Project designed by Laura Lucero.
Materials:
nine large focal flowers
12 medium flowers
one stock flower with removable heads
three to four stems of filler flowers
bunch of ivy
Spanish moss
four yards #9 or #16 ribbon, wired optional
sphagnum moss
one clay pot or special container
one topiary form or dry floral foam for base
heavy duty wire cutters
scissors
needle nose pliers
glue gun and glue sticks
16- and 26-gauge wire
serrated knife
S-pins
green floral tape
Steps:
Cheater Bows
- Cut five 1/2 yard lengths of ribbon to make five "cheater bows."
- Gather the left side of the ribbon ends together, fold the ends in half widthwise and make a single diagonal cut to create perfectly matched inverted V-shaped tails (figure A) for all five bows.
- Working with one ribbon at a time, find the center of the length by folding the length of the ribbon in half. Unfold then refold, positioning the straight end of the ribbon at the center of the length and scrunch it together, forming a loop. Use a 6" length of wire to secure the loop to the center of the ribbon length.
- Repeat the same process with the second piece. Each cheater bow should have a loop and a tail.
Floral Preparation
- Cut the large and medium flowers to a uniform height, approximately four inches to six inches.
- Remove all of the heads from the stock and hot glue them to a four- to six-inch length of 16-gauge wire.
- Cut the filler flowers into small groupings, and floral tape them to a four- to six-inch length 16-gauge wire.
- Cut the ivy and repeat the third step.
- Cut the leaves from the flower stems and repeat step three.
Assembling the Tree
- Use the remaining ribbon to create a bow for the ball of your topiary.
- Put the foam form into the container by fitting the base of the form to the size of the desired container. Use a serrated knife to cut the base of the form if needed and hot glue it into the container.
- Use a few S-pins to secure the Spanish moss to the foam ball, completely covering the shape of the form.
- Using a clock pattern to put the focal flowers on the form at 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 8:00, and 10:00 (figure B). Then, place two flowers on the sides to create triangles.
- Add the medium flowers around the larger flowers.
- Continue this same method for the stock, filler, and ivy, filling the spaces evenly.
- Add "cheater bows" evenly.
- Add a 1-1/2 yard bow to the underside of the tree.
- Add the sphagnum moss around the base of the tree to resemble grass.
Guests Laura (Lucero) Eskilson
Interior Designer, Your Touch Creations
E-mail:
yourtouchcreations@yahoo.com
Website:
www.yourtouchcreations.com
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