Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Hanging flowers rightside-upside-downside
- 7 September 2012
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Hanging the flowers to dangle down a design create a natural flow. You do not have a lot of control on just how they hang but it does create a more natural line in designs where the long straight stems would have been too static and rigid. I also used this technique in my Desalination Demonstration design
Placing the flowers in the test tubes and filling it with water:
If you are hanging the flower right way around press the stem as far down as it can go. Fill the test tube with water. The flower will be able to drink until the test tube is empty.
But if you hang the flower upside down do not press the stem all the way in. The stem end should be closer to the seal. This way the stem will remain exposed to water for as long as possible and will not be dry long before the test tube is actually empty.
Hanging the flowers right side up
Wrap the stem with florist tape to protect it from the tight wire. I like to hang the flower just above the second open flower
Wrap the wire twice around the stem and twist to secure.
Be very careful not to bruise the flower with rough handling or to cut it with the wire. The wire should be tight enough to hold the stem, but not so tight that it forms a tourniquet that strangles the stem and keeps it from taking up water, or even weakens it to the point of snapping.
Twist the wires to have butterfly feeler hooks.
The butterfly feelers are a lot more secure when hooked over a wire than a single bend. It also keeps any sharp wire ends far away from the delicate petals.
Hanging the flowers upside down
Tape the stem with florist tape close to the seal of the test tube.
Wrap the wire twice around the stem and twist to secure
Twist the wire ends into butterfly feelers with the hook pointing to the flower head
Hang the stem upside down on the wire.
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Tutorials
I don't always want to wire my test tubes into the design. I like to create a bit of movement by simply hooking the tubes to gently swing.
Related Designs
My fourth design in my demonstration at the BC Floral Art Society meeting
A Floral Art Demonstration by Floral Trends Design Group with music, narration and pictorial presentation.
My contemporary floral art design demonstrated at the Canada Blooms flower show in Toronto.
Armatures are great (budget friendly) spacers for creating large floral designs without using an enormous amount of your resources.
This is the fourth and last design I did for my Floral Fable demonstration.