Funeral tributes

At college this week we started the funeral unit, and we made a double ended spray and a loose posy pad. These were both practice pieces for two assessments we have the week we come back after Easter.

The morning tutor said my double ended spray was perfect and do the same thing for the assessment, and the afternoon tutor said I would do well with my loose posy pad if I made it the same for the assessment. So fingers crossed they come out the same way!

Florist experience

I spent my day today working in a Florist in Witham. I had a really good day, and I got to work on quite a few designs. This is the fourth or fifth time I've been into this Florist so I feel like they trust me more now and have confidence in my abilities, which is great. I'm going back again in a couple of weeks for another day, and they said I could book in for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day now if I want!

Working in a florist

Bit of a delay in posting this but a couple of weeks ago I went into a florist for a couple of days for some work experience. I only did 4 hours each day but I still learnt a lot and I got to make some actual arrangements. It was mostly funeral flowers that I was helping out with, but there was also an Interflora basket.

I also got to have a good chat with a lady who is doing the diploma at Writtle College that I am starting in September so it was good to hear a bit more about how the course is run and what the coursework is like. I can't wait to get started now!

Sympathy: week 9

Week 9 of the sympathy unit of my floristry course. And I'm really not keen on this design! We got to vote as a group on which design we wanted to make and I was on the losing side so I wasn't keen even before we started. I did actually quite like the wire pillow after I'd make that part, but once I started adding flowers I disliked it again! I think they're just too big compared to the size of the pillow so I may try it again at some point with smaller flowers.

Sympathy: week 8

Here is the result of week 8 of the sympathy unit of my floristry course. I'm really pleased with how this design came out, it was quite simple to do but it's very effective.

Sympathy: Week 6

Here are the results of week 6 of the sympathy unit of my floristry course. And I really don't like it! I liked it at the start but the more I added to it the worse I think it got. I just think it looks messy and I much prefer to work neatly. I do like the little hearts I managed to make with the tulip leaves though!

Sympathy: Week 5

Here are the results from week 5 of my sympathy, and the most funeral-like design so far. It has also been pointed out to me that it looks like Jesus on the cross!

I didn't think I would enjoy this design much but I actually really did. We had free reign over how we wanted to add the leaves to the cross so it was nice to have control over the final result. I also got to have a go at plaiting a fern type leaf in front of the whole class. I'm really pleased with how it came out, and my course leader was very complimentary on my design.

Sympathy: Week 4

This is the result of week 4 of my sympathy course, and I think my favourite design so far. This one was really simple to make, but it was quite tricky to get decent bark with everyone else on my course fighting for it! It looks more natural though when they don't all match perfectly.

I need to work on my pin work though - if you turn this upside down there are pins sticking out everywhere! Not ideal when a customer could pick it up and stab themselves! We'll be using pins again next week so I can keep it in mind and try and prevent them sticking out.