A floral art workshop taking the lines of nature to create textured forms on forms is the basis of this free lesson. Ideas and techniques for flower arrangers, florists, floral artists and beginners can come to you every month with floral design magazine. More details here

"I want you to accentuate the wood and play with  textures and patterns. Tuft plant material in the crevices and run along with the rhythm of the wood. When you use things repeat the colour in some shape or form to create unity in the design, following the curves of the wood. Anything you use try to intergrate together with the other parts I was inspired by a photo in The Art of Floristry by Rosemary Batho." Carol said at the workshop. Form on Form Mechanics: Find an interesting piece of wood, either as driftwood from the beach, or tree root, or  piece of a branch. Size should be related to where you are going to put your design when you finish it... smaller piece in smaller room, larger peice in larger area. Sit the wood so it is stable on the surface, sawing off pieces if necessary to get a flat base. Mechanics then depend on your choice of wood. You will need cages or floral foam if there are holes in your piece of wood where you can place these. Plant Material: Choose materials that will be grouped for effect. Suggestions include, berries, nuts, seedheads, vegetables, coloured leaves, coloured wool, string, wire, rope, shells, conifer. holly berries strung on copper wire, beans, lichen, chestnut shells, rolled copper wire, lotus seed pods. Be selective as less is best.  If you wish to have a permanent design use dried materials rather than fresh Choose material that will give you unity through colour. The design: Cutting your plant material short, follow the line of the wood textures in rows. running along the rhythm of the wood.Glue in place. Add a feeling of space and height with wire etc over the design and create interest with textural variety as you go. As you use material repeat its colour in another shape or form to create unity in your design.

FROM THE WORKSHOP Raewyn Harrison selected a chunky tree root to build her design, right, with a colour scheme of orange and blue.She wrapped old orange rope around the root, nailed it in place and added blue dried hydrangea flower heads, attaching then with hot glue.Whole and cut persimmons trailed down one side and dark green leaves added height.
	In this design by Margaret Wrack and Ngaire Carmen,left, they layered three pieces of wood and nailed them together. They then followed the lines of the wood with baby pumpkins and gourds, and lichen hot glued into place. To give height and space they added rolled up copper wire, chilli seed pods, and banana stalks.
Enid, right,found a flatter piece of wood with raised ends and used orange and lime green as her main colours. Cut squash and orance fleece create the main interest  and then she followed the wood lines with twisted raw silk, brussel sprouts artificial grapes and blue dryed and dyed fungus in the design above. Lime green leaves completed her design.
	June W built her design, left , on a piece of bleached driftwood, picked up a her local beach.She hot glued on a twig with lichen on it, for height, and used swan plant seed pods, lime green chrysanthemums, red berries threaded on copper wire, and red gerberas, in her green and red colour scheme.Two leaves "sheltered" the design and added space, and balance.
Margaret B built her design, right, from wood and bark, layered on top of each other.She then added yellow gourds, banana stalks, lichen and chilli pods to complete a design that held the viewers interest well.
	This design, left,used pale blues, soft oranges and grey as the colour scheme. Barbed wire created a sense of space, with lines of paua (abalone) shells, and cut seed pods of bottle brush complementing the green leaves

USA and Canada only, NTSC format	USA and Canada only, NTSC format	Suitable for all countries using PAL, not USA or Canada
House Beautiful: Decorating with Flowers (1992)This excellent 70-minute video guides you through a garden's worth of flowers, pointing out names and demonstrating how they can be displayed.  Reynolds, while a little stilted in his delivery, is incredibly informative as he takes us to a variety of houses to see how flower arrangements can change a room.NTSC format (US and Canada only)  Click here to buy	Lasting Beauty:The Art of Dry Flower (1995)   A professional floral designer and an enthusiastic beginner each make three simple  but lovely dry flower arrangements. In the course of their work, they give tips on everything from using a glue gun to creating a balanced and appealing design with dry flowers. NTSC format (US and Canada only) Click here to buy	Arranging Spring Flowers Sheila Holland shows you how to create beautiful arrangements for your home using Spring flowers and foliage. PAL format (not suitable for USA or Canada)Click here to buy