Spring Term Week 6

The final week before half term and I am now over half way through the course, which I find difficult to believe as there seems so much work still to be done. Below is an arrangement I did at home which was for the funeral unit, a textured cushion. Even though I say so myself a fantastic arrangement, but let down by my photography.

A textured arrangement has to be just that a variety of different textures and styles of material to create an interesting display, this would be for a very specific funeral and is not an incredibly popular style in the UK at the moment, but this style does have a charm all of its own. It is a style that can be adapted, if you were doing a tribute for a gardener, someone who had been interested in art or sewing, this style could be adapted to those interests and there are some good photos of examples of these to be found.

I have used everything from anthurium (which gives real impact at the centre), to cinnamon sticks, bark, different varieties of fir cones, eryngium or sea holly (the thistle looking blue flower) to narcissus and hypericum. I found some lovely and unusual ivy and have also used Spanish and Reindeer Moss. The rest of the girls were well taken with this design and I was very pleased with it.

Above is the start of a new unit, Weddings - which I have to confess I wasn't looking forward to this unit, as I know how much wiring can go into wedding work, but I have enjoyed it so far! Above is my first attempt at a boutonniere, which is a buttonhole, but made out of several small buds and flowers (all of the same type) to create something which is more elaborate than a buttonhole but not quite a corsage. The one above is a simple one of hyacinth flowers and ivy, but very pretty nonetheless.

We have also moved onto function decorating too and here is my first attempt at a pew end or chair decoration. Not a bad attempt apparently, but I wasn't really that thrilled with it. But I managed to get it onto the chair and it stayed in place quite happily. Below it is mounted on our 'pew' made of cardboard and fastened to the end of a desk, but it works very well indeed.

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 10/16 - currently reading Songbird by Josephine Cox