Book- Bloomsbury

 I bought 2 books of Bloomsbury Flowers. It guides how to make great use of natural materials while keeping simple. Especially it shows a variety of use of vases. Absolutely fabulous.

Arrangement- skimmia

A stuffed bag with skimmias. Bushy shrubs have got nice texture, are't they? I love the spiky leaves. It can be used for filler around white roses in a bouquet.

Flowers on hair

My friend tried flowers on hair. Pretty, aren't they?

Arrangement- posy

A posy arrangement with seasonal foliage. Almost all of them were picked up at Writtle College.

I reckon this is a bad example. The design failed to be in harmony. That is because added to much sorts of materials and techniques.

Hessian cloth adds texture

A petal on a beetle weed

It might be true that 'less is more.'

UK floristry competitions 2015

Competitions are something you can be inspired. The following shows a 2015 schedule.

25       Jan      RHS Chelsea heat

27-30 Jan      IPM Essen

5          Feb      RHS Chelsea heat

22       Feb      RHS Chelsea heat

7-10    Mar     International Bridal Design Seminar

23-26 Apr      Harrogate Flower Show (Spring)

25       Apr      Kukenhof Flower Parade

19-23 May     RHS Chelsea Flower Show

27-28 May     The Suffolk Show

11-13 Jun      Fleurop-Interflora Word Cup of Florists

15-19 Jun      British Flowers Week 2015

19-21 Jun      Blenheim Palace Flower Show        

21-23 Jun      Fusion Flowers Summer School

30Jun-5Jul     RHS Hampton Court

10-12 July     Kent Country Show

17-19 July     National Flower Show

25-26 July     RHS Tatton Park Flower Show

29       July     The 134^th Sandringham Flower Show

7-8      Aug     RHS Taunton Flower Show

18-20 Aug     Harrogate Flower Show (Autumn)

20-23 Aug     Southport Flower Show

21-23 Aug     The BFA European Flower School 2015

17-18 Oct      BFA FLEUREX

How to make a hand tied with just 3 roses.

Flowers are ripping off around Valentine's day. A bouquet is over 50 pounds and one stem of rose cost 5 pounds. How can we be money wise? I advise you to buy just 3 roses at a flower shop. By collecting plants at a park or a garden, you can make a natural hand tied.

You would like red materials for Valentine's day. On February, skimmia and rose hip have a lovely red colour. Just pick them up.

All materials but red roses were collected at Writtle College.

• Rose: 3 stems
• Skimmia: 6 stems
• Rose hip: 3 stems
• Foliage: 6 stems
• Dried foliage: 3 stems

Skimmia japonica 'Rubella'

Rosa Summer wine 'Korizont'

Artemisia absinthium 'Lambrook Mist'

Valentine's day in London

Here are some picture of London florists.

• M&S
• The Isles of Flowers
• Jane Packer
• Judith Blacklock Flower School
• Fortnum Mason

M&S sells a stem of rose at 6 pounds. On the other hand, Sainsbury offers a stem at 5 pounds. I think general price around Valentines day is 4 to 7 pounds. It depends on supermarkets, local florists or famous florists.

Chain florist, The Isles of Flowers at London Liverpool Street station showcase bouquets starting from 50 pounds.

Jane Packer have a fantastic display. I was astonished actually. Very neat and themed well.

I popped into Judith Blacklock Flower School and had a chat with the lovely staff. On the day there were no school. It was luck that I bumped Judith at the new covent garden market in the early morning.

Fabulous arrs at Fortnum Maison at Piccadilly circus. There were 4 at the ground floor. Red colour tells us Valentine's day is coming soon.

Checkpoints of florist career- aqua pack

Are you a florist or thinking to be? If so, when was/will be your breaking point?



Some stages:

1. Bump into the industry/ start to love it.
2. Get into there/ start work or school.
3. Bear with just typing up floors and changing bins.
4. Have an opportunity to make or help arrangements
5. Have an opportunity to make a hand tied.
6. Have regular role to make arrs/hand tied.
7. Get be more responsible to make them.
8. Be able to create new designs.
9. More involved into trade such as customer service.
10. Go for it...

Today I tried aqua pack for the first time in terms of commercial floristry. Why? Because today was one day before Valentine's day. The trade was so busy. And I got the chance to try.  I managed to do it. I saw the moment as a kind of a checkpoint to go further. Go for it.

How can a florist be inspired by William Morris?

William Morris was flowerholic. His great achievement is what all florists do. They get materials from the nature, arrange them and showcase for public. He succeeded in 2 aspects.One was he could grasp how people perceive that nature. Second was he could retransformed it into more abstract but beautiful world.

He was obsessed to intercept plants and flowers in a different way. His art works have a feature in terms of form. Having had a close look at size of an above picture, you would notice that each flower and foliage is depicted simply. He transformed nature into a bit geometric world.

It is interesting  that he was desperate to make a geometric cloths while he show huge curiosity to nature. In other words, he loved both something natural and unnatural. The idea has been manifested through his works. A picture below might be one of them. It is a chair for a royal coronation.

In terms of dimension, he chose 2-D rather than 3-D. He drew plants as flat materials by making them simple. In that way,  it could be said that his crafts are abstract way of expressions.

Visit to New covent garden Market

The marked was festive enough to the upcoming event- Valentine's day. Red roses, which is on the above, have lovely colour and texture as if deep love.

 February is still good season to enjoy tulips, isn't it?

Ikebana- Moribana style

Ikenobo Ikebana. Moribana style.

Spring-themed Moribana.

Shin: Tallest Twig
Soe: Tulip and twig
Tai: Tulip and twig

Hand tied - purple

A textured hand tied.

Purple colour evokes an elegant impression.

Hand tied - red

A grouped hand-tied.

As the numbers of materials was limited, I grouped same flowers.

Ikebana- Shoka shofutai style

Ikenobo Ikebana. Shoka shofutai style.

Arrangement- country style

An arrangement with a Partridges bag.

The bag has rough texture, which is lovely contrast to white tulips.

Tulip
Ruscus
Carnation
Salal
Hessian cloth