Flower Arranging How To ........... Make a Line or Vertical Arrangement
I thought I'd have a go at something a little bit different today and show you how I make a simple line arrangement. Hopefully these step by step instructions will show how easy it is, if I can do it I'm sure anyone can. Please bear with the instructions as I have found making the arrangement easier than writing the instructions!
Here are some examples of this arrangement, I like to use roses, but carnations, gerbera and anthurium all work equally as well. Above is one I made for home, below is one for our next door neighbour when she'd broken her shoulder,
below one for our friends Ann and Martin, when we went to their home for a wonderful Sunday lunch,
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and one I made for Mike's Mum's birthday. The dish I've used for this is an Ikea candle holder, it holds an oasis round exactly and sets the flowers off perfectly. It is also cast iron so makes a good sturdy base for the arrangement. I love being able to make a gift like this when going to friends for dinner, for a birthday or as a get well soon. For such a simple arrangement it has a big impact.
So to make a line arrangement just a couple of basic tools are needed:-
a sharp knife
a good pair of scissors or secateurs.
The following items are available from hobby shops such as Hobbycraft, general stores such as Wilkinsons, from florists, garden centres and are widely available on the internet. (I hope to review some of the on-line suppliers as time goes on and I have used each of them a couple of times).
pot tape (not necessary for a one off but useful for more complex arrangements),
a small dish, this could be any dish you have at home which would work well with your chosen flowers or a small plastic dish available from the stores above,
floral foam (oasis).
Measure the foam to fit the dish and where required trim to size. If you are using a purpose made plastic flower arranging dish you can get a small round of foam which fits the dish perfectly. If you are using a dish of your own you may need to cut down a larger piece of foam to fit. Allow about 1 - 1.5 inches of foam above the top of the dish for foliage.
Place the foam into water, until it is thoroughly soaked - the foam will have become slightly darker in colour and will feel a lot heavier. I also put flower food into the water I use to soak my foam, this gives the flowers an added feed when they first go into the oasis.
Next you need to tape the oasis into the dish, this allows the dish to be moved easily and for the arrangement to be well watered when required. (I always try to water my arrangements each evening (before I go to bed) by putting them in the sink and giving them a good soaking and allowing them to drain overnight, I give them a bit more water the following morning and then put them back into position. Using pot tape makes moving an arrangement a lot easier).
Tape the foam about 2 thirds from the front of the dish, wrap the pot tape all around the dish, taking it under the bottom and back around onto the top, finish by pressing the tape firmly down onto the first piece of tape.
I always leave a little bit of pot tape folded over at the end of the roll, it makes it easier to find the end when I next come to make an arrangement.
I have given the line arrangement my own little twist, so rather than using tall, straight foliage to create the line, I am currently using these red soft wood sticks, as they give an added colour and a different texture to the arrangement. I picked up a large bag of these sticks in Ikea for about £3 - £4 and cut them down to the right length. I make them about 1 - 1.5 inches shorter than each other and make sure the cut end is placed into the oasis, thus hiding the not so nice looking cut end.
The tallest stick should be just a little bit taller than your tallest flower say about 1 - 1.5 cms and place it at the centre back of your oasis, behind the pot tape.
With the front of the arrangement facing towards you, place the next tallest on the left of the first, about 1 - 1.5 cms away, push them both about 1 - 2 cms into the oasis
Then place the third and shortest stick to the right of the other two. This gives you the basic line for your arrangement, the flowers will now largely stay within an imaginary triangle you have established. If you do not want to use sticks you could use straight pieces of line foliage, such as eucalyptus and use them in exactly the same way.
Next is the foliage. I try to use a mixture of foliage, with light, dark foliage and variegated, if I can, thick waxy leaves, and feathery leaves too if available, below there are also some smaller variegated leaves which add some depth to the foliage too. Here I am using variegated laurel, leylandii and Silver Queen Euonymus (I think!). If not I'd love to know! Thank you to my brilliant neighbour Brian for allowing me free access to his garden for foliage, you're a star!
I've used the variegated laurel to create a backdrop to the arrangement, using the larger leaves behind the sticks and bringing the smaller leaves more forward. These are the highest leaves in my arrangement.
I've trimmed down the conifer to smaller pieces and taken the bottom leaves off to give a nice clean piece of stem to go into the oasis. Conifer is really useful for this as you are able to cut the tips down as shown in the pictures below and these I would use at the front of the arrangement. Other pieces I would trim to give a nice finish and use in less obvious places in the arrangement. You can also use Leatherleaf in a similar way, in that way you get a lot of foliage out of just one stem, particularly useful if you have to pay for it.
Here I have placed those pieces into the front of the arrangement, randomly, and as this is a front facing arrangement they are facing front.
I keep filling with foliage and I am looking to keep the shape in roughly a circle at the base and within the imaginary triangle.
Here I have added foliage to the back of the arrangement, what I am trying to do is ensure that all of the foam is covered and cannot be seen when looking at the arrangement, regardless of where the arrangement is placed. I also need to ensure that I spread the foliage around throughout the arrangement and not have it grouped together all in one place (that is another arrangement entirely).
Back to the front now and I am adding smallish pieces of the Euonymus tips if I have enough, I am placing this in and around the other foliage to make sure it is all through the arrangement. I am also ensuring I keep the foliage pretty low, it is only an inch or two above the foam.
I take the Euonymus through to the back of the arrangement, here I can use other pieces I have trimmed and use up the bits left after using the tips at the front of the arrangement.
I would now check I have covered the foam, holding the design up at eye level and look all around to check I can't see any oasis, it should all be covered. Below I have left a gap in the oasis for the flower stems. It is useful to check the size of the flower stems, roses can be quite thick, as you need to ensure you have left enough room for them in the foliage. I can plug any gaps once the flowers are in!
Now we get to the really fun part, the flowers. It is important to properly condition the flowers once they have been purchased. Once I get the flowers home, I take them out of the wrapping trim the ends, remove thorns and any leaves which will be under the waterline and put them into water for 24 hours before arranging if possible (or as long as possible). I stand my flowers just outside my back door in a sheltered spot.
Below I have cut the stems at an angle which allows for a greater surface area, and enables the flowers to take up plenty of water. This also ensures the arrangement will last to its optimum, if thoroughly watered.
For a line arrangement I always place the smallest flower head at the top of the arrangement so this is the tallest flower. The largest flower I want to be my focal point so this is likely to be the shortest flower. Therefore I need to arrange the flower heads in order from smallest to largest as seen in the picture below. The smallest and largest are the most important, there can be some leeway in the centre ones, this only needs to be done by eye, no need to measure them!
I then cut the stems, I line them up and make my first cut, giving the tallest (but smallest flower head) it's angled cut (my first flower). I then move the next one down, so it is a flower head and a half below the first flower and cut the stalk where the stem is level with my first flower. I would do this with 7 - 9 flowers depending on the number I had, I would want to keep 3 - 5 back including the largest headed flower or focal flower.
So here goes for my first one ....... 
