On my online workbook this week: Jump out at you

Dear

This week's inspiration is imperfectly curly petals.

No, these iris flower buds were never going to open fully. But they were glorious… in their curly imperfection. I am not sure about where you live but we are most definitely not yet back to anywhere near the normal standard for cut flowers available in shops. It is slowly trickling in though which is exciting… and too tempting to resist even if the stems are too weak to really be arranged. It happens.

Flaws are exactly where you should look for inspiration to make your floral designs unique though. A curly petal that is not supposed to be there. A double petal twirl inside the flower head. Weaker than normal stems… If you can find a way to enhance that special thing you have a design that is unlike any other. Take the floppiness and make it… everything! Be deliberate about any mistakes or flaws to turn it into features. Test the flower by holding it up to see where the stems start to flop over and cut just below that point. You can simply place the flowers in a smaller container or instead of trashing what you cut away use it to complete the design.

My tip for you today is about those snippets in the bottom. They need to be wedged into the vase as tightly as possible without damaging the stems. When you fit the snippets you will notice they have a thicker and a thinner end. These can be used to adjust how tightly they fit into the vase. If the snippets move once you add the first bit of water, reach in with a tweezer and see if you can secure them by simply turning some of the stems and placing the thicker side of the stem to the top and the thinner to the bottom. This is option one because it causes the least amount of damage. If the stems are still too loose you will need to add in more stems. This can cause the stems to be crushed and the result will be messy and your water murky. Take care. Also resist the temptation to pound in a stem because it will definitely crush the delicate stem.

Wiggle the stems with a bamboo skewer to make as much as possible space and then slide in new stem snippets until they remain in place and no longer float in the water.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine