How To Make A Large Pedestal Design With Fresh Flowers

Hello, welcome to Flower Juice. My name's John MacDonald, and today we're going to revisit a design that we've already made a video for in the past, but we've only ever made one, and that was a pedestal arrangement. So today we're going to make another pedestal design, and we just wanted to revisit this because it's quite an important design in floristry, and they're a big arrangement with lots of impact. So I've got this pedestal stand that I use in my house, but what I'm using is I'm using this tray dish with four blocks of floral foam. Now, what you really want is you want to make sure that your base is really, really secure. So what I've done is I've put two blocks this way and two blocks this way, taped around the top blocks, and then across as well. So this is totally secure. If you're going to make something really, really big, you could also add some chicken wire over the top, but you really don't want these blocks moving in any way, so this is very important. And obviously these blocks have been pre-soaked, which is just a case of dropping your foam into water, letting it sink, and that's them soaked. Don't push them underwater because you'll create a bubble. So we've got our base, and flower-wise, we've got basically blues and whites and some nice foliage as well. So the first thing I'm going to do is put in some foliage to create our kind of boundaries or kind of the edges of our design. So I've got some beautiful ivy, so we'll put that in first. And you don't have to use floral foam. I would say that really it depends on the situation. So if this is going to be something you're going to do commercially, then the reality is the foam works well because if you're going to make something for someone, it belongs to them. And it's something you're going to have to move around to transfer, and the foam really is convenient. But what you might want to do if it's just for a church situation where you're able to do your own thing, and the thing is the actual base is not leaving anywhere, then what you could do is you could create it into a container really with chicken wire, but tape that chicken wire in as well so that it's nice and secure. So we're going to have a good amount of foliage in this as well. And really the thought with this design is to make something that's quite big, quite bold, and just really a celebration of different flowers. So this was actually some forsythia, and this is French or Italian ruscus. It's interesting, some people call it Italian, some people call it French, but essentially it's small leaf ruscus, and it's the perfect foliage for a lot of different designs. It lasts really well, it's got a beautiful shape, and it's nice and clean. So let's pop that in. Now, we really want something straight here. So I do have a bit more of the forsythia with just more of a point. So I don't really want this to be too weird, but now we can start to add some of our flowers. And actually, I've got some beautiful gladioli, and we're getting foliage with this anyway. So with our foliage, we've actually created a little bit of a framework within where we can work. And now we can start to add our flowers. So obviously the good advantage with the gladioli is it gives us height. We can really bring these up. And I really like this foliage here. So unless it's damaged, you don't need to remove it. And we're also going to bring these down as well. And this is really where floral foam has the advantage in so many ways, because you can actually come at different angles so much easier than other options, which is a shame. But the floral industry is really looking at lots of alternatives. And I think compared to other industries, we're really very good at finding solutions. And I think if other industries would follow our example, that would be great. So a little bit of Phoenix palm. And really with foliage, you can use whatever foliage you've got. But what you're really wanting is just to have a bit of variety. So you want a variety of textures and shapes and also colors. So that said, I've got some really nice eucalyptus that we can add. And because this is a really strong branch, we're going to take it up into this space here. And like a piece like this, I can split into two and we can have one down into there and one to here. So we're just bringing that in and through the design. So I've got some beautiful delphinium as well. And you just want to really condition your flowers well before you use them. And be careful with delphinium. It's so easily tangled up in itself and it's so easily damaged. Just take care when you're unwrapping it, working with it. If you move too fast, this is really risky for getting broken and you don't want to do that. So before we add some other delphinium lower down, we're going to put in one or two oriental lilies. Now this one's got a broken bud, so we'll just take that off. Now you could leave the pollen on or you can take the pollen off. Again, depends on your situation. If you leave the pollen on, then that will affect people who've got hay fever. If you take it off, then you're not going to be at any risk of getting pollen onto clothes or furniture or anything like that. So you have to kind of weigh it up, which is best. Do you leave it on? I actually think it looks nicer with the pollen because it gives a nice focal point to the flower. If you take that out, it's just white. But if you leave it, then there is that risk. So you need to take that into account. So what I've got now is I've got some beautiful roses and this is White Naomi, which is an excellent rose. Now with these roses, you can take off any outer sepals. They're just an outer petal. That is really there to protect the rose. And it's going to disappear a little bit anyway when the rose opens a little bit. But sometimes people see the sepals and they think the rose is not happy, but actually it's fine. It's just the way they are. And the good thing with roses is they're such a kind of standard flower that you know what you're getting with a rose. They're going to have straight stems. They're going to have good heads. They're going to be ideal as a kind of secondary flower in any design. So what I'm doing is I'm just working them down through the middle, but also to the sides as well. So if we want this to come more to here, bring that there. And if you are bringing roses down and you're anchoring the flowers up into the foam, just be careful that you don't go up through the foam and back out again. They still need to be in the foam and happy. So I know we need one over here. So we have most of our flowers, but I also have this beautiful orchid. And I want to use this just to give this design a real special feel. And this will give us a little bit of asymmetry, but it just gives a highlight into the design. And my other main kind of focal flower are these beautiful gerbera. So because we've got this here, we can actually work our gerbera down through the arrangement. Now I know I've got this one pointing this way, but don't point them all forward like that, or it'll look like a set of buttons. You want to move things so that they sit in natural ways. That will look more pleasing to the eye. And less odd. But it is good to have one or two facing forward. So this is a nice strong stem. Every stem that you're using, you want to just look at it and measure it and think, how can I best place this? So if it's a particularly strong stem, then you can place it high up. You want to just use each piece of material to its best advantage. Now I've got some nice eringium here, which is a beautiful flower. And again, this is giving a contrast in texture. And that's really what it's about, is you want to have probably your larger flowers more to the center, your smaller flowers or lesser flowers radiating out. And things like this limonium, actually seeing it like that, you're seeing it better than if it's tucked right into the center. And I wanted really with this arrangement to have not a heavy style, but a loose, open style that's not formal in a traditional sense, but has the impact of a formal pedestal. Now, we really have our little shorter delphinium. Now I just want to check, this is something that is important, is looking from the side, people will come round and they will see things from different angles. So you want to just double check that it's still working from those angles, that there's not glaring obvious gaps or some issue or problem that they can see that you didn't anticipate. So if I was making this, I would probably put foliage in the back as well, just to stop evaporation and it makes it look finished from the back. It's amazing how big arrangements, people will see them from different angles. And it's that level of being finished that will make it look good quality. So leaving these flowers to the end is really a good idea because I can see where best to put them for the best advantage for each stem. But also they're getting some support and protection from the flowers that are already there. And delphinium can be a little bit expensive as well. So you really want to use it in the best way. You don't want to waste that flower. So it's got a couple more. Now, obviously, if you were making an arrangement like this, you can play with the quantities or the variations that we've got. So if you want it to be more floral, you can reduce the amount of foliage. If you want it to be more wild, you can give it much more of a wild shape. You really have the ability to create whatever you want. So gather your materials, think about how you want it to look and then put it together. So the flowers may vary, the foliage may vary, but really the way that you would put it together kind of follows a pattern. So you're going to kind of create an outline with some of your foliage. You're going to add your big heavy stems first, then your key flowers, then put in your framework of like a secondary or tertiary flower, like a rose. And then really just the rest is detail. So something like a highlight and then just bringing that colour is what you want to do. So I hope you've enjoyed today's video. We've got a really nice pedestal arrangement, which I hope you've enjoyed. And we've got a new video every week. We'd love you to join us for future designs.