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 the English "Flower Arranger".
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."
DVD: Back to Basics: Flax
Discover how to use New Zealand Flax. All is revealed in this DVD with 6 step by step lessons you can try
More
. USING ORIENTAL OR ASIATIC LILIES IN A FLOWER ARRANGEMENT

For this design Ngaire used a floral stand. It has an s-shaped base and into the base the long rod is fitted.

This base and rod, Ngaire wrapped in flax, striped down into  thin, long strips, while it was still green, As you can see in the photo on the left, it gives a beautiful stripped effect and will dry to a series of shades and tones of light brown. This is a great idea to cover your stand to make it part of your design. Experiment with flaxes, reeds and grasses to see what will work, and what looks effective.


Ngaire also gathered 2 bunches of reeds from the roadside,  some aspidistra leaves, white lilies,  a few gerberas and a small amount of lime hydrangeas.


The reeds she placed over welding rod which is quite light and pliable. The reeds were attached to the rod with copper or gold  effect wire wound around the length evenly. At the bottom of the bunch, she attached with wire,some sturdy twigs to use as pins to push the reed bunches into the floral foam.


At the top of the stand, Ngaire attached a platform which was designed to fit on top of the rod and then the floral foam in a cage was attached to that, at an angle. The angle will make your design more interesting and not so 'square on'. Ngaire's platform has holes in it, to make it easy to attach the cage filled with floral foam, using florist's wire.


The first bunch of reeds, was then pinned across the floral foam, and draped down and around the stand to end near the bottom. The bottom of the reeds was at the bottom of the stand in a tight bunch, opening out as it went upwards to the cage, and across it.

 Warm the leaves by stroking them in your palm. "It's nice to get friendly with your plant materials"' says Ngaire. Pin the first leaf into the floral foam with florist pins, then bend it over and  anchor again  as you curve it around the cage. "Pin across the vein of the leaf," says Ngaire,"as it helps to anchor it, and hold each leaf to see where it should go."
"If you really like something do it again. Repetition builds RHYTHM just as the S shape of the stand base is repeated in the swirl on top, and the reeds are repeated through the design.".
Aspidistra leaves are great to use and dry beautfully , holding their shape as they dry. Cordyline is also another leaf Ngaire likes to use and canna leaves can also work.Once again, keep your eyes open for what will work in your area.

Once you have covered the floral foam with the rolled leaves, place two down, following the line of the reeds.Add the lemon lilies, with stems cut short, into the gaps between the leaves.

Watch out for the stamens, as they will stain if they get on your clothes. Ngaire says,"A handy hint for stains from lily stamen : Try this : Lily stamen stains can often be faded out by placing garment in the sunshine for a day or two."
Add the orange gerberas, making sure you have more lilies than gerberas, and more flowers on one side than the other to give an asymetrical design.
.
Place the flowers to hide any pins showing from pinning the leaves,  and tuck tiny bits of hydrangea in to cover any bits of floral foam that are showing.
Now add the other bundle of reeds to the top, as a twirl above the design, to give space and height.
ok

Subscribe

Tricia Legg, a New Zeland floral designer will show you how to create 6 simple but very effective arrangements if you have never used New Zeland Flax before: on DVD
CLICK HERE
Learn how to manipulate Flax, Palms, Strelitzia and Aspidistra on CD CLICK HERE


6 stylish bouquets to make as step by step lessons on DVD CLICK HERE


floralartmall.com | A treasury of floral design

floralartmall.com: giving you every resource you need for flower arranging for pleasure, floristry student assignments and course requirements, florists business skills and new floral design styles, techniques and skills. We gather your flower arranging resources from all around the world so you are able to find and use the best floral designs for weddings, special events, floral gifts and flower shop profits.

floraldesignmagazine.com: for the latest trends, lessons, ideas and inspiration from the best florists and flower arrangers around the world subscribe today!



FLORAL DESIGN THEORY
BEGINNERS DVDS
MORE FREE LESSONS
 EMAGS AND EBOOKS

MTL Investments Ltd |17 Hill Street Paeroa 3600 New Zealand | Phone 0064 7 862 7966| Fax 0064 7 862 7965| Email info@floralartmall.com