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Colleen Fernie
Colleen Fernie is  a well respected tutor at the floralartschool.com and also a qualified Floral Art teacher, judge and demonstrator in New Zealand. She helped write the definitive text "Flair" for the Floral Art Society of New Zealand, and has been actively involved in the education of emerging florists and floral artists for many years.

Colleen is also a regular and valued contributor to the floral design magazine available  here
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Classic designs for church pews, wedding cars,  walls,  doors and mirrors are always beautiful, but  often impossible to attach to vertical  surfaces. This design is the answer, using a suction cup in a cage encasing floral foam, which you can  use, without damaging the surface. Floral Artist, Colleen Fernie leads you through the process of design using the suction cage in a free lesson with classic wedding colours. For more wedding designs the floral design magazine has a wedding special every year. buy the special wedding edition click here If it is sold out, most of the monthly editions have fabulous foyer and table designs just perfect for a wedding.

I have to say I got excited (yet again!) Wandering around the warehouse I found, although it was never lost, a plastic cage , filled with green floral foam, and a huge suction cup on one side.  Moisten the suction cup, neat little toggles on the side pull out and Voila! the suck has been activated!

Of course, having to know what this gadget could do, in no time at all, it was stuck to mirrors, cars, doors, and walls. It just stuck there like glue. What a wonderful thing to use, and it left no damagethe suction cage to the surfaces, which is just as well as I tried everywhere, except wallpaper!

A package flew through the post to Colleen Fernie, our resident designer, asking her opinion. " That's a lot of foam in there," she said," it's going to get very heavy when its wet. I don't know if it will hold on a vertical surface when it's full of plant material".

The challenge was on and this lesson is the result. Not only did it hold the weight when we photographed it on a glass door, I then attached it to an oval mirror and the design has been there for 5 days. That suction is just not going to let go until I push in the tabs and release the vacuum with  a finger!
 
This is a great little gadget for weddings and decorating halls where you can't use nails or hooks on the  pews, wooden walls, doors, or cars and it is transportable to a new location and reusable.To reuse, just  cut off the top piece of the cage, add new foam and  wire it in. You can buy it at most floristry wholesalers.
 the suction working  
Pictured  left is the suction cup at work. You can see the two tabs through the glass door it's attached to. They have been pulled out to activate the vacuum.

The design.
Soak the floral foam that is supplied with the cage and attached the suction cage  to a vertical surface where you can work. This just makes it easier to check balance etc rather than having it horizontal.

Click on the picture above for a larger version, and you will see that it consists of rolled aspidistra, New Zealand variegated flax, white stock, yellow gerberas and 2 Calla lilies.

Seven pieces of fresh willow  are bound together with vine wire in 5 close rows, with a gap, before being bound again with 5 rows of vine wire. The construction is sprayed gold. Ideally to get a beautiful curve  the willow should be rolled into a curve and left to dry, as the drying process will 'set' the curve.

Below you will see how the tight rolls of aspidistra and New Zealand flax create interest and movement and also hide the foam. Click on the photos for a bigger version.
 




The gerberas, and stocks are added between the rolls, in a graceful curve, with the two callas inserted through the bottom, continuing the curve If the callas fall out, add two toothpicks into the stems and reinsert, and they will be firmer and more stable.

The photo on the right is the design reattached to an oval mirror (after a 3 hour trip in the back of a car - Colleen's designs are made to last!). The mirror added a new, unexpected illusion and dimension as the mirror reflected the plant material and gave it huge depth and interest, with the foam cage and suction cup completely hidden.

What a great idea for a huge mirror in a reception hall, it would halve the cost of the flowers! And now you can put your designs just about anywhere and you shouldn't harm the surface. Aren't you pleased I went exploring!



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