Right then. My regular blog-watchers will know that my current task on the docket from Rod is to “take a flower arranging course”. As I’m no longer in the 80’s (huzzah) my first step was to hit up Google and Ye Olde Internet and see what I could find for floral education opportunities in Chicago. It was surprisingly sparse. I dunno why, but I was expecting to find flower arranging opportunities everywhere – a la terrible painting and wine classes – but alas, no. I did manage to find something that isn’t until December but I was very surprised that there were not more classes/events immediately available. Come on, local florists – I bet you could make some coin offering simple classes to Bored Homemakers, People With Too Much Time on Their Hands (ahem) or Bachelorette parties – throw some prosecco and cheese chunks in there and it would be a sure-fire winner! Maybe that’s what I should do for my next project… Flowers and Bubbles….. hmmmmm……
Anyway, back to the task at hand. So – a local in-person flower arranging class was not immediately available. Instead I then looked for online options. And I came across a company called Alice’s Table which – hurrah – offered a Flower Fundamentals class! https://alicestable.com/on-demand-workshop/flower-fundamentals They offer a wide variety of live and on-demand classes which also include building charcuterie boards (already nailed that one), wine tasting, holiday wreath building, home baking as well as various floral decorating classes. The company is a subsidiary of 1-800-flowers and Harry & David, so part of their offering is that they will send you everything you need for each workshop, you then log in and simply follow along with the class and teacher.
So this sounded pretty perfect as my first foray into floral arranging. Of course – like you – I’ve dumped and tweaked flowers into a vase at home before (ta-da! looks great?) – but I’ve never before taken the time to learn any of the basic skills that might take things up a notch – other than “trim the stems”! So I was excited to take this class and see what tips I could pick up. I ordered my kit ($75) and waited for the flowers to show up.
After about a week, I got a delivery notice to say my flowers would arrive the following day and to be on the lookout so I could take care of them as soon as they arrive. Apparently, all their flowers are shipped directly from their farm in Columbia, so they are super fresh (about a week fresher than flowers you’d find in a regular florist). Sure enough, the next day, my box arrived and I unpacked it eagerly!
I had also received an email with a link to a recorded session – which I was a bit puzzled about as I thought it was a live class. So I emailed AT for clarification and they confirmed it was a pre-recorded session, not a live webinar as I was expecting. Initially I was a bit annoyed as I’d been looking forward to the interactivity – but – as it turned out – it was actually better for it to have been pre-recorded as you can pause it, complete the step the teacher had just described, and then carry on! Anyway, the focus of the class was to construct a “secret garden” arrangement – featuring 5 different floral elements. As I took everything out of the box, I have to admit it all looked rather underwhelming, but I kept an open mind and dove into the class.
The class was just over 30mins long – but boy, did I learn a ton!! The teacher was excellent (it was actually the founder of the company – Alice) and her tips were fantastic. Here’s a summary of what I learned from just this short course:
- Don’t choose a vase that is too big – a smaller vase is better. The flowers to vase opening should be 3:1 (for example, if your vase opening is 3 inches, the width of your flower display should be at least 9 inches)
- Given the above, consider the width of your flower head, not just the number of blooms – big fat blooms (like the football mums we used) are great for filling space
- Don’t put your vases in the dishwasher – the detergent residue will shorten the life of your flowers
- If you don’t have plant food (which you DEFINITELY should use) then a few drops of vodka into the water is a good substitute
- DO NOT HAVE ANY LEAVES UNDERWATER! (this was a biggie – make sure stems are cleaned of leaves as leaves under the water encourage bacteria growth)
- Room temperature water is best – cold water shocks the flowers. You can use warm water if you need to bloom your flowers quickly – but they won’t last as long
- When you trim roses (a slanted cut), make sure you IMMEDIATELY put them into water as a “scab” will form over the cut surface within about 10 seconds
- Green your base – make sure to add greenery to the base of your vase to provide a structure and skeleton for your flowers
- When arranging your flowers, start with the largest first and work downwards to the smallest
- If you have flowers that have “cages” on them, make sure to rehydrate them with these left on first
- For roses, make sure to take off the outer 1-2 “guard” petals so they can open fully. You can also blow gently into the center of them to help them start to open.
- A textural element in your arrangement will make it look more professional
- Don’t place the finished arrangement in sunlight
- Add water frequently
So here’s how I got on:
Practice makes perfect, so I next planned to make an arrangement for the SkyNest. I found a local florist down by our place in the city and set off, list of desired flowers and greenery in hand. I’d originally intended to try an ikebana style arrangement (a specific type of Japanese floral design which I’ll blog about next) that I’d been reading about in a book I’d picked up from the local library (yey for the library!). Alas, they didn’t have quite what I was looking for, so instead I decided to freestyle it and put into practice some of the basic tips I’d learned from the video. I spent a solid half hour or so chatting to a lovely lady called Brianna who helped me pick out some flowers for my arrangement – and then trotted back home again to Have A Go. As I was umming and ah-ing over what to get, I reminded myself of all those designers in Project Runway where the success (or not!) of their final look “all starts in Mood” (the fabric store). It was hard not to feel a little overwhelmed – until I reminded myself I was only picking out flowers, for goodness sake, not doing open heart surgery! So here is my final effort (after much tweaking!):
So it was definitely helpful having just that additional little bit of knowledge as I started to put my arrangement together – although it probably makes you then a bit more critical as you look at the final product! I don’t think it looks too bad at all – but in hindsight, I’d definitely put in another big rose for better visual balance. Plus one of the tea rose sprays is already a bit droopy, so that’s a bit of a bummer. I’m already finding LOTS more information and education available online – including a series of videos from a “celebrity florist” – a chap called Michael Gaffney. Now, ordinarily, the term “celebrity anything” would be enough to have me running for the hills, but one of his videos had over a million views, so curiosity got the better of me and I checked it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV0YMpguHA8
Oh my word. He is just brilliant. Kinda campy and quite funny (doesn’t take himself too seriously, which is always appreciated) and, just from that one video, I’ve already learned some additional awesome techniques. He started up the American School of Flower Design (hmm….surely that should be Floral Design?) and WAIT – look! They have an offshoot in Chicago! The Chicago School of Flower Design!! I got all enthused and – as I do – started to look at whether they have any classes running in the near future. THEY DO!! YEY!! They have one in early December……
Wait…. hang on a minute….. I’ve already booked a class somewhere in early December…. lemme just check where I booked….
OMG. I’M A GENIUS!!!
The class I found – and booked already – is with the Chicago School of Flower Design!!!! WELL DONE ME!! I’ve booked an afternoon’s Sampler Class which involves 3 projects covering American and European floral design. https://www.flowerschool101.com/chicago-school-flower-design-tuitions/ You can then go on and do additional study (culminating in a week-long Master Class) but I think I’ll start here for now! It’s on Dec 5th, so you’ll have to wait a few weeks – but, in the meantime, the equipment I need for the ikebana floral designs should arrive tomorrow, so I should have time to try my hand at one more arrangement before I head out to Mexico next Tuesday! (I know, its a tough life….). Now, why can’t ALL my assignments from Rod be this fun??
