Hannah Louise flowers

Anyone who looks at this blog regularly may have noticed that I have changed the name and header. I've spent a while coming up with a brand for my floristry work, and this is what I've come up with. I didn't want anything too fancy of complicated, so I went with my first and middle names, and 'flowers'. I drew the logo using Adobe Illustrator and I love how it has come out!

Final assessment

I had my final assessment from the first unit at college this week - and it was another distinction! We also made a dried Biedermier tied posy for our portfolios, which are due in the week after next. There was a lot of wiring for this piece but I actually really like the outcome. I didn't think I'd like the dried materials but I think they're really effective.

Playing with wire

I mentioned in a recent post that I thought some of the wiring techniques we use in my college course would be good to make a brooch. I have now tried it out, and here's what I came up with. I also tried manipulating the wire into random shapes to make a necklace and a bag accessory. I also made a little charm for my car rear windscreen but I don't have a photo. I really like this technique and I think the results are really interesting. I have an online shop so I might think about making a few more and trying to sell them.

Gypsophila

Following on from my last post, my mum also brought home a load of gypsophila from the church. I have a couple of weddings lined up for the summer and both brides want to feature gypsophila in their bouquets. So I had a little play around with some of it. I think for a really impressive bouquet I should have used more of the gyp, but I think the ivy was a good addition, it didn't quite look finished without it.

I also felt it needed a wrap around the stems - it looks a bit more professional like that. Plus then there are lots of different ways to accessorise it.

Large leaves

My mother brought home some leaves from church so that I could use them in an arrangement, and this is what I came up with. It's very large! I put it together in my studio, and it's the first arrangement I've done in there. It's good to have my own space but I need to get doubles of all my tools and materials so I can leave them down there because it's not exactly convenient to lug my toolbox all the way down the garden!

My studio is still a work in progress but I'll post some more photos when it's done.

Wedding: week 6

We made two designs at college this week - a corsage and a designer buttonhole. The corsage is very similar to the one we made before but my technique is better this time - I've practiced my wiring and taping so it's a bit more delicate and light now.

The buttonhole was fun - the wiring technique is quite clever but very simple once you know how to do it. If you make it small enough it would probably make a nice brooch as well so I may give that a try at some point.

Wedding: week 5

Here's what I made in week 5 of the wedding unit of my floristry course - a Carmen Rose. I really like this design, it's simple yet effective. I took it into work and got a lot of compliments for it! It's sad that it doesn't last very long though as it's just the petals.

Wedding: week 3

I missed the second week of the wedding unit because I was in Holland but I was back this week for week 3 and this hand tied bouquet. I quite like this design, I'm not sure it's still very popular but it's a bit different and it was fun to make.