FLORAL DESIGN WORKSHOPS

We are fortunate to have a National Accredited Flower Show Judge and Master Judge to conduct free floral design workshops. Evelyn Warrington inspires, entertains and educates participants with a great variety of floral designs. These workshops are held just prior to our regular meetings for interested club members.
One of her recent workshops taught us how to create a "Spring Surprise" arrangement using quince branches from her garden. For this design she started with a low, wide, old rice basket container which had a flower holder in the bottom. She placed her pink floral branches first and then added long, slender leaves shaped into a circular design to pick up the lines of the container.

Here Evelyn is demonstrating how to form fresh, green, strappy leaves into a circular design. After forming the shape and size desired, the leaf is held in place with two small staples. In the next step, she attached a wooden pick to the leaf stem using floral tape to wrap around the stem and end of the pick. This extension on the leaf stem made it easy to place the leaves exactly where she desired in the foral design.

We learned some new ideas for a design using sea shells and pebbles with other plant materials to create an underwater design called "Fascinating Feature". She used a clear glass container to show the seashells underwater and other shells were placed outside the container to unify the design with the container and base.


One of our members brought in this arrangement following the "Fascinating Feature" demonstration at the prior meeting. "Skeletonized" leaves were used on the back side of the container to resemble seaweed. The large leaves were first dried and then the leaf surface was carefully removed to leave the veins intact.

The "Baskets are Treasures" class gave us some creative ideas for using one or more baskets in a design. Evelyn commented that if the basket has a handle, we should leave part of the handle uncovered to incorporate that feature into our design. The basket could be lined with heavy plastic and then you wedge a piece of floral foam in the bottom to hold the plant material in place. A second option is to use a heavy, flat container in the bottom filled with floral foam to support the plant material.


This arrangement was made by a club member using all fresh flowers from her garden. Our assignment was a mass design, either vertical or horizontal, with fresh plant materials. The green fern leaves and the dainty, deep red spikes of flowers define the shape of the arrangement, carrying the eye from the top of the design down to the lower edges. The bright punches of color in the roses pull the eye back into the center of the design where you begin to notice the more subtle colors of the lavendar colored blooms. It makes a beautiful Spring arrangement for the home.


These following arrangements were submitted by club members after attending Evelyn's workshops. The lesson topics were: "Reflective Design", "Using Baskets", "Underwater Design with Sea Shells", " A Line Design Using a Minimum of Plant Materials", All Green Arrangement" and 5" Miniature."






The March lesson was an All Green Arrangement. Here is Evelyn's demonstration design followed by four designs submitted by club members at the April meeting lesson.
Evelyn's All Green Arrangement
            

The April lesson was an arrangement using lilies. Students will bring their design for evaluation to the May meeting.