On my online workbook this week: Making Waves

Dear

This week's inspiration is … dreaming of counting waves. It’s the summer version counting sheep.

This is actually two design practices… in one. The cascade is what it is all about… the cascade is what it is mostly about. Okay, no… those stems inside the vase are actually really, really important. They make up design practice two.

We are using stems that are as short as possible for where you want it placed so that they create a lovely contrast to the flowing cascade.

Once you have arranged the cascade floral part of the design, keep a firm grip on all the stems where they meet so that you can arrange the stem ends to create an interwoven bundle that will offer as little as possible visual distraction once settled in the vase. Tip: if you find this difficult to do you can use a tiny elastic band to keep everything in place while you design and then, right at the end, cut and remove the band. But give it a try first- you might surprise yourself!

The easiest way to do this is to allow for the most robust vine stems to be the longest. And by longest I mean it should barely be long enough to settle in the vase neck so that it kicks against the glass, at an angle. Now intertwine the other stems ends with this one so that it appears like one vine tangle. Cut any stems away that sticks out. And once the stems are firmly in place in the vase and all of them completely covered in water insert short gyp stems to fill in any visual gaps in the cascade part of the design so that they are kept in place under water in the stem end tangle.

Make sure to view the design from the front as you work to see if you are still on track in creating the least distracting stem end design while keeping the cascade loose flowing and uncontrived.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine

ps Happy World Ocean Day, flower buddies