Spring Term Week 2

Back to college again, after the snow - well after that batch of snow! We were trying to round off bits of the units we had been doing to get to the point of being able to start new units before half term. Below is an all around parallel arrangement. All round as the arrangement is meant to be viewed from any and all angles, so I guess this would be suitable for some kind of table centre, although perhaps not a dining table as it may impede the flow of conversation. This is quite a good attempt, apart from the one liatris which is drifting off to the left in the picture, he needs standing up straight again.

This is called a parallel arrangement as you have groups of flowers arranged in parallel to each other so in this arrangement you have the liatris, the carnation and the tulips. This is a European style arrangement and is also known as a continental, but is also one of my personal favourites, as you can also introduce some different elements such as the fir cones and Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) which give additional textures and areas of interest. I love the tulips extending from each side of the arrangement, they give it an entirely different feel and take the arrangement into the space (negative space) around the design.

I have a few plans for this blog once I've finished the course as I would like to do some step by step arrangements that will be easy to follow (hopefully) and pass on some of the love I have for flowers, designing and arranging them.

Tulips are beautiful flowers but have soft stems which makes them quite difficult to place easily, but they can be wired (which can be a bit of a job) to ensure they stay in the proper place. Tulips also carry on growing after they have been cut so wiring them helps keep them in the position you want them in the design, it also helps to place the stems into the oasis.




I tackled a totally new style of arrangement to me as well this week, vegetative. When you hear the name it is easy to think it's one of those arrangements which has some added interest in the form of fruit or vegetables but it gets its name from the natural look of the arrangement. With this style of arrangement you are trying to create as natural a look as possible, so you would take a theme such as spring or autumn and all the flowers used in the arrangement would need to be sympathetic to that theme (there natural time to flower would be spring in a spring arrangement for example). Below I have created a spring themed arrangement using narcissus, iris and tulips.



There are lots of rules in flower arranging/floristry one of them being that you place buds and smaller blooms at the outer edges of your design and increase the size of blooms as you go into the centre, well in this style you don't. It has to have a very natural look, just as they would in the garden, so the taller/tallest flowers are the most open and the buds are placed lower in a design (the exact opposite to what you would normally do!)

I was going for a springtime woodland glade look with this arrangement and am pretty pleased with it, this style isn't to everyone's taste but I like the informality of it. I think I've achieved the look I wanted and used chipped bark and larger pieces of bark with ivy weaving through. This design isn't supposed to look too designed so there is one tulip branching out from the side as it would in nature. In this style of arrangement you wouldn't wire or manipulate anything, it would be out of keeping with the natural look.

There is a lot of written course work at the moment and I have four assignments on the go, these are our Task A's in which you have to discuss and reflect upon styles of arrangement and discuss how the elements and principles of design are applied, how the designs are used, stored, transported etc, within the areas we have covered so far. There is also a lot of drawing and art work involved which is somewhat challenging for me as I cannot draw!

I am working on an assignment on the Elements and Principles of Design within Floristry, and then three covering Funeral Designs, Floral Arrangements and Hand Tied Designs. Lots and lots of work going on at the moment. I may have some drawings to show next time.

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 10/16 - currently reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban (I will get this book finished eventually maybe about July!!)