Modern Flowers: Arranging a Stunning Centerpiece

1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Derek. I'm Michael. Today, we're going to teach a class on how to make a center piece. I think what we do is romantic and loose and organic. We try to let the flowers and the product really speak for itself. You'll see in our class that we really pay attention to the transition of color and how we can pull colors together. People buy flowers that are in two different sides of the color spectrum. Then, we find flowers that will tie them all together. So, it's a cohesive color story. We also go over all the flowers that we have and why we chose them, whether it's for shape, or whether it's for color, or texture, or give you a [inaudible] on what flowers are processed best. Then, we'll go into really building an arrangement from the basics. We'll talk about the shape and how to build your basic structure, and how to incorporate color, and really how to transition that and then polish it off with the little details on the [inaudible] I think the basics of creating a shape and structure and then paying attention to transition and color, can pretty much be applied anywhere. 2. Selecting Your Flowers: Now, we're going to talk about the product that we have today. I'm going to go over the process and how I chose the product, and how I'm going to use it when I arrange. So over here, we have our base foliage that we're going to use. We're using this beautiful blueberry, before the berries are actually ripe. The berries give your arrangement a really nice texture. You can see in the leaves of the blueberry that there's a lot of color variation. There's a nice burgundy edge, and then a really nice pretty green in the center. Then, these berries sort of have a nice silvery color to them which will really pop off the palette that we have today, this sort of pink to dark burgundy. So over here, we have one of our favorite plants, it's called agonis, and it's a really great dark color contrast. If you're using lighter flowers to really just pop them off of. It becomes a nice canvas for lighter flowers. The texture is really great. It has a sort of grassy, wild feral look. These are going to be our base foliage. That's what we're going to use to really start to create our shape and our structure when we start building our arrangement. Now, when I start buying for flowers, I always try to find one flower that I get inspired by that has a really nice variation of color. The flower that I actually found, that I love, is this beautiful peony, it's called lady gay, and you can only buy it here really, it's not grown that often. It's so beautiful. As you can see, it has such a nice light outside, and it really fades to sort of like this dark maroon, deep fuchsia in the center. That's a really nice yellow pop, and the shape is really pretty, too. So, it does look like a nice big beautiful full statement flower. So when I saw this at the market today, this is actually what inspired me to really choose this palette. So, the whole arrangement is really going to be based on this one flower. Speaking of color variation, when I'm buying, I'm really going to try to buy flowers that really have a lot of this color in it. So, I have this beautiful clematis here, this dark burgundy clematis, and that's really going to pull the center of this into this flower. These really pretty ranunculus which also have a really nice variation, a nice dark outer edge, and a really pretty light center. I have this gorgeous sweet pea here that is really going to bring in this light poppy pop that's inside of this. For a really nice delicate touch, we have this gorgeous lily of the valley that is really going to bring in this lavender type so that you can really see between the dark and the light in these petals. We have a really beautiful clematis here which has more of this lavender in it. For another dark pop, and for gesture, I chose this scabiosa. It's really, really dark. It's a really nice way to really punctuate your arrangement. So, I definitely get inspired by one thing and really start to think about color. But I also start to think about shape as well. You really want to think about four different things. You want to think about getting your base green, whatever you're going to use to create your structure. Then, you want to get your really beautiful specialty flowers. So, we have the peonies here. We have another peony here as well that's just a little bit brighter than this. But I think these two complement each other really, really nicely. This one's obviously a little bit more feminine and bright. You want to think about a nice filler flower. That's where we use our roses for. It's really pretty roses that also have a nice color variation. We have these beautiful secret garden roses that open up really really big. You can get them at most flower markets. You want to think about texture, that's why we have this delphinium, and just any type of really pretty loose wildflower you can use as a really nice texture. We have grass here that we would use at the very, very end, some of this really pretty yarrow which could be a really nice texture. Then, at the very, very end, we'll pop in some really interesting elements that add a nice gestural shape. So also, this clematis could also be used as a nice gestural shape. This scabiosa, this really pretty allium which has a really nice color variation. As you can see, everything that I'm really thinking about is color. There's almost every color that's in this flower in this peony, it's also in these tiny little petals in this allium. So, really, just look at that, pay attention to that when you're at the market. Just put things together, you just get a shelf together, and really think about how color is really going to move. Then what I'm also using when I'm doing color transition, I'm really going to go from two sides of the spectrum. So, speaking of star flowers, I also have this other really beautiful peony, which I'm not going to use that many of because it is so cumbersome and heavy. But I just think that these two flowers and everything that I have here, going from dark to light, when I show you how to do transitions, it's all going to make sense, it's all going to come together. So, when you're just starting out, and you're doing a small arrangement, you don't want to spend tons of money on tons of product, I would say, try to find one flower that's a really beautiful star flower like this. Any one of these peonies would great, any peony that you have available this time of year. Then, really try to find one type of green. These would work. You could really use any type of green, even just go out into the woods and pick some branches, any type of green that has an interesting shape would work. So, one base green, one star flower, maybe one filler flower like a beautiful rose, and then try to find one or two different types of texture that you can really just pull the whole thing together with. Then, at the very, very end, if you want to add something that just makes a little different and a little cool, maybe pick a piece of fruit that you really like that you can incorporate into your arrangement, or like I have these really pretty pitcher plants here that I'm just going to tuck in at the very, very end just to give it that element of surprise. It's something really cool. Try to find colors that work together. Even if you're just starting out, you could do something that's a little more monochromatic instead of just getting colors all over the spectrum that just sort of polka-dot your arrangement. 3. Prepping Your Flowers: So, right now, we're going to talk about processing. Processing is one of the most important parts when arranging. It's what's really going to increase the longevity of your flowers. If you don't process properly, you could definitely lose your flowers a lot faster. The first thing that we're going to talk about is how to process roses. Roses are one of our staples in our arrangements. It's a great filler. We use a lot of them. Right now, we're going to talk about really how to clean these up and how to treat them. So, one thing that you want to think about when you're buying roses is if they're really tight and you're going to be prepping for an event, you want to make sure that they're in peak openness before the event when you're arranging. Roses are actually cut when they're buds and then they start to open up at the market. So, if they are close like this, one trick that we do is we'll fill a bucket up with warm water and that's going to increase the water flow up to the flower head. Another trick is also to clean up your roses and take off all the bottom leaves, and that's going to make it so that the water isn't wasted in the leaves and it goes straight to the flower head as well, which is also going to increase the lifespan of your roses. Another thing that we'd like to do as well, if you're arranging with a lot of really beautiful heirloom delicate flowers, a lot of these thorns as you're arranging, can actually puncture some of the petals. So, you also want to clean up the really big thorns as well. Unless it's a look that you are going for, you won't really see them. So, just break off all the big ones and then just before you pop it into water, you want to do a nice angled cut and then toss it right in. Anytime you pull a flower out of water, you want to make sure that you always do a fresh cut before you put it back in. The stems tend to oxidize pretty fast and that'll make it so that the water isn't absorbed into the flower. So, we're just going to clean these up. I always like to keep the top two petals on. I think it's a lot nicer, just an aesthetic thing for me. But you can clean them all off if you want. It's really personal preference. So, I'll just take off these. Sometimes, if the outer petals are a little bit brown, you can just peel those right off. Yes. Another thing, too, that you want to think about is always wash your buckets before you process your flowers. If you don't, you can definitely get bacteria growth and that's also another cause for flowers to die a lot faster. We just use dish soap. Yes, just dish soap. Just antibacterial dish soap is fine. Then also, a little bit of plant food, depending how long they're going to be sitting in your studio, is also great. We'll show you that when we go over all of our supplies and what we use. I'm just going to finish this up. So, a lot of different flowers take different techniques with processing. Now, we're going to show you how we like to process our tulips. So, tulips definitely start to sort of wilt and bend down at the market when they're dehydrated. But they're pretty great, because then, once you put them in water, they definitely perk up and they tend to straighten as well. So, when you're processing flowers, any leaves that are going to sit in water, you want to remove. Because those leaves sitting in the water are really going to increase your chances of bacteria growth, which like I said before, will make your flowers die a lot faster. So, just the bottom leaf. I actually love the way the top leaves of tulips look. I mean, you can keep them on, like I said, with roses if you want, or you can take them off. I like to keep them on. I think they're really beautiful. Then, I will just do a nice little angled cut at the bottom, and just pop them right then. Tulips don't need warm water. Really, anything with a hardy stem like roses can use warm water to really pop the flowers open, like roses, lilacs, anything with a nice woody, hardy stem. Anything with a softer stem will tend to get mushy in hot water. So, you want to make sure that they go straight into cold water. So I'll just clean these up here. Another flower that we're going to be using today is ranunculus which you can definitely get in the spring. We've already gone through and clean these up for you. But just to show you, ranunculus usually have a lot of leaves on them. So, just strip the leaves off. That's also going to increase water flow to the flower head, and then just also quick cut and then right into cold water. Ranunculus are great, they last a fairly long time. We find them to be one of our hardier flowers. Just make sure that over time, that you're really changing your water up. If they're going to be sitting for longer than a couple days, just take them out, clean your water out, soap the inside, and then a little bit more plant food. That'll really make them last a lot longer. Sometimes, when you're at the flower market and you see ranunculus, they look like little tight balls. So, you really want to give them a little bit of time to really open up and get that show stopping effect. I actually find that ranunculus is the best just before their petals completely fall. So, we definitely like to give ourselves a few days before we arrange with them for events. Then, other flowers that we use and tips for processing. So here, we have some peonies. A lot of times when you buy or peonies, they'll come in tight buds like this. Now, it has a sugar coating naturally that holds the petals together. So, if you want them to open up faster, there are few tricks that you can do. One of them is to submerge them in warm water just to get some of that sugary residue to come off, and that'll help pop them open. Another trick is to put them just in hot water because it does have a woodier stem. Just like we did the roses, that'll help it drink and help it open up a lot faster. Then one other trick that we've done a couple times in the past, we don't always do because we'd like to give ourselves enough time for them to open, but you can actually put them in a really steamy hot environment. That steam will actually help break up that sugary residue and let them pop up a lot faster. Then just like the other flowers, we like to clean up the bottom leaves so they're not sitting in water, and then yes, fresh cut and stick them right down. Here, we have some passion vine that we love to arrange with. We will talk about how we use this to sort of wrap around and add an interesting element to our arrangements. But same thing, just make sure that any of your leaves that you're arranging with are really cleaned up at the bottom. Just strip them off, and then just fresh cut and pop it right back in the water. I think that's the biggest thing to really remember when you're processing, is to make sure that there's nothing sitting in your water. You want to make sure that it's always just clean stem, fresh cut, and clean water. Most of this should last for a few days. Some, of course, like our tulips will last a bit longer. These are flowers that we would use likely in an event. So, the lifespan is around 3-5 days once they're fully arranged. Once you have your arrangement completed, you want to make sure it's fully topped off with water, and then every day, keep topping off with water to make sure that there's ample water for the flowers to drink. Yes. I mean, think out of everything that we have here, this pitcher plants are probably the least hardy. But we just wanted to get these to show you how you can use something really fun and interesting and just tuck it in at the end and it gives a really special look. A weird detail about these, they're actually carnivorous plants. They attract flies. So, sometimes, when we'll snip them on the bottom, It might be too early for these one. Might be. But sometimes, little flies fall out. But we love to add in an interesting element or a surprise element to our arrangements, something that's not so typical. So, that's what we're going to use for these later. That, and then also, we have this beautiful blueberry that we're going to be using. We'll show you how that plays a role in adding an interesting texture, and also just an interesting color variation in your arrangements. 4. Prepping Your Vessel: So now, we're going to talk about how we like to prep our vessels when we're working. Like we mentioned before, we love working in footed bowls, something that's a little more shallow and wide but with a tall foot on it just so that we can really allow it to spill over and have that sort of romantic garden style. When we work in vessels like this, we like to work with chicken wire. We find that chicken wire is the best way to really hold the structure and it really allows you to create an arrangement that's really big and wild without using oasis which we try to not use when we can. So, what we like to do is get a really nice rubber coded green floral wire and you're just going to sort of hold it up to your vessel and I'd like to make it about twice the size of the opening of my vessel and then make sure you're using a clipper that you don't really care about that much because it will dull up a clipper that's nice. Then just really cut your wire to that size. So, I have my ball of chicken wire. It's about twice the size of the opening of my bowl and what I'm going to do once I have this is I'm going to start by connecting my four corner points. So, I'm going to connect these points here, then I'm going to come in and connect the other two points. So, I have it open. It doesn't have to be pretty. You're just creating a structure for your stems. Then, I'm going to take my additional points and I'm going to roll those in to create a ball. You need to attach any of these and tie them around. Okay, so now, I have a nice ball shape that I'm going to be using. Just make sure that it fits inside of your bowl. The most important thing to think about when you're working with chicken wire is that you want your stem to not sit directly. You don't want it to just go through just one set of holes. You want your stem to be able to go through one set of holes, another set of holes and then sit into the basin at the bottom of your bowl. A lot of people make the mistake of having the bottom layer of wire completely resting on the bottom of your bowl. So what you want to do is just flatten it out a little. You can even sort of dome your wire up slightly in the center and that's really going to allow you to have that second layer of stem to go through. So, it's going to go through and then through and then sit inside of there. If it's just at the bottom, you're really only having one layer of stability and then your flowers are going to fall around. So now, I'm just going to pop my wire into the top here and I'm going to take my clear tape and I'm just going to secure it in by doing a simple X on the top. If you're traveling with your arrangement, it's not just sitting at home, you're going to want to do a rim around the edge and that's going to keep it from having the adhesive fall apart when water gets in contact with the tape. I just wan to do a simple row. If you're working with a smaller vessel, with a smaller opening, sometimes what we'll do if it's really small is we'll actually pinch the tape at the top. That'll give us more room for stems to go into it. Because when it is small, this tape takes up a lot of real estate and actually, almost increases the structural stability of it. Then after that, we'll just put a little splash of some flower food and then we'll just top it off with water. You're just going to fill it up. I'd like to do about a half inch below there, a half inch to an inch. Flowers drink a lot more water than you would expect. So, water level tends to go down pretty low and then after you make arrangement, you're going to want to top it off as well. 5. Arranging Your Base Flowers: Now that I'm all topped off and prepped, I'm going to start by making the base of my arrangement and to do this, I'm going to use the blueberry that I have over here as a really nice shape. Like I said, foliage is really nice because there's a nice color variation in it. So, what I'm going to do is just clean it up a little bit, sorting for any leaves that have broken off or that look dead. Also, I'll just thin it out a little bit, too. When you're starting your base structure, you don't want anything that is too cumbersome because then that's going to limit the amount of product that you can actually put into your arrangement and it's going to make it look really heavy. The whole aesthetic that we are going for is something that's really light and loose and romantic and airy. So, really try to find pieces that have a really pretty shape to them. For this class with my lazy Susan, what I'm going to do is create it and then I'll rotate it so you can see it has I'm making it. So, what I'm going to do is really start by angling pieces in and I'm going to start creating my base shape. While I'm doing this, I'm really setting the parameters that I'm going to work within as I'm arranging it. This is what I'm going to start to get a slight spill and also create my height. So, for this arrangement, let us stick to a nice crescent shape and I'm going to create a balanced asymmetry with my arrangement. So, I'm going to have a high point, I'm going to have a low point, but I'm going to be balanced evenly on both sides and then towards the end, I'm really going to maybe spill out on one side. So it's going to feel balanced but it's also going to feel wild, asymmetrical, and organic. Another thing to think about when you're putting stuff in, any little node or piece that sticks out, you really want to shave that off because if you put something and then you're not happy with it further down the line, the one little piece could get caught on your chicken wire structure and pull the whole thing apart. So, it's nice to just have nice smooth stems as you're arranging. So, I'm really just going to start popping some pieces into this. I'm just going to take a few more pieces in and then I'll rotate it for you. So now, you can see that I've created just a really simple base structure. I have my high point here. I have a lower point down here. So, as you can see, I have this negative space here and throughout the process of making this arrangement, I'm going to try to keep that. That could be a really nice way to highlight something really, really delicate and pretty, sort of frame it towards the end of the arrangement, or even just to keep it as is just to have this wild loose organic feel. There's a lot of negative space in nature, so really think about that. Think about what you do see in nature, whether that's concentrations or this airiness when you're arranging. One thing that you might find, especially using something heavy like this blueberry fruit weighs it down, is that your sensor might and probably will fall around a little bit. That all changes as you add more stems. So, if your branches tend to shift a little bit, just pop them backup in place and as you add more stems, you're going to start creating more structural stability in your arrangement like this. So, just pop it back up and as you add more, it's just going to stay in place. So, just something to think about. Don't stress out if your branches are falling all over and you can't really get it to stay. So, now that I have my base structure, I'm going to start adding in filler flowers and I'm actually going to start with adding a few of these garden roses. As I arrange, I'm going to work with the shape that I've already created but I'm also going to arrange in a way so I have concentration of color in certain areas. So, these roses, I'm probably just going to stick to maybe this bottom half on the left and I'm going to vary stem length just so that not everything is on the same plane. Depth is really, really, really important to think about when arranging. You don't want something that's flat, you want something that feels immersive, like you're really in it, like you're experiencing it. To do that, you're going to have to cut some stems really low which you might not be intimidated to do. But it also allows you to have this moment that you peek into your arrangement. So it's like this specialty that you don't see on the outside, you're really looking into it. Then we're going to cut some other stems a little bit longer. Remember, fresh cut right before you put it into water every time. Just like in nature, instead of having everything sprinkled throughout evenly, we're really going to do things in concentration. So, this will be my first concentration that I'm working with is this little patch of roses here. This is going to be a nice canvas for us to pop all things off of, which becomes a really nice base for us and I'm also thinking about covering up my chicken wire structure as I work, so I'm not trying to cover it up as my entire arrangement is done. It just makes my life a little bit easier towards the end. Now I'm going to jump into another filler that I have and this is sweet pea. The sweet pea I'm actually going to use, this is the only thing that I'm probably going to use throughout as something that I'm going to evenly disperse. I'm just going to really tuck this in but just like I did with the roses, I'm going to vary stem length so that I'm not working completely on the same plane and I'm really filling in my base structure. So, right now, I'm starting to work in the front on one side but I'll show you as I start finishing up one side how I rotate it and how we're going to start transitioning to really work 360 and how to utilize this lazy Susan. Cool. So, as you can see, the sweet pea, I'll fill in throughout. This becomes a really nice filler base as well, especially when I start bringing in darker flowers. It's really going to pop off of this neutral light base that I have. So, now that I have this really nice base filler, I'm going to start bringing in some of my specialty flowers. So, something that I'm really inspired by is old Flemish Dutch paintings and a lot of those paintings, they have a lot of really big heavy flowers, sort of the top of their arrangements, and then everything seems to unfurl and fall apart from the top. So, if you want that look which I'm going to try to achieve in this arrangement, use something really tall and beautiful towards the top of your arrangement to also really highlight your high point. Cool. Like I said, things will fall apart a little bit, you just have to really work with them. Then, working in concentrations, I'll put these really next to each other, just different stem lengths, and this now is going allow me to start building one side of my arrangement that's going to be a little bit darker than the other sides. So, I'll probably have a dark moment over here, then really fade into something light and delicate over here on the other side. I'll even tuck something in back here towards the back to really carry it throughout. As I go, I'm seeing that maybe this is a little heavy, so I'm just going to keep thinning out my grains if I want to be able to peek through to really see other flowers that are behind it. So, now that I have my color transition figured out, I have my light side, I have my dark side, now I'm going to start coming in with pieces that really incorporate all of the colors together and that's going to be this peony right here. This piece specifically, I love how it grows up. Don't be afraid to really have your flowers face different directions. Instead of having everything facing forward on one plane, have it face up. Really play with how the flower actually moves naturally, how you want it to look like it would be on the wild. Great. Then we've one more. It's nice to work in three's. Odd numbers are great. Now, you can see that the color is really pulling your dark side interior light side. This is really key here, really working with flowers that have a lot of variation in it, that's what's going to pull your whole arrangement together. 6. Arranging Your Texture Flowers: So now, I'm going to continue to jump around. I'm going to add a little bit more filler, and also a little bit more texture in this arrangement. So, I'm going to use this really pretty light delphinium, or larkspur, and I'm just going to also pepper this out through my left side as a backdrop to these light flowers. I really love the height on this and I love how delicate it is. It gives it this really beautiful ethereal look. Depending on how wild you want to go, you can really accentuate the height as far as you want. I tend to think that crazier is better, especially when you're adding all these interesting elements. Cool. Because this is such a pretty neutral texture, you can actually just like you did the sweet pea, actually pepper this throughout as well. I'm still working with the shape, and I'm really trying to get taller, but still, I'm trying to pull it together with color. So, now that I have a really nice solid base, this is a really good time to start thinking about filling in your base work a little bit more. I'm actually going to do that by using any of these scraps that I have with this blueberry, it's a really great filler. I'm just going to really tuck these in. I want to cover that chicken wire as much as I can before I get too far into this process. I also just love the texture when you shut the leaves off, this beautiful shape, with just a little bit of fruit on the end. So now, base is done. I know clearly where I'm going with this, I know my negative space, and on my high point, I know my color transition. I really filled in my chicken wire structure. So now, I'm going to start having a little fun, and I'm going to start playing with cool little loose textural gestural elements just to really fill this thing out. So now, the next element that I'm going to put in are these are ranunculus. Just like this peony, there's so much color variation in this. I'm really going to play with that. Some of them are a little more pink, I'm going to put them on the pink side. Some of them have a little bit more dark burgundy edge to it that I'm going to play on my other side. But I'm still going to put them in concentration as well, so they're not going to be just peppered throughout the whole thing evenly. So, I have a really nice shape to them, too. It's nice to get flowers that have a really nice arch, and those are going to be your base flowers that you want to really spill out of the edge of your arrangement to give it that overgrown look. So, I've just tucked in a few ranunculus. As you can see, I'm playing with something that's a little more purple and burgundy, and then someone ranunculus over here that's a little bit more peachy and pink and cream just to help fill it out. Then, for a nice, another fun little texture, I'm going to use allium flower, and I love these little bells that hang off of them. They're so great. Such a nice little fun delicate touch. I don't want to lose the nice height and a nice shape of this, so I'm going to also use this to really accentuate my high point in this arrangement. It's nice to tier flowers, like I said before, in threes as well. So if I have one up here, I might do one a little bit more forward below it, and then one a little bit lower than this. So, never perfect triangles, always try to avoid perfect triangles, or perfect lines, or everything on the perfect plane. You always want to stagger everything to create depth, to create interests, and to create this organic asymmetry that we're trying to achieve. I'm going to use this clematis to really darken up my dark left side here. Really nice delicate stem. It can be a little tricky to use if you're using it in the beginning. Because the stem is so thin, it doesn't really hold the structure very well. So, it's nice to get a nice base before you start putting clematis in, and then you can really just wedge these thin stems into the structure that you've already created. So as you can see, I'm using the dark to really start filling out my dark side. I just also peppered them in. But I also love, like I said, having your flowers face different directions, like this clematis here, and arching down creating this bell-shaped, spilling out of the side. Then as we get further on, we're going to use some of this beautiful passion vine to really accentuate that spill, and really fall down and wrap around the base of our arrangement. So, at the market this morning, I also found this other really interesting clematis from Japan, and I just love the shape of it, this really, really cool little that looks like candy or something. But I'm going to use this because I love the shape of it. I'm really going to use this to poke out and create really interesting gesture in the lighter side of my arrangement because there is so much dark in this. So, popping this into my right side is really going to help pull it together. Like I did before, I'm just cleaning off the leaves, because I find them a little too heavy. But the shape is so incredible. You can really try to accentuate every little bit of shape that you can. So, see how I was talking about before, the negative space, you can put something special in there and it's framed, like this light little delicate moment here where this clematis is just framed in here. You don't really notice that at first because it's so soft and delicate and small, but it's that unexpected surprise that you see. Also, looking into this and seeing blueberries that you're not expecting or looking in here and seeing this really pretty ranunculus inside, like I said, it makes it a little bit more immersive with whoever's around it, whoever's trying to experience it. 7. Final Touches on Your Arrangement: This adds some really nice fluffy light texture. Something that's really fun to do is to use something like this or even like a grass and have it sit on the outside of your arrangement, so you have to look through it to see the arrangement itself. This makes it look like it's really growing in a bush like in the wild. It also gives it that special you have to look into it quality. I think you can never have too much texture. Do you see how just that texture that you look through also helps pull the whole thing together, helps polish it off? I'm going to add a little bit of grass as well to give it the same look. A lot of this stuff, you don't need access to a fancy market for. You can probably find through branches anywhere, in a neighbor's front yard, or grass on the side of the road. In the summer, Queen Anne's lace's pretty available on the side of the road everywhere. I think adding forage material really gives your arrangements a nice interesting unique quality. Now, just to show you how I'm going to really accentuate the spill over on the left, I'm going to use a few tulips for that. The shape is so nice and something that's really cool about tulips is that the stem is so malleable that you can really just warm it up in your hands and then just slightly bend it to get any shape that you want. You can also have it facing up and arching over. This is a smaller standard or more typical tulip, but you can also get really beautiful tall French tulips that are really, really nice. I'm just going to tuck these in to the underside of my arrangement and really angle them in so they really fall over. Cool. So, I'm using some of the clematis flower heads to mask the stem a little bit so it doesn't look too stemmy, like this harsh stem falling out. So, it's nice to cover that up with either texture, or maybe another delicate flower, just stagger them on top. Now that I'm almost done, like I said, it's really fun to use something really interesting and unexpected that you probably wouldn't see in an arrangement. So, I'm going to use this pitcher plant. I'm just going to use a couple of them just tucked in to my center here. This is going to be my little element of surprise. I'm almost done with the front side of my arrangement. I feel like the color transition's nice. I think to shape is really working. I have this really nice area in the center here where I'm really highlighting some really beautiful specialty product in this negative space. I have my spill over on the side. I think one thing that I want to do is maybe I'll add something a little more here, so what I'm going to do is just pop in another one of these really pretty peonies just to fill in that space slightly. See how just that one peony really helps balance that out. Now that I'm almost done, I'm going to come in with some of this passion plant. So now, even though this flower is so beautiful, I'm going to take it off because I don't think that the color works with this. But it is a really incredible plant. It's one of our favorites. It smells like tropical fruit. It's really incredible. So, I'm just going to tuck the vine in on the side. I'm just going to wrap it around the base or the foot of my bowl. It's really going to give us that straight-out-of-the-garden overgrown wild look. At the finishing touch, I'm going to pop in a little of this lily of the valley right in this little area in the front, I have one little space. I think the color's a really nice mix between the two, sort of lavender. So, I have the lily of the valley right here in the front, and then I just have this vine really spilling out. So right now, I haven't filled in the back So, this would be great for a console table up against a wall, obviously, anywhere where you're not going to see the back. But if you're doing this for a centerpiece, now I'm going to talk about really quick how I would fill in the back, too, to really continue this color variation, and how it's really nice to use vine to fallout and then trail along your tables. You can wrap it around like a candle sticks or whatever else is on the table. Now that I have this color variation, something that I like to do when I'm working double-sided is I like to mimic what I'm doing on the front on the back. So, what I'm gonna do is just bring in some more pink peonies here off to the side. So, for this arrangement, I'm making it for a rectangular table. So, there's two clear sides, front back, and then the outside I'll make sure it look nice, too. We'll trail vine out along the tables. But if you're working on a round table, what I would do is use my Lazy Susan as a template. So, I would use this to really set the parameter to make sure it's balanced and even on all sides. I will just keep rotating. Same concept, but you're just rotating as your working just to make sure that it's nice on all sides. Now, what I'm going to do is just add a few more greens to the backside of this arrangement. As you can see under this peony here, it'd be really nice to have something to spill out and fill in that space. This spill that I have on the side, I alternated it. So, on this side here, it's on this side on the back just so that it also creates a little bit more balance. Okay, and I think it's done. So, now we're finished here, what we'll do is we'll set up a table, and I'll show you how I'll use vine to really grow out of the sides along the table and wrap around candle holders. 8. Wrap Up: Now our centerpiece is done, and we're just going to talk a little bit about how we would set a table for an event, or an event that we really want to look like an old world sort of Dutch masters still life setting. So, what we would do is sometimes we like to place a really nice beautiful fabric. We use a chiffon for this. It's nice to sort of lay it over your table even over an existing tablecloth, just kind of bunch it up, just to give it some really pretty texture like you're kind of eating in this beautiful painting. Then we'll do is run, a little bit of vine down the table, just resting on top of this fabric, so just tuck this in, to the sides, just really get to wrap around and after that's done, we like to do is incorporate a few other elements under a table scape. For this we're going to use these really pretty pink table candles, and we love that there's a lot of this color pink in the arrangement, so it's nice to pull a color taper from what's already existing in your flowers. So, give me this. It's nice to cluster them together, just kind of stagger them around. So, we'll do two there, and then maybe this one, back here. Like I said, I like when everything is in concentration, small concentration scattered around. Now we're going to add just a few of these small bud vases, also just really incorporated into our table scape here. We're using these really pretty apothecary style small delicate bud vases, so two, maybe three stems, sometimes single stems if it's bigger. This is how we would set a table for an event. We're so excited to see what you guys create at home, and we can't wait to see the images that you upload to your social media, or also the project gallery, so we can see all the beautiful work. Yeah.