A visitor from Europe  a few years ago made the candid  observation that in New Zealand we are fixated with Balls! I have decided therefore to turn a vice into a virtue and  share our expertise with Balls so you too can have a go!

Therefore this is a collection, gathered recently from  the Flora Flora  exhibition in Wellington, New Zealand. It is hoped it will give you new ideas, and inspiration so you too can enjoy the round form that is a ....ball!

Wellington Florist, Sally Kiemander (pictured right) created balls of  blue fabric with a netting overlay to complement the  roses, lamb's ear and gerberas in this small portion of a larger design. Her balls were polystyrene and  were very much an accessory as she used the same blue fabric as a drape which trailed through the whole design.

Jean Ward's camellia ball
 Jean Ward, Floral artist from Hawkes Bay used camellia leaves to add texture to her balls. These hung 'in the shadows' of her larger design which featured Bells of Ireland, Yellow calla lilies, and a green/yellow colour scheme. 
Notice how she has used both the  top and underside of the leaves to give the textural contrast of  dull and shiny.This could use a green floral foam ball if the leaves needed to stay green or a polystyrene  ball if  the designer is happy for them to dry into a browner colour.
Teleflora's balls
 In these  balls, made by a  Teleflora Florist in Wellington, the leaves of the Protea were used to create a soft, textural effect. Using a range of ball sizes created  the variety within the unity of this small part of a larger design.
As you can see the  grey foliage was wonderful with the red anthuriums, red gerberas, and shiny green foliage leaves.
Cold glue would have been used to fix the leaves to stop the leaves being marked, which the  traditional hot glue would do.
Within the same Teleflora design were these  balls covered with moss with a  silver 'angel hair' wire coating.
The grouping of these 7 balls gave a contrast to the red gerberas and grey lamb's ear.
It is a simple job to glue the moss to a Polystyrene ball as long as the moss is trimmed into a neat curve and not left too straggly.
The Wellington Interflora Florist was also a great creator of balls and their display was actually a great selection of balls hanging  down from a rod on ribbons.

The ball pictured right was mounted on green floral foam.
A bed of lichen covered the ball and the yellow gerberas with pearl pin centres completed this  overall design.

Being  cut with such short stems the gerberas would be much longer lasting, but an internal wire through the flower head would also stop them flopping. The shiny pin possibly was doing this job as well as looking decorative.

Gerbera ball
An alternative to gerberas was freesias, pictured right. Still using the large floral foam ball, the freesias  were packed tightly into the foam, with buds as well as open flowers being utilised. Silver threads crisscrossed the design as did the odd piece of sequined section.
And then there were the roses! Again by Interflora, this  is a floral foam ball packed with yellow rose buds and the leaves around the bud. By staying true to the shape of the sphere and angling each bud carefully this is a very effective ball!
Notice again the effect thread trickling over the top of the roses and the sequins draped casually as well.

For  the complete collection of Teleflora balls click here

Megan Parker's balls.
 Megan Parker, a Wellington Florist featured balls at the base of her design. They were covered in lichen, flax, feathers and this was all  kept in the  sphere shape with  an overlay of effect wire.They provided an interesting  contrast to the smooth, shiny stones and bright orange gerberas.
 

 
Perhaps it is stretching the defintion to call stones, 'balls' but we had to include this great idea by Taranaki Floral Artist, Dianne McDonald. She has taken river stones and wrapped them in purple painted wire netting. Don't they give a great contrast of texture to the 'naked' stones they are amongst! The larger design included purple painted reinforcing steel and bamboo and these gems kept the eye lingering longer!
We will feature the complete designs from this exhibition in the next issue of the online magazine.
To see the great lead balls of Belgium Florist, Erik Lockley click here.
To buy polystyrene and floral foam balls, effect wire and cold glue online, click here