While design is the ‘wow’ of constructing an arrangement, techniques are the ‘how’ of organizing the work.
We’ve discussed creative Floral Design Techniques before. Floral Design Techniques II will continue to explore the art of creatively organizing floral material placement in professional quality designs using new methods, applications, and creative floral techniques.
Photo: Sharon McGukin
In a previous podcast and blog - The Principles and Elements of Design, we discussed the fundamental concepts of using Principles and Elements as the building blocks of any successful floral arrangement.
In a subsequent podcast and blog, we discussed using Floral Design Techniques to enhance your work.
Your positive response to those two floral education blogs, encouraged the sharing additional techniques in this podcast and blog Floral Design Techniques II: The ‘How’ Behind the ‘Wow’.
Techniques are not just practical tools but an artistic approach to the personalization, dimension, and visual storytelling of your designs. In this podcast, we discuss how to skillfully build arrangements - like a floral architect, using Floral Design Techniques.
What is the difference between Design and Technique?
Design – is the ability to artfully, skillfully … plan, organize, and place materials in a fashion that creates a harmonious composition.
Technique – is the structured approach, method, or applications used to create effective, visually pleasing floral designs.
In other words, ‘how’ the floral designer organizes materials to achieve the ‘wow’ their planned design can deliver.
A floral quote by Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet, once expressed that -
“Floral designers are architects of emotion,
building arrangements that resonate with the heart.”
Design is the fundamental framework, while techniques are the applications that express creative flair.
Some techniques are used in a wide variety of designs. Others are used for a specific style of design. Experimentation and experience will teach you which techniques work best for your designs.
Well-executed techniques draw attention to detail like:
Braiding, Wrapping, and Detailing
Braiding (or Plating) – the entwining, weaving, or interlacing of three or more strands of materials to create decorative detail. Often used as an innovative technique for incorporating foliages into tropical arrangements.
Photo: ChatGPT
Wrapping – enclosing individual stems or groups of flowers for protection or presentation. Binding materials such as thread or yarn, ribbon or fabric, paper or decorative wire, can be used to secure the wrap or to add visual interest, color, or texture.
Detailing – the refining or finishing details in a design. Small, intricate elements can be used to create depth, texture, visual interest, or to reflect personal style. Sometimes used in wedding bouquets or flower designs to repeat dressmaking details of the bridal gown such as pearls, crystals, decorative wire, or stitchery patterns.
Photo: Sharon McGukin
Flowers and foliage can be used as the foundation of a design as in:
Layering and Lacing
Layering – placing floral or plant materials or products one atop another leaving little or no space between. Leaves layered but staggered showing one leaf atop the other, going back toward the composition, can lead the eye into a design.
Lacing – interweaving the stems of plant material, one across the other, to form a stable mechanic that can hold floral materials in place in a design. Think of using stems of foliage – one stem crosses just above the intersection of the lowest frond and the stem. Insert the next stem in the same fashion from the opposite side across another stem. Continue around all sides until a suitable mechanic is formed to support the volume of flowers used. This technique is often used to secure materials in an open-mouthed glass vase.
Photo: ChatGPT
Create new and interesting forms in a design by manipulating foliage for visual interest.
Leaf Manipulation and Leafwork
Leaf Manipulation – altering the natural form of a plant material to create a unique shape that
enhances the visual interest of a floral arrangement. Creating sculptural elements in a design by cutting, looping, twisting, folding, pleating, or braiding foliages to use as accents, or emphasize line, form, or texture.
Leafwork – layering foliage to showcase texture or create a decorative surface on a container. One example is to wrap a container in plastic wrap. Heat-shrink the wrap to fit the container tightly by applying the warm heat of a hairdryer. A layering of leaves can be glued into place over the wrap. I love to do this with Lamb’s Ear leaves for it’s beautiful texture. When the leaf surface is no longer needed for decor, simply cut the plastic wrap away, leaving the exterior of the container clean.
Photo: ChatGPT
This technique can also be used to create an impressive decorative design by gluing in place fresh or faux leaves to a larger surface such as a table runner or tablecloth.
Design techniques can also be used to change the size or shape of floral materials such as:
Feathering, Pruning, Tailoring, and Forcing
Feathering (also called Frenching) – the process of taking flowers, such as carnations or chrysanthemums, apart, then binding them together again to create smaller units of the original flower. These new ‘bundles’ are often secured by floral tape or a thin wire.
Photo: ChatGPT
Pruning - selectively removing foliage, florets, petals or branches to make a material visually lighter weight or to reveal a more interesting shape.
Tailoring - trimming materials for the purpose of creating a sculpted or fitted appearance.
Forcing - purposefully exposing floral materials such as flowers or blooming branches to elements like warm temperatures, warm water, bright light, or sunlight to force the blooms to open more quickly.
You can use stem placement techniques to achieve visual pleasing effects, as in:
Mirroring and Parallelism
Mirroring - placing the same material or group of material at a different height or depth in a composition so that one reflects the other. Often, one material is placed in front of and lower than the same material to ‘mirror’ that position.
Parallelism - the stems of each group are placed parallel to each other. There are no radiating lines of significant flowers, simple basing materials may radiate out.
Photo: The Professional Floral Design Manual American Floral Services. 1989
Photo: The Professional Floral Design Manual American Floral Services. 1989
Arrangements can be uniquely designed by using placement techniques, such as:
Stacking, Sculpturing, Sectioning
Stacking - placing materials in a stack either side by side or on top of each other with little of no separation between them.
Photo: ChatGPT
Sculpturing - placing materials in distinct zones to bring the eye to the center of the design.
Sectioning - organizing a design by segregating types of materials within a group.
Let’s also consider the four basic techniques for attaching materials in a design:
Sewing, Tying, Gluing, and Picking
Sewing – is stitching materials in place by using a needle and thread, staples, straight pins, or florist wire to secure floral materials onto a flat surface such as a parasol, flat casket cover, or to create a flower lei.
Tying – materials are tied together by products such as string, bind wire, or raffia.
Photo: Sharon McGukin
Hand-tying – creating a bouquet by holding floral materials while crossing or spiraling the stems, and securing the composition with tying materials.
Often used to create wedding bouquets or arrangements for glass vases.
Gluing - a method of attaching materials in a composition using floral adhesive - liquid, gel, or aerosol glue for fresh floral materials, hot-melt glue in a design of faux botanicals.
Picking -
Picking techniques can help to secure, place, or elevate materials in a design.
There are 5 popular applications
• Wood - as in a wired, wooden pick.
• Metal - flat, pointed metal picks that require a picking machine to attach.
Typically used to provide added weight or a strong insertion point to lightweight or delicate stems.
• Wire - florist wire for security or decorative wire for accent.
Photo: ChatGPT
• Water tube - when flowers are too short for their position in an arrangement the tube can be wired or taped to a wooden pick, floral material or natural stems to increase their height.
• Natural – a piece of stem or branch that is used for security or elevation.
By thoughtfully selecting and executing techniques that enhance the structure, purpose, and style of a floral arrangement, you can elevate your designs from beautiful to breathtaking. When flower styling tips are used effectively - distinctive detail, creative flair, and emotional resonance can make your designs more visually appealing and artistically impactful.
Continue growing your flower arranging skills, floral mechanics, and personal creativity by exploring floral education resources like the AIFD Guide to Floral Design: Terms, Techniques, and Traditions at https://aifd.org. Don’t forget to share the Floral Hub Blog (for readers), and How We Bloom podcast (for listeners), with your fellow flower lovers. The podcast is available on Buzzsprout, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.