A Florist of Distinction

Well, it feels a little strange, but also very exciting to be able to say that I am now a florist! I officially completed my Level 2 Diploma yesterday. We marked the occasion with a presentation at college.

Me collecting my certificate 

My official City and Guilds certificate will arrive later this summer. When I totted up all my grades for this year, it looks like I will be awarded a distinction, which is the highest grade for this course. I'm really thrilled :-D

This time last year I had never done anything with flowers other than buy roses from the supermarket and put them in a vase, yet I just had this feeling that floristry would be for me. The gamble has paid off!

Last week I made my last college creation. I think it is one of my favourites from the course.

Bridal shower bouquet 

Here are my top picks from the past year:

I enjoyed all of my course, even all the sketching! It's not that surprising really, when I remember that I only chose A Level geography because it involved field sketches :-P Guess I was always a frustrated artist :-)

Hostess bouquet sketch

So, this year has flown by. What's next? The job market is tough right now, but I'm determined to work as a florist one way or another. I have lots of plans and ideas whirling around in my head. Watch this space!

70th Birthday Celebrations

To celebrate my mother's 70th birthday at the end of May we had a vintage-style tea party with friends and family at home.

I had been planning the flowers for the day well in advance in my head. I wanted a cottage garden feel to the flowers with pastel colours. My mum loves freesias, so they had to be included. I chose white dahlias, pink roses, pink alstroemeria and white spray carnations, plus some other flowers for table decorations.

Flowers conditioned and ready to use

A while back I found a wicker tea cup and saucer at the wholesaler and knew that would make a great container for the main arrangement. The tea cup design quickly took shape and I topped it off with a diamante pick.

                           

A few days on and the freesias have opened up giving more colour.

We arranged the tables in the garden to look like a café with vintage table cloths and floral arrangements.

I sourced some pretty vintage vases and glassware which I dotted around the house to tie in with the theme. Perfect accessories for a perfect tea party :-)

Pineapples and Posies

I went up to London on Sunday and paid a visit to one of my favourite places - Columbia Road Market. There were some lovely flowers available at reasonable prices. I managed to weave my way through the crowds of tourists and pick up some pink and green goodies.

When I got home I decided to make a hand tied with this crazy pink pineapple in the centre:

I then did a more sedate lily and rose arrangement in my Jane Packer bud vases:

There were more floral creations at college today in the form of two wedding bouquets.

Wired Victorian posy

Wedding bouquet in foam holder

Venice Carnival 3D Display

Over the last few weeks I have been working with a small team at college on a 3D display. This week was the actual set up and assessment.

Here I am with the finished display. I am really pleased with it and it earned my team a Distinction. Three of us worked on the marquee pole in the centre and then we added the plinths, fabric, bridge, masks and other items.

We wanted a colourful, theatrical, carnival look to our display with everything centring on the red and white gondola pole wrapped with flowers and foliage.

We used an advancing analogous colour harmony for our marquee pole design (red, orange, yellow orange and yellow). I like all the bright clashing colours and natural-looking bushy foliage.

Easter Textured Design

I made this arrangement this morning to decorate the house for Easter.

Double, single and pompon chrysanths, rose, hypericum and bun moss.

I'm happy with this sunny, springtime design. Frohe Ostern! Joyeux Pâques! Veselé Velikanoce! Happy Easter! :-)

Two Totally Different Techniques

I made some really cool and cute things this week as part of my wedding unit. In the morning I sculpted a handbag shape from floral foam and covered it with leaves and orchid heads using different pinning and gluing techniques

Funky leaf handbag

In the afternoon I learnt how to make a wired baskette. It is a small design with a handle that a bridesmaid would hold. I think it is really cute and pretty and a great alternative to a bouquet for a young bridesmaid or flower girl as it is very light and quite robust.

Baskette with Dendrobiums, spray roses, chrysanths and spray carnations

Both of these designs will go in my wedding portfolio.

A Mother's Day Made in England

I wanted to try something different for Mother's Day and came across Common Farm Flowers on Twitter. I loved the natural, cottage style of these flowers and also liked the fact that they are organically grown in England. It's nice to support British growers as most flowers available in the UK are from Holland or are flown in from far-flung places like Columbia and Kenya.

A box of British loveliness

I was excited when my cut flowers arrived by courier on Friday afternoon and it was even more exciting to think that just a few hours earlier they had been growing in Somerset, so I knew they were really fresh :-)

I unwrapped the beautiful, spring, scented blooms and conditioned them ready to use the next day.

I made two hand tied bouquets from the mixed bucket of flowers I bought (one for my Mum and one for my boyfriend's Mum). I added a little bit of extra spring foliage too.

Informal spring hand tied bouquet in decorative jug

Cottage-style hand tied bouquet in earthenware jug

I was pleased with the seasonal, relaxed look of these bouquets. I will definitely keep looking for alternative sources of cut flowers for my designs.

Further Funeral Tributes

Started the day with the based wreath assessment:

I had 75 minutes to make the box pleated ribbon edging, base the wreath with Chrysanthemums, make the rose and spray carnation spray and do a costing. Job done - Distinction :-)

Now for something completely different:

This afternoon I made this textured design. The idea is to keep the materials within the frame of the base to retain the shape, but to have differing heights throughout. This design uses a range of materials including Gerberas, Kermit chrysanths, spray roses, Hypericum, bun moss, ivy, slate, terracotta and loofah. It is edged in pleated hessian.

I think it makes a nice change from more traditional designs and it can be personalised for someone who liked gardening with little tools or even small vegetables.

Dainty Wedding Delights

A nice mix of flowers at college today for the wedding unit. Three lovely designs completed:

Hair comb with Gerberas and Hypericum

Corsage with Cymbidiums

Pomander with spray roses, spray carnations and wax flower

Formal Funeral Designs

This Thursday I learnt basing (covering the foam in one type of flower) and box pleating (ribbon edging).

These techniques are used in formal designs. The first one I have to make again as an assessment next week and the second one is a portfolio design.

Based wreath

Based cross with double placement

The cross has the most complicated ribbon edging as each corner has to be mitred. I'm going to do some practice with my stapler ready for the timed assessment :-)

Decorative Wedding Floristry

I had a really enjoyable day at college today learning how to make some very pretty items.

Wired orchid hat decoration

Same corsage converted into a clutch bag decoration

I really like these designs and think they would be ideal for a wedding, evening event or day out such as Ascot.

In the afternoon I made a glued rose and orchid head band. This would be suitable for a young bridesmaid.

Funeral Portfolio Pieces

I learnt two new designs today:

Loose wreath in foam

Single ended spray

I like the pale yellow Dianthus in these designs - nice and spring-like :-)

Three Distinctions in One Day

Thursdays are now dedicated to funeral floristry. I wasn't sure what I would think of this unit, as I can't say I'm a big fan of traditional British funeral tributes, but so far I have been pleasantly surprised about how nice the designs are.

Today involved two timed assessments. In the morning I made a double-ended spray, which would go on top of a coffin. It is around 60cms long. I only had 35 minutes to make this, which was pretty crazy as I had only practised it once previously with a tutor demo.

I was pleased with my final piece as I didn't have much time to think about what I was doing or really check it. I was even more pleased to be awarded a Distinction.

Sadly, I couldn't keep this one as it had to be dismantled for assessment number 2 - the loose posy pad.

I had 45 minutes to make this one and was very pleased with how it turned out. I got a Distinction for this design too :-)

The third Distinction of the day was for my Art and Design portfolio, which looked at colour and shapes for floristry and also included several sketches of floral designs with analyses of the principles and elements of design used.

A pretty successful day all round!

Five Star Valentine's Day

In the week leading up to Valentine's Day I was doing work experience at The Dorchester on London's Park Lane. I had an amazing 5 days seeing how top quality floristry is done for a discerning and VIP clientele. I learnt how important presentation is and how to work quickly and tidily in a small space with a team of florists. I conditioned a lot of roses and my fingers and hands have just about healed up!

Designer Florist, Phil Hammond, was great at getting me involved in a range of floristry tasks - I made hand-tied rose room arrangements, restaurant table decorations and prepared potted orchids and succulents. I also wrapped a lot of single red roses ready for February 14th. The team made me feel very welcome and took me with them to make deliveries around the hotel, which meant I got to see some of the beautiful suites.

It was a great insight into floristry in the hospitality environment and observing how large-scale arrangements are made. I loved having the opportunity to work with such beautiful, high-quality flowers every day. I'm looking forward to another week at The Dorchester later in March.

I was getting into the Valentine's spirit this February with a couple of creations of my own:

Wired birch hanging heart with tulips made at college 

Pussy willow heart with tulle and ribbon decoration
and cerise Gerbera designed and made by me

Straight after my week of floristry work experience I was whisked away for a romantic Valentine's short break and received my own bouquet of 12 red roses :-) so glad I didn't have to condition these and could just enjoy them instead!