Wrap Around Extension Method Floral Design
When you begin in your floral design adventure, you will need to learn the basics around the wiring methods to hand, which include the wrap around and the bracing methods of floral design.
To get us started, we will look into the items you need, and the processes you undertake to complete your wrap around extension method floral design.
Items Needed To Prep The Wrap Around Extension Method Floral Design
Before you delve into the world of floral design, you must first look at the items that will be required to create your designs. Below is a list of items that you will need to begin with:
Flower Scissors – To cut your flowers & stems to the perfect shapes
Head Pins – To pin and tack flower combinations together
Floral Tape – To tape flowers & wires to the correct positions
Protective Bracelet – To protect your wrists as you will be working with pins and potentially thorns
Floral Wires – To be able to wire the flowers up and together
Rags – To deal with the mess & water
The Essentials Of The Wrap Around Extension Method Floral Design
Tape
One of the most quintessential parts of flower arrangements, the Floral tape. Without it you cannot form your arrangements, and your designs will never come together. The tape covers all of the wiring providing much needed long-term support to prevent the structure collapsing throughout the lifespan of your arrangements.
Wires
Another essential, the floral wiring. There are many sizes of wiring available, meaning you have plenty of choice for the arrangements that you are making and many options for structure and sub structure if you are building a design on a design.
Make sure you keep the same thickness level throughout your wrap around extension method floral design as it’s essential that these are all the same, however when combining methods you can interconnect different sizes.
If the wiring fails, the support is gone so it is very important that you choose a thickness that will handle the weight of the flowers and not bend/bow, which is why it’s recommended to maintain a thickness throughout.
Flower Preparation
Before we look at the floral techniques such as the wrap around method floral design, we must look at the choice and condition of the flowers.
We will touch on flower choice later on in the article, but for now we will look at keeping the condition of the flowers right. To start preparations, lay down a towel to drain any excess moisture and cut/ remove all thorns and undesirable parts of your flowers so they don’t hinder the arrangements.
Now that your area is set up and your flowers are clean, you can cut the required lengths/pieces for your arrangement(s). Utilize the towel & the space on it to make things easier for you, so everything is within reach and will have dried off/drained.
Wiring Methods
There are many different wiring methods that a floral designer can use. The two main methods are the straight wire bracing method floral design and the wrap around extension method floral design. I will go into further detail with these below;
Wrap Around Extension Method Floral Design – What Is It?
The wrap around extension method floral design is the best method you can use to add filler flowers, or smaller displays which is likely the majority of what you will be beginning with. A couple of examples here would be the baby’s breath, or statice. You begin the floral design by wrapping the stems with the wires, and bend your wire up the stems and through the petals to keep them in situ.
Bracing Method Floral Design
This is different to the wrap around extension method floral design, as the bracing method is where you tape below your blossom. This method of Floral design is created as a way to support large flowers in large displays. This is also a better method for supporting structures for longer lengths of time if your display is to be up on a wall/for show for long lengths of time.
Other Floral Design Factors
Floral design has a plethora of factors you need to take into account to create the perfect floral design for the occasion. We will look at some of the defining factors of a perfect design below;
The first step you take in any floral design is creating the concept of your arrangement. It’s generally adapted to the specific event, and will determine some of your choices later on.
Some specific events such as weddings will likely require bright colors that match the theme of the day, but also think about how those colors will be portrayed in the light in the evening too.
If you are struggling for concept ideas, it’s always a great idea to look at some floral design blogs such as this one.
If you are arranging for a wedding, make contact with the venue and ask them about lighting arrangements, as if the wedding theme is navy, and it is badly lit in the evening, your arrangement will not be seen and have no impact. This is when we would look at white flowers to not only make the navy pop in the day, but to being some real contrast to the lights in the evening.
Restaurants are generally different and are easy to tailor as you can look at their area/lighting schematics online, and they will generally want popular colors such as pink & green.
Combinations
Now it’s time to look at the different types of flowers that you have access to, which will help you match up to your concept.
We would recommend that you choose at least 2 types of flower, if not 3 with different thicknesses/ fullness. One of these should be much larger than the latter as center pieces, and the color should be brightest too. If you choose the wrap around extension method floral design, make sure your primary color stays central to your display as it’s easier to wrap and hold.
The type of flower you choose is also significant, as it can affect the layering and arrangements, combining thinner and thicker flowers also help to make the arrangement more robust, as they may intertwine and hold with less support.
Colors
The colors are the easiest part to manage – match the theme of the event. Tailoring your colors to the event to make the arrangements pop is a hugely important factor for recurring work, as your arrangements need to be statement. Wedding colors should be calm but pop without being too busy and still be viable color wise at night. Restaurants again, these are easier to match to what they already have, and tailored to the lighting conditions.
If you choose the wrap around extension method floral design, make sure you have one of the primary bold colors for your design if you can.
Fresher The Better
If your arrangement needs to stand the test of time, make sure it looks good too. Flower feed, water and occasional spraying will keep them fresher for longer, and with today’s technology you can look at UV lights to keep your flowers from thinning and dipping.
Similarly to ‘fresher the better’ you should make sure your wrap around extension method floral design is symmetrical, so it’s beautiful and a major statement from all angles too. People should be drawn to the design, and if you approach this with ‘less is more’ you cannot go wrong – too busy is often too much!
Important Things To Remember With Your Wrap Around Extension Method Floral Design
The Bigger Picture
It’s important to note that even though we have a good wrap around extension method floral design, a good concept, the right flowers chosen and all of our tools, we must also give enough time to source and create the arrangement.
There are many different shelf lives on flowers, but if you are tasked with creating an arrangement that needs to last longer than one week, we would recommend bringing in fake flowers as fillers, meaning you can concentrate on the liveliness of your center pieces and not need to look after the whole picture too much.
There are many real looking and high quality options on the market when looking at faux flowers, and some of the evergreen options will really help your displays pop. The biggest benefit to this is that you can re-use the faux flowers across many displays, before they fade through sunlight. This isn’t as much of a problem if your designs are self-lit, but let’s assume that natural light will always come into play.
Scale
A final important factor to remember is scale, there’s no use creating a huge wrap around extension method floral design if it won’t fit the space. You should look at the size of the venue, what is too much, what is too little? Find a happy medium and consult with your client about their vision too before you jump in head first.
To Conclude
I hope this article really helped you learn the basics of Floral design and the wrap around extension method floral design.
If you’d like to learn more about floral design, knitting, and many other amazing DIY crafts then please have a look around my blogs and explore some amazing creative options readily available to us all.
If you’re just starting out a new floral design business, take your time, research your flowers and just enjoy the process, I don’t believe there’s a more beautiful area of work in the entire world as there is when working with flowers, and it’s amazing for our mental health too.
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