We’ve all been there.
Someone gifts you a beautiful bouquet of flowers, to celebrate a special occasion. You exclaim, “Oh, how thoughtful! I’ll just go put these in water,” downplaying your obvious floral artistry.
You imagine yourself emerging from the kitchen, moments later, with an effortlessly magnificent, Instagram-ready arrangement. But we’ve all seen what can happen when the mouth of your vase is just too wide. What was once a beautiful bouquet can come out looking sparse and shapeless. Well, that ends now!
How do florists get that sculptural, airy, intentional looking shape, without a lot of fuss?
How do you create floral statements that look lush without looking over crowded?
Well, here’s a handy, affordable technique we use.
It’s simple, really. You’ve just gotta give the bloom some elbow room!
Use floral tape to create a grid across the top of your vessel. This little trick gives you a structure to rest your stems against, so you have much more control over the shape you’re going for. It allows you to play with positive and negative space, create a sense of motion, asymmetry, and capture the whimsy you’re looking for in a centerpiece.
Whether you’re a professional floral artist, bringing back blooms from a wholesale market, or you picked up some flowers from the grocery store or the bodega, to spruce up your apartment, this tip works in a snap!
Here’s how we do it.
Create the Grid
Start with a dry vase, so the tape will stick.
To create the grid, we use 1/4 inch, clear floral tape, by Oasis.
Tape intersecting lines across the top of your vase, leaving just enough on each end to firmly adhere.
The number of lines is up to you, and depends on the size of the opening at the top of your vase. We sometimes use 4, but it could be 6, it could be 2.
For example, if you criss-cross 4 lines, you create 9 spaces for placing stems. It works best if each section is a couple square inches at most. These lines will give your flowers something to lean on, so you can build the shape of your dreams.
Secure the Grid Lines
Wrap 1 additional strip of tape around the perimeter of your vase, over the ends of the grid lines you’ve created. This tape’s got a bit of give to it. So, if you stretch it just a little, the adhesion improves. Overlap the ends, and press down to secure.
Get a good seal, and your grid should even resist a bit of water.
One great perk about this technique, if you’re using a glass vase, is that it’s totally transparent. So you can see the beautiful line of the stems, straight through the water. You don’t have that luxury, if you use floral foam.
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With LRDIY, we’re looking to start a conversation, build a community, and empower the flower artisan in each of you! So get creating!
You can use this little trick-of-the-trade to impress your friends with an effortlessly beautiful arrangement in your own home, or create the perfect centerpiece for any event.
Flowers are too beautiful to be exclusive. So reach out! Let us know if there’s anything else you’ve always wondered about floral design, that we can help demystify for you.
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