to the back. So it's all sided. It really doesn't have a front and a back. It's all fronts. And when I work with the miniature cymbidiums, I pull from the bottom of the stem. That way, I still have a beautiful long stem to use in another arrangement. Spray roses, oftentimes you'll have little broken bits. They're perfect for this. You can just slide them right down in. Then for a final touch, I am partial to eggs of all different kinds. These are blown quail eggs. So delicate, so sweet, and they, too, can just nestle right in. You don't even need to glue them. They'll just stay right in place because they're wedged between all the petals, tucking them, getting that little more value to a teeny, tiny arrangement.
The recipe for this design, it started with the leftover bits from the pussy willow, tied together to create the armature. Then some of the polished rock to pull the eye down. Then this is the type of arrangement that you literally can use any leftover pieces. Granted, my cymbidium wasn't leftover, but I loved that. And I thought, how sweet would that be? So, I used a portion of a stem of the miniature cymbidium. Then two stems of the cappuccino spray rose, six of the galax leaves, and then six of the quail eggs to finish off. Full, fabulous, and tiny.
So many times we think bigger is better and bolder and more wonderful, but sometimes it's the tiny little things. The details that are so special. Wouldn't you just love to have this sitting on your table, where you could touch, and enjoy, and to be honest, there's even a little bit of fragrance. The miniature cymbidiums have a citrusy fragrance.
You'll find more creative inspiration at the website, Flower School .com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there or pick up the telephone 503-223-8089. Now it's your turn. Think tiny, think small, think creative. Be sure to take a picture and post it on social media and hashtag Floral Design Institute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
