Valentine's Day Hand-Tied Bouquet

Welcome to the flower school .com video library. I'm Leanne Kesler, director of the Floral Design Institute. Today, I'm here to share with you a fabulous hand tie perfect for Valentine's Day. 

Before you begin making a hand tie, you want to prepare all your materials. That'll make it so easy. By preparing, in addition to hydrating, remove the lower foliage and the thorns so that everything is bare and ready to go. I have Blueberry roses, green trick carnations, hypericum that I've totally removed the leaves, mini hydrangea, with just a few upper leaves, heather that I stripped the lower portion, and the foliage, also prepared with bare stems below. 

Start the bouquet with just a cluster of blooms. Pick what you'd like to have in the center, although that may shift, but it's a starting point, maybe even a little bit of foliage, and hold it tight in your hand. Then, as you go on, each bloom you add comes in at an angle and just adding it into your hand and then turning it slightly ... adding it into your hand and turning it, maybe bringing in one of the miniature hydrangeas, same angle, turning ... hypericum, tucking it in, turning ... maybe another rose. Everything I add, the head just goes at a bit of an angle, stem coming out, as I hold, it's just two fingers, the finger and the thumb, that's it. The rest stay open. If you tighten it, you won't get this beautiful round form. You want to keep your fingers wide, feel free to add foliage or flowers, at that angle, then turn to continue to add. 

It sounds so simple, just adding each bloom at an angle, and truly it is that simple, but it does take practice. I know when I first learned to do a hand tie, it took me practice after practice after practice. I knew I just couldn't do it. My hand was too small. The flowers weren't right. I had every excuse, but the reality is, it was just learning to master that angle and the loose hold. If you try to hold too tight, it doesn't work. Guaranteed, that will be your problem. But the beauty of the hand tie, if it starts to look bad, you can stop, set it down, take it apart and start over again, because you've not hurt the flowers in any way, as long as you hold it loosely. Just turn, angle, and place, just like so, with all the leaves above your hand, and all the stems below, totally bare. 

As you finish your bouquet, look at it for balance. Make sure you've kept that symmetrical, round form. Make sure you like the way everything is placed. You can give a little tug to make it a little longer, or push it down in to make it a little bit shorter. Then, add your last bits of foliage, turning, maybe extending a little bit to get some movement. Then the heather makes a wonderful collar just coming out, giving a little movement to the bouquet so it's not quite so stiffly round ... then turning, maybe bringing in a little bit more green. Each time, turning and double checking that you have your balance. If you want another of the green trick carnations, maybe a little bit more of the heather, checking again for balance. Then, when you're done, tie it off. My favorite is bind wire or raffia. Just take a bit, tie above your hand, then lash it together. The finished bouquet could be wrapped or placed into a vessel, using water mixed with flower food, then just cutting the stems down to fit and place it in. 

The complementary color harmony is beautiful, as it should be. Mother Nature even knows, complementary is fabulous. Wouldn't it be fun to enhance with orchids and oh so easy. Just take the individual blooms, cut them off. Using a water tube, cut the neck, insert it in, then with just a dab of Oasis Floral Adhesive directly on the tube, slide it right down into the bouquet and it looks as though you hand tied it as you worked. 

The complementary palette enhanced with orchids, such a sophisticated choice for Valentine's Day, fast and easy to create, and incredibly long-lasting. It's the perfect gift for the one you love. For more creative inspiration, check out our website at flower school .com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there or pick up the telephone at 503-223-8089, and now, I'd love to see what you're creating for Valentine's Day. Take a picture, post it on social media, and take Floral Design Institute, that way we all can see as you do something you love.