On my online workbook this week: It’s up there
Dear
This week's inspiration is all things light and airy.
When choosing the carnations to craft my fanned out design I started at an unexpected point- looking at the nodes in the stems. Yes you look at the colour gradient first when choosing the flowers but it is the stem ends that determine whether they will work in the position you want them in your design.
We always cut carnations above or below the node to make sure the flowers take up enough water to remain fresh for as long as possible. This cut is especially important in a shallow standing design like this one because there is not a whole lot of water around the stem end to begin with.
Place the flowers on a working surface next to your flat container.
Measure out the darkest flower that will give the design its height and cut it about 1cm below the node. This is the perfect place to cut carnations. Give it a straight cut rather than an angled one, again because of the shallow placement of the stem end in the container.
The placement of the nodes on the other flowers now determine the angle of the curve because you might have to adjust it slightly. Place your perfectly cut, darkest flower in the ideal position on your flat working surface and fan out the flowers next to it to determine where you should cut them. Adjust the height of the flowers to make sure it not only fans out, by colour, (from light to dark and back to light) but also falls somewhere below or above the lowest node. Try not to cut too close to a node because the stem is weak there and might break when it stands up.
Switch out flowers to make sure you get it as close as possible to the perfect place to cut each stem, in the colour you need.
Then as you insert the stem into the kenzan make sure there are no trapped bubbles between the steel teeth and press each carnation stem all the way to the bottom to make sure it stands in as much water as possible- especially the stems that are at a slight angle.
Enjoy!
Every good wish,
Christine
