The Power of Color

Video Transcription 

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 small lesson on color. Yes, we'll do design, but the focus on color. 

I chose a variety of things in an extended analogous color harmony. I started with the key color yellow and then worked across to orange, into red, doing a segment of the color wheel. I've got roses, Gerbera, spray rose, craspedia, safflower, and then of course following my own rule, three different foliages. I have ruscus, leather fern, and salal. 

To begin, the flowers are fully hydrated. I've already processed them, removed foliage, cleaned them up, make sure that they're ready to roll. I'm just preparing each item. When I'm doing a hand tie, which is what this is going to be, I lay things out so that I can see what I have. So I've got spray roses, I've got regular roses, and I've got craspedia, gerbera daisy, safflower, and I just lay it all out. Thorns have been removed, everything is ready. Then I take my foliage. I have one stem of leather fern that I broke apart so that it's two pieces. I have one stem of ruscus, just setting it in, pulling it all together in my hand. Then I have two bits of salal. You can see, I just cluster it in my hand to start the bouquet. Then I can spiral and add my blooms, a yellow spray rose, turning it. An orange rose, turning. Thinking about what I might want in the center. That could be the craspedia. Coming a little taller, sliding it in, then turning again, giving a tug up. Maybe the gerbera daisy towards the center. Another rose, turning it. A spray rose. Each time, I turn it and slide in. Now, if you want instruction on doing the hand tie, there's so many online at Flower School.com. This I'm putting together very rapidly because we're really talking color today, not the bouquet. 

As you can see, everything is just clustered in my hand. I go ahead and finish by adding the rest of the safflower. Turning, turning, making sure that I have flowers where I want them to be, the reds, the yellows, the oranges. Then when I'm happy with it, I decide which vase, which I'm going to use this little green vase. I thought that was kind of lovely and giving it a cut. Notice I'm not even binding it off or tying it. I made it as a hand tie, but then I'm just going to vase it. So I cut the stems down, again imagining how tall I want it. Then just nestle it right in. The green becomes an accent to the analogous color harmony. 

Referring back to the color wheel, thinking of the extended analogous, the yellow into the orange, over to the red. The green being the complement of red really becomes just an accent. The focus is on the analogous of the flowers. But what happens if we adjust the color of the vase? This is where you can expand upon the unity of your design, add visual value. What if we put it into orange so it pulled the orange from the flowers on down, creating a longer line to the design? What if we added it with yellow? You can see picking up the yellow of the craspedia, pulling it all the way down. Totally different. What if you went to a neutral, a non-color using black or white? Again, a totally and complete different look to an analogous design. 

Each of these designs were created in the same way. A hand tie, cut, and drop in the vase. The recipe, identical, one stem of leather, one stem of salal, and one stem of ruscus. Then I went to three roses, three spray roses, and three craspedia. Lastly, there's one gerbera and one stem of safflower. You can see, they all look beautiful no matter which color the vessel. 

The power of color. It makes such a difference in every design. Which one is your favorite? Do you like carrying on the orange? Do you like the drama of black and white? Which one piques your interest? The power of color makes you like, dislike, buy or not buy. 

You'll find more creative inspiration and lots more information on our website at Flower School .com. Of course, we do advanced color theory in all of our classes, so join us for Flower School. If you have questions, feel free to reach out. You can reach us at the website, or pick up the telephone at (503) 223-8089. Now it's your turn. Get out the color wheel, think about your color harmony, and create a design. Be sure to post it on social media and tag Floral Design Institute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.