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Your tutor Ngaire Clarke
Ngaire Clarke worked throughout New Zealand tutoring and
demonstrating for many years, and her work has been
featured in the New Zealand Floral Art Society publications
and floral design magazine. Ngaire adds,"When Gregor
Lersch from Germany demonstrated in Auckland in 1989 I decided
this was the way to work with flowers - free, bold and
beautiful. Thoroughly inspired by the European design styles I
was very fortunate to be able to attend Ecole Francaise de Decoration
Florale, in Paris. These French and European designs
have been the basis of the workshops I have been invited to
teach throughout New Zealand".
MORE LESSONS AND IDEAS
Decorate your Christmas tree with some innovative ideas.
Some simple floral gifts and gift wrapping for Christmas.
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A christmas basket to make
Often,
you will have a collection of baskets given to you, or that you have admired
and acquired.
This project is a great way to make
a special basket a centrepiece for any occasion, or to glamorize
a basket for lovely gift
Pick your ribbon colours to
go with the event colours or traditional colours required for the occasion,
and go through your dried 'treasures' you have saved over the years
to find what you need for this quick project.
Ngaire used:
dried anthuriums
skeletonised Bells of Ireland
Ngaire air dried both these in her
garage, after using them fresh in a design."I never throw anything away,"
she said.
You will also need:
small pine cones
dried poppy seed cases
blue, silver, and glitzy ribbons
(available here)
a gold bell
a small piece of rope
gold and silver spray
cold glue or hot glue with a glue gun.
a basket
a silver tray |
Click
here
for a larger view
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Ribbon around
the handle
Add the bell
and bow |
Spray
the basket all over with a light covering of gold spray paint. Let
it dry and repeat with a light covering of Silver spray paint .Let it dry.
Using the glitzy ribbon, wrap it
around the handles in an even way so a little of the handle colour still
shows through. Glue both ends tidily.
Wrap the small length of rope around
the top and glue into place. If your handle is large you may be able to
use a small nail to do this.
With the sheer ribbon make a small
bow and add to the top, attach a gold bell to hang underneath, and add
a small dried flower in the middle of the bow. |
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it is time to be creative.
Select from
your dried material 'treasures', plant materials that complement each other,
with texture, form and colour, all being an appropriate size to be in proportion
with your basket size.
As you can
see from the groupings Ngaire used, pictured on the right, she used
the pine cones to add texture, the dried anthuriums for a round form with
a smoother texture, and the skeletonised Bells of Ireland to add a light
lacy feel.
The anthuriums
were sprayed lightly with silver spray paint, and the poppy seed heads
(not shown) were sprayed gold. A modern look would use no more than 5 different
types of plant material.
Glue your chosen
plant material into interesting groupings, around the edges of the basket.
Each grouping should be different to add interest, but with the same plant
materials used, to give unity to the design.
For the basket
Ngaire used she made 5 groupings. This gives a pleasant coverage of the
basket without being too full of plant material. You will have to decide
the number of groupings you need based on the size of your basket. Usually
an odd number is best.
Hot glue, or
cold glue the plant material in place around the basket, remembering to
use the whole area. You don't want plant material just glued around
the top. Have a close look at Ngaire's placing and you will see she has
extended the group from the top to the bottom of the basket base. |
Groupings
of plant material
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The bows |
The
finishing touches are the bows. Take 2 lengths of ribbon in colours to
complement your glitzy ribbon on the handle. In this case Ngaire has used
silver and sheer blue. Make two loops and secure in the middle to
make a simple bow.Cut the ends on a diagonal.
You may need 7-9 of these
to add to each grouping singly or as a pair. You will decide this
as you hot or cold glue them into place.
Turn the basket frequently,
and stand back and look at the overall design, to decide where to place
these.
Now add the silver tray in the middle
and you are ready.You made need to add some padding under the tray to raise
it up in the basket.
Load up the tray with fresh fruit,
nuts, sweets or whatever is appropriate for the occasion and you have a
winner! |
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Christmas floral design
EMAG : Five different houses, dozens of different Christmas styles, modern Christmas flower arranging colour schemes are all in this edition of floral design magazine as the Howick Floral Circle from Auckland New Zealand show you how. The inspirational photos come with written instructions for each design so you can have a go yourself this Christmas to tranform your home, office or shop.
Review...
Download now for
Only US$8.00
RRP US$10.60
More Christmas flower arrangements
EMAG : This edition of floral design is going to take you around the world 'shopping' for floral Christmas decoration and arrangement ideas. First stop is a Christmas show in Belgium, then off you go to a great Hall in England totally decorated for Christmas, before heading to New Zealand and the Whitby Floral Art Club Christmas designs. Next stop Australia and festive ideas for a flower shop before the final call in Canada and the World Rose Show.
After all that inspiration you will need to know how to make some fabulous Christmas flower arrangments yourself. So included are 9 step by step flower arranging lessons to try.
Review...
Download now for
Only US$8.00
RRP US$10.60
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