Transcripts
1. INTRO: I'm Melissa and I'm a florist living in Denver, Colorado, and I love teaching classes on skill share because I love sharing my passion for flowers with others. And just a few years ago, before he even got into the floral industry, I was just curious about learning floral design. And I was looking all over YouTube and the Internet for some floral design, like one on one classes. And I really couldn't find anything that caught me the basic foundational tools from a forest. So that's why I created this class for you guys. This class is intended for beginner levels. And if you're returning student to my classes and so glad you're back and if you're new, then I'm so glad you're here. Welcome. So let's get started.
2. PREP: in this first lesson, which is probably the most important lesson of all, is prepping your space and gathering all your supplies. So the way that I suggest you start out is finding some flowers and greenery that are really accessible to you. And I recommend finding your focal flour, which is your biggest flower and then some medium size to smaller size flowers and some greenery. And you only really need about 1 to 3 different kinds of flowers and then one kind of greenery to achieve a really beautiful floral design and then for supplies. I just have this smaller, medium sized face, and sometimes people like to use larger vases. But for my design style, I like smaller bases because to me, that allows more creative freedom, and I don't have to use as many stems in the face, and I think it just looks more beautiful. And then you can use any, uh, scissors, kitchen shears, whatever. You have Clippers floral clippers. If you have them, it doesn't matter and and a nice work space so that you have everything ready to go prepped and everything in front of you so you can design and then some natural light. If you are able T design and natural light through sun coming through a window, I think that's always more beautiful, and if you take a photo of it, it'll be beautiful as well.
3. PROCESSING: in this lesson. I'm going to talk to you briefly about getting all of your flowers ready, Teoh design with so what it's called in the flowers sign World is just stripping the stunts of any leaves on. I would say, like just the bottom half or the bottom, like 3/4 down, because when you put them in your face, you don't want the water to touch any leaves because that will cause growth of bacteria. And then it'll destroy your whole arrangement, that you just want to be diligent about that. And then, for example, the roses you can just pick off and he leaves on the bottom part of the stun. And I like to pick off all the leaves just so I have, like, a clean staten toe work with and same with any other flowers that you have. So what I have that I'm gonna use today are these really pretty quick sand roses and I have some little eucalyptus. I have some mini carnations, some fertile area which are so beautiful and in season for spring time, and then some baby daffodils. So that's pretty much all you need. You just what I like to do is to lay everything out in front of me or have them in vases around me so that I can just pop them into the base as I go without having to, like streetlight, clean the stems and do that. I just like to have to do it in one efficient go, so let's get started.
4. GREENERY: I'm gonna be starting off with greenery, and I have this base is filled with water. And what the greenery is going to dio is it's going Teoh act is like a grid toe. Hold the other flowers in place when you design with that. But you have to create this this grid of greenery first. So I've kind of already processed them and cut the stones off. But I'm gonna still make sure every time before I put us down into the water Teoh cut the stem again. It'll open up. This done so that it can drink the water because right now, these have been sitting out for a little bit, and I just need to cut it and open up the stem again. So I'm gonna do that, and I'm gonna create a shape also with this greener you that will create, like, the foundation of the whole shape of the arrangement. And I don't want there to be too much greenery because I want the flowers to stand out. I don't want it to be just like tons of greenery. So I'm greener. Go with the organic like shape of the greenery itself, which is like this curved angle and then start toe layer them in, and I like to think of my floral designs as an art piece. So, um, I'm thinking about when I'm designing how when you look at the arrangement, how your eye moves around the flowers and there's like, I feel like I have a specific style, so I'll show you my style of doing it, and everyone has a different way of doing it. But I really like creating a symmetrical, more like organic and wild looking arrangements to celebrate the natural beauty of of the ingredients. Are they working? Rest and as I'm putting them in, thes anything into the base and putting it in at an angle, and what that will do is and in crisscrossing the stuns, and what that will do is help to create that grid system that I was talking about that will hold all the flowers in place. So I like how it's spilling out of the face to also just, like give this really whimsical, beautiful romantic feeling, which is like how I like to describe my arrangements. But if you're designing at home, just play around with different shapes and styles and you can find your own style, This piece, like also, make sure when you're looking at what your product you working with, if there's anything that doesn't look very good or it looks dried out or it looks damaged like that's pretty typical with grocery store flowers, too, is you don't have to use it. So this is, like, kind of dried a little bit, so I don't want to use it. I want everything to look like really fresh and pretty so that's pretty much all the greenery, but I'm using for this, which is not a lot, but it'll just like I said, Give that that little structure for the flowers to fall into. And what I love about this is that it has all these little offshoots on it. And so when I put this stuns, place the steps into the base, the flower stem can like we've into those little offshoots, and then it'll hold even more in place like I wanted to. So I just created, like, a really simple shape. Um, it doesn't have to be perfect, kind of just like, gestural and flowing out, and then I'm gonna go in with. Actually, I'll do one more stem and then I'm gonna go in with the roses
5. FOCAL FLOWER: Now we're gonna talk about the focal flower, which are in particular today. These are my focal flower, these air quicksand, roses and mace. So good. And they're so beautiful. And they are like a specials heroes that I get from my wholesale markets. Like you wouldn't be able to find these at the grocery store. But you can use any fought like any roses or any big flowers For this, like Dahlia is a really good like peonies. People really love. So any big, big blooms really nice for this Lilies. Even so And what I like to dio what I've been loving lately is folding back some of the outermost petals of the flower and that just gives it this, like extra. Um wow factor for me at least. Like I've been doing this a lot with My flowers are with roses, and I just love the way that this looks, but these are all pretty open already. So you have to be really gentle and careful. If you want to try this at home, if the roses air kind of tighter and not as open, you can blow on them or you can let them sit out in room temperature like overnight. Or let them sit in, like, kind of direct to indirect sunlight for a little bit. And they'll start to open really nicely. So I'm going to start with this and I'm going to cut this done a little short, like this. Short maybe. And I like to nestle my first few flowers, like right, um, next to the base so that they look like they're spilling out of the base like that. And I think what I'm gonna do for this arrangement is I'm going to create groupings for the flowers. So I'm gonna put groupings of roses together around the arrangement. So maybe I'll do like three roses together and then another 3 to 4 roses together. Just see what looks good. But the main, um, thing that I want to have the size about doing any floral arrangement is to play and have fun with it. I remember when I first started, I was like thinking like, Oh, there's this, like a recipe that I have to follow, like baking or something to get it right, and that's its not like that at all. Like you can create it like an art piece and nothing is right or wrong. It's just like how you play with it. So having fun, check That is really important. So I cut this time just a little bit longer than the other one, and I'm gonna desolate right here. And you wanna stick? You want to place the stems in until they touched the bottom of the base so that they can drink water. So the water line is inevitably going to drop as you as time goes by because all the flowers are going to drink the water. So by cutting this down long enough to for it to touch the bottom of the base that insurers thought it will get water. So I'm gonna turn this around and see how it looks from my side. And I do That's pretty. So I'm gonna go in with one more. And that's another thing I remember when I first started learning I was, like, so nervous about cutting the stem at, like, the rate length. But, um, I would say the best advice is to cut it longer than you think. If you're unsure because you can always cut it more, you can always take out the stand and cut it a little bit more. But if you cut it too short, obviously, that's it. You can't. You can't put this done back. So I'm folding out some pedals here and that just looks so pretty and open. And if you see any imperfections, you can just pull them off. So I'm thinking, Put one right over here, putting it in an angle and twisting it as it goes in. So I'm also creating some duck. So we just put that one in and you can see a cut it a little longer stem than the others so that it's layering over these two flowers and it is, are coming for when I cut it a little bit longer on this one as well. And then maybe come in at this angle over here touches the bottom, coming this one shorter and thing that one too long. I wanted to be like, right in the middle, kind of and short like that. Yeah, it's a mental. Put some on this side. The more you practice, the more comfortable you'll feel with handling the flowers. I remember when I first started, I was a little tended toe handle the flowers and touch them because I thought they were so delicate. But you do want to have that gentleness. But you can also like. The more you practice, the more the more you'll understand how, like resilient the flowers are where certain farmers are. Some are more delicate than others. Oh, so pretty. I love these. Somebody cut it maybe, like so a little bit longer. It's coming out on this side mental to you, Another little grouping over here. Okay, so I'm gonna put this one to be out here. It's a little It's a little long. See him putting the stem up to the vase to see if I like, If I like it there before actually putting it this into the arrangement. So right there? Yeah, you like that? So you can see that site and cutting this time again just to make sure that stem miss opened up opened up. But minute, earn this. It's going to turn the vase often so that you can see what you're doing on all sites. So I think I like that. It might be a little bit too high for me because I like having lower flowers in the center of the base so that your I can look into it. It's like a mysterious little pocket that I think it's so beautiful. So I'm cutting it a little bit shorter. Put it in at an angle here. Here. Yeah, well, I like out for now. We might change it.
6. MEDIUM FLOWERS: I'm going in with these medium sized flowers. Next, which are these many carnations. And I chose these ones, particularly because they're very similar in color to the roses, and I like doing monochromatic color schemes in my designs. So I have already cut. He's a little short because become on longer steps and they have up shoots of little blue and just play around with where I placed. Um um, and again seem pattern of like, Larry. You want them Teoh pop out next to the roses. It's a compliment button. So maybe one right here again at an angle. Put the stones and not an angle and do this shorter. Stan here. It's very Suri, but I like how short it is so that you can Pekin and see See it peeking R c it hiding in Maryland. I love that look. And this was longer and I like that. So I'm gonna keep it long and put it, uh, next to this tall rows and you leaving emulating that, coming out for here with these carnations, you can fluff fluff sons out because sometimes they're closed. So if they are closed, you can just like this with your fingers and flush them out so that the blooms are more open. And I'm going in a gun right here so you can see you don't like, uses much right here. So I'm gonna take them out, which is totally fine to Dio. And I'm focusing again on groupings. So it's pleasing for the I. So I'll just put these over here. So there is this beautiful grouping of carnations right over there, and I know carnations and roses so typical, right? But you can really made him look tasteful. I think it's a movie. A few more slowly use them, maybe nestled in here next to these two roses kind of in the center so you can see if created like this. Um, I've created this like, asymmetrical, whimsical, um, shape right here, please. And then I noticed here it just looks a little crowded with this road's. So I'm taking it out very gently and and might make place it holding it up to the arrangement, a different places to see what I like. I think I want it over here, so I just placed it right there. It originally was right here, but sometimes less is more like I. I like to take out flowers sometimes, and sometimes that just makes all the difference. Which is kind of like a strange idea. You would think that you want to add more flowers to make it look pretty, But sometimes the negative space is more pleasing to the eye and gives that I arrest.
7. FILLER FLOWERS: so I'm going to go in with these really pretty little fertile areas. Oh, I just love you so much. They're so beautiful. And I really what I love about them is their shape, like this is curved in two places, and these little offshoots are really beautiful. But I'm gonna take some off on the bottom. Um, just cause I want to celebrate, like, the flowers themselves more. And I'm going Teoh, please. This right? You see, in that space that I took out the rose. That's a really beautiful spot for this. For the Larry. I think so. Let's see how that looks. And yeah, it's like popping out of the arrangement, like so maybe I'll do one more. And look, it's like drooping down like a little bell that so might This is a little bit shorter, so I'm just gonna nestle it right up next to that one that I put in there. See how that looks. It doesn't really have room to breathe, so I'm taking it out and well, put it somewhere else. I might put it here next to this grouping of roses, making sure the stunt touches the bottom. So yeah, I like that. I just place that right here. I really like that. And I love these two because they have double heads. So this one has more of, like a straight stone. So I'm going to place it. Probably next to this one. See if I can get a grouping situation going on over here. Yeah, it's really pretty. Maybe do one more next to it. That one. And some other ideas for medium sized flowers are like Bernanke laws. I love regular sized carnations. A miracle. Really pretty. Yeah, that one. I didn't want to stay where I wanted it to. Two lips are really nice. Here we go. I love that you can see the curve of it and it's peaking out, so I'm gonna Teoh a few more. I want him to spill out of the base. So nestling one in nestled one in right here and this one is really pretty. Think I'm gonna put this one coming out on this side like that? So I just put that one there. You know, they have a few more and I could definitely use a few more in the arrangement. It's a Maybe I'll put one a little bit shorter right here in this negative space twisted around. And then I might put one out right here again, spilling out like that. So turn it a little bit, but I'm putting it in and moving the flowers next to it so I can give it space toe to come out or a tip to put the flower into the arrangement here. Nice. So there's, like, a nice grouping going on here, and then it's kind of trickling out to this side, which I think looks really nice. And then I have some of these little daffodils which are so cute and pretty, and these are gonna be like that extra filler flower touch. So I'm cutting it and taking off the leaves. And then this could just be peeled, peeled back and Gabby's look really cute, So I'm just gonna be popping some in here in there. Um, and I think I'm gonna do the grouping thing again to make it look in the same theme and layering them. So at this point, there's a lot of stones in the face, and you might not be able to slide everything and easily like you did before with the other one. So I just want to be gentle and place it in. So I just put that one right there. Dio I want a group it if you did with the other ones. So my put one great in the middle.
8. FINISHING TOUCHES: now for the finishing touches I am. I feel like really good about this arrangement. I don't think that there's much more that it needs. But every time that I feel like I'm about finishing point, we'll just go and look at it and tweak it as needed. What I like to dio is actually take a photo of my arrangement on my camera on the phone and see how that looks because sometimes you can get more of a better picture of it with the camera instead of just looking at it with your naked eye, you can see somewhere details that you might not have picked up with your eyes. So a look back at my reach mint like that. I think I want to play around with adding maybe one more flour in one Mark Rosen just cause I feel like right now it's looking a little bit like rounded, and I wanted to look more funky and asymmetrical, so I'm gonna add in a longer stunned rose and place it like right here. Do a grouping like that and take out that because because the roses blocking that taking one more arose and getting some of the thorns off. And I think I'm gonna do maybe one coming out here. We're here. Let's see. So does this stuff is really long, because when I nestle it up here next to the arrangement, this is kind of about the length that I want. Maybe shorter, but I just cut it a little longer, just in case. So let's see. Yeah, way too long. So I'm taking this out and you try over here just moving over some greenery. These is too long. So I'm gonna cut it. Think about that much. Always err on the side of longer, shorter here, like that. Like that. So let's see how this looks. Take a photo. I think I like that. And I see a lot of extra green stems over years. I'm I'm gonna trim some of them down a little bit because they're just a little bit too distracting for me taking trimming since stands off. I don't want it to be too textural, but I do like having some greenery. So let's see what this looks like on this side is pretty. But I don't love it right there. And you can tell I'm really picky about placement of flowers. Um, so I'm going to put it right here and see what that looks like. And this is the part that you can just play around with it. It's really fun. So let's see. What is that one? Feel a little too random. I think Instead, I'm just gonna play with some longer Friddle area and see They can find a long, tall style like this one looks nice and long, and that will be really pretty right there. I'm peeling back the leaves off this and really trimming the bottom so it can open up and then go right here. It's more up and down, and I like that it gets somewhere. Just roll height to it. I feel like it needs maybe one more like how pretty is that so? Terming this time ever so slightly. And then I will please sit kind of right next to it. I was a little friend like that. That's it for the arrangement. I hope you learn some things about floral design that you didn't know before and some new techniques to create your own style. I love playing with flowers, so much of them so bad that I'm able to share my passion with you all. So please take photos of your arrangements and you can post them in the class project section on this class. I would love to see what you create. You can leave a review or you can say hi on instagram and follow along on my flower journey . I don't put my handle right here. Thank you so much for watching Happy designing.
Melissa Thomas, Florist
