Whimsical Pink Hand Tie
In this Flower School How-To video, we explore the art of the hand-tied bouquet—a floral design challenge that rewards a light touch and loose grip. With just your thumb and one finger, you’ll learn how to spiral stems into a bouquet that stands tall on its own. Featuring a playful mix of blooms like bachelor buttons, spray roses, and scented geranium, it’s a lesson in balance, beauty, and technique.
Video Transcription
Hand tie arrangements, one of my most very favorite. The sign that you did it correctly, you can stand it and it will stand. Let me show you how it's done.
There are so many fabulous flowers this time of year. So I've got veronica, garden roses, cornflower or a bachelor button, carnations, hydrangea and then for foliage, a bit of geranium and lily grass. Should be fabulous together.
Starting with the hydrangea, grouped in the center. Take a look at it. Remove any of the lower leaves, anything that's damaged, just kind of double-check. Get it out of the way and this will become the base of the entire bouquet. Then choosing your flowers for the fuller, lusher stems, the garden rose, that should be next. They're so big and full. Figuring out how to slide them in, tucking it, and then giving it a turn. Holding it loosely, with just a finger and a thumb like you're saying okay, keeping it very delicate, then coming back, sliding in the next stem, then turning. Then starting to feed in the additional blooms. The carnations can add such depth of color, tucking them down low, drawing the eye in, grouping them, finding the perfect little spot, then feeding it in, maybe a third and again, keeping it low. Adding depth to the design. Then turning and coming back with your more delicate blooms. The bachelor buttons, veronica, giving a little more height, coming through the center and grouping a few of those, pulling it up, sliding it in, and then turning, ready for more blooms.
As I continue, feeding in with the linear material, making sure I have movement coming up through the center of the arrangement. I can just turn and twist, tuck them in, and then bringing some a little bit more towards the back to add some depth, but still keeping it upright for that linear movement. Then coming back with a few more of the delicate bachelor buttons, letting them radiate outward, giving full movement front to back and side to side.
To finish, just a bit of foliage, framing it around the sides. The geranium picks up the pink. Isn't that beautiful how it trails down, bringing that color. And then turning, bringing it in, still following that same format and then just a bit of grasses, the lily grass, a little bit of draping, tucking it in, and then turning once again, then adding a little more. And once you have everything in place, using bind wire, clipping it off, and then cutting it just above your hand, turning it, wrapping about three times around, and then tie it securely to hold everything in place.
The recipe, we started with three stems of the Hydrangea, then two stems of the Spray Roses, and to fill in, five Carnation, seven Veronica, and fifteen of the Bachelor Buttons. To finish it off, the beautiful Geranium, I used seven stems. And then ten stems of Lily Grass to finish framing.
Creating a hand tie is one of the challenges that students experience in both basic and advanced floral design. The key, remember, just that loose hold, a finger and a thumb. You'll find more instruction, education, and creative inspiration on the website, FlowerSchool.com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there. But now it's your turn. Create a fabulous hand tie. Check to see if it will stand. Be sure to take a picture, post it on social media, and #FloralDesignInstitute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
