Fundamentals of Floral Design Simple Delicate Arrangement

Storm doesn't want me to say anything else. Flowers talk for themselves. So that's it. Arranging flowers is a very meditative process for me and with the sound of the rain it's even better. So I just love doing this centerpiece. With this one we're going to explore with more layers, more flowers, more movement and we're going to have so much fun doing it. The steps that we're going to cover are choosing the right vessel, beautiful branches to create shape, the base of your arrangement bathed with little textural flowers, main flowers, and all the delicate bits to create graceful movement. Choosing the right vessel is really important when you're trying to make an arrangement. I love making centerpieces in a compote with a pedestal. I just feel it looks very elegant. I love the organic shape this kind of vessel allows me to have. I like things that are spilling out of my base and I just also think it's ideal for a round or a rectangular table. If you're doing a rectangular table, you can add two elements on the side, but if you're doing a round table, you just have to take care to cover all the round of your shape. You already know how to place your chicken wire and also how to secure it with a waterproof tape. I'm going to add some water into it, remember, all the way to the top. And next, I'm going to start with my branches to create what we call the shape. I have chosen these beautiful raspberry branches. I just love all the texture in the leaves and a little texture here and the fruit coming out. If you don't have raspberry, you can use tomato vines, you can use anything with fruit. And the first thing I'm going to do is create the shape. So remember, we want something coming up and something going down to create this very graceful shape, almost like the branches of a tree. I love this one, I think it's really beautiful. So I'm going to try to place it in a position where you can see the texture and you can see all these little details. And I think I like it there. And I'm going to grab this one because it has this very beautiful curve that I'm going to use to create my high point. I think that's going to be fine, except for one thing. I don't want these two points to compete, so I'm going to cut this little branch to make this shape a little bit more dramatic, more open. So I'm going to get rid of this one and that's going to make a difference between this height and this. Now I'm going to place these beautiful raspberries. I just love adding fruit into my arrangement. And I think somewhere around here will be pretty. I really want to see them and I want to make sure that I don't cover them after with my flowers. Every time you add something like a fruit, it's going to be quite heavy, you know? This branch has to support a lot of weight, so you just be mindful of where you place it inside the chicken wire. So you might want to cut it quite short, you know, somewhere around there. And make sure that this one goes into a place where it's really secured inside your chicken wire and it's just so pretty to have it hanging there. Now that we have created shape, we are ready to move to our second layer, which is the base of our arrangement. We're going to use yarrow. You know, it's my favorite. But if you don't have yarrow, you can have any flower that is small and you feel that can support your delicate stems. We're going to cut these ones very short. Don't be afraid to cut them quite short because we want to cover some of the mechanics with it. And then just place it inside my base. Always looking for different levels, always trying to create movement. I'm going to go from one side to the other side, adding these very textural flowers. Anything with a lot of texture will look great in this layer. That's it. Now I'm ready to move to the third layer, which is placing my main focal flowers. When using a bigger flower like this one, you have to be really careful when you want to place them. It's not so easy to place these flowers without taking all the attention of the rest of the arrangement into them. So I'm going to play with them somewhere around here, just outside of my arrangement. I'm going to place the first one of my café au lait. I think that's just perfect. And I'm going to grab a second one and I'm going to do the same on the other side of my arrangement. So I'm just going to cut a little bit to refresh the stem and come somewhere around here and just place it. For this layer, I have the Senior's Hope Dahlia and also I have the Silence My Dahlia. I just adore them. I think they're incredible. So I'm going to create something that's going to go from here all the way to the back of my arrangement. So I'm going to cut this one quite short and I'm going to place it somewhere here, quite close to the neck, but never so it looks like it's sinking inside your vessel. Now I'm going to cut this beautiful Silence Night and she's going to continue this layer, but looking into another direction. So now because we are in a more complicated compote, we can play with another flower. And for that, I'm going to use this beautiful spray rose. Spray roses are just smaller roses, you know, with a lot of little roses in it. So it's a stem with lots of roses inside and they're usually more small and they come in bunches like this. The bottom of these flowers have really beautiful tones that speak very well to this flower. But then the top of this talks so well to this café au lait. So if I place this one inside the chicken wire without editing, without cutting, I will be tightening the stems. And I don't want to do that. I want to give each one of them their own space to breathe. So I'm going to edit this branch without being scared. Just going to cut this one. I'm also going to remove this. And I'm also going to remove... I think it's going to be this. So I'm going to place this rose somewhere outside here. Instead of placing roses everywhere in my arrangement, I want to create something that feels like a river of flowers, something that goes from here, goes all the way to here and ends up here, always in different levels. When you're using spray flowers, don't be afraid to touch them. Don't be afraid to open them. Some spray roses are so flexible and they really allow for you to touch them and, you know, just showcase the center of them. And the tones that you will discover inside these flowers is just incredible. I'm going to place this one somewhere here outside, just following this line, and then I'm going to grab individual ones to place them in between. But this one is beautiful to go outside, so I'm just going to look for the right spot for it. I'm going to grab one more of these. Just cut the little babies because I want to be able to open them and place it in my arrangement quite low. So I'm going to grab one more of these dahlias, and I think it would be really nice to bring this color a little bit higher. And to do that, in the other side of my arrangement, I'm going to play with these beautiful, bold dahlias that I just adore. It's getting more complicated, but it's more fun as well. I think it's going to be somewhere there. Okay? Now I'm going to make this layer a little bit more complex, and for that I'm going to add a more textural flower, and for it I'm going to choose these zinnias. How pretty they are! They're so cute! So this zinnia is just perfect, again, not only to create texture, but to bring the colors together. So I'm going to place one layer of zinnias just from here all the way to the back of my arrangement and see how that looks. Beautiful. I'm going to add this just here. Why? Because I want to soften this stem, and by adding this one here, I will make that moment softer. So this is important to cut correctly, so I'm just going to measure a little bit, more or less how much I need, and I think somewhere around here will be fine. I hope I didn't cut it too short. I think that's perfect. Now we're ready to move to our fourth layer, which is all about movement and beautiful, graceful moments. So for that layer, I'm going to choose my cosmos. So I think I'm going to start with this one, and I'm going to build up this layer of movement, create a high moment for it. It's really important in your arrangement, you know? And then I'm going to continue with the movement, but in the other side of my arrangement. I just really want this zinnia to come somewhere around here. I just think it's going to make it even more beautiful, and trying to find the right spot for it. It's beautiful. So what you're going to do at this stage is to step back of your arrangement and look for the neck of your vessel, because you are designing from this angle. But the truth is that this arrangement is meant to be for someone that is sitting. So I'm going to come and dress the neck of my vessel by adding one more stem here. So now you have everything that you need to create a beautiful centerpiece. For this chapter, you learned how to create shade with branches, how to bring focal flowers without taking all the attention of your arrangement, all the supporting flowers for it, texture, loads of textures, and at the end, graceful movement for your arrangement. Now you have all the skills you need to share the beauty of flowers with your friends.