I hope you’re keeping safe and well during these unsettling strange times. My aim of this post is not to dwell but to hopefully spread a little inspiration and positivity. Sharing with you this one to one workshop with foam free asymmetric arch and hanging installation. It was such a joy spending the day with Hayley from Cacti and Wildflower.

Hayley has been a florist for a number of years but took time out of her career to bring up her two young boys. A couple of years ago she decided that now was the perfect time to set up her own business and was keen to learn new techniques and mechanics for creating foam free floral designs. I feel so grateful that we were able to have this wonderful day immersed among the flowers. The news announced to stay at home and self isolate just a few days later so it may be a while before I get my hands on some flowers.

The studio being full of blooms makes me so very happy! I was pleased with the goodies I bought for the class too. There was beautiful British blossom from GB Foliage along with a plethora of other gorgeous foliage including spirea. There were also Cafe Latte garden roses (one of my all time favourites). White O’hara with their heavenly scent, those beautiful burgundy fritillaria along with delphiniums. Butterfly ranunculus, corn flower and statice to name a few.

Asymmetric Arch

The main materials used to create the asymmetric arch were chicken wire, garden frames and troughs to create the mechanics. The blossom branches were perfect for creating our initial shape so started with those first. Then added different textured foliages (ivy, eucalyptus, tall pittosporum). Spirea and greenbell gave the design a natural wispy feel. Content with the foliage added and that the mechanics had been covered it was time to add the flowers! Placed at the bottom of the arch were Delphiniums, larkspur and fritellaria with garden roses trailing up the arch as if growing naturally that way. The wispy wiggly stems of the butterfly ranunculus finished the design.

Foam Free Hanging Installation

As you can imagine by lunch time we had worked up quite an appetite so we stopped to have some delicious soup (accompanied by a crusty baguette I might add). It was lovely to sit and chat about all things floral and distract ourselves if only momentarily from what was going on in the world. We also talked through costings and how much to charge for an arch similar to this. With our tummy’s nice and full we started the foam free hanging installation design. The materials used for this again mainly consisted of chicken wire along with fishing wire which we used to hang the design. Starting with a mix of different foliages we created the initial shape. The Nicolli eucalyptus we saved especially for this hanging design, it added a lovely light wispy feel. We also placed stems of eucalyptus and ivy into the design as well.

The design was finished with beautiful peachy coloured statice from Bloomfield London, paired with rice flower and those peachy/blush butterfly ranunculus. We debated if the installation needed any more flowers added to it although decided we loved it just like this. Adding more may even have spoilt it?

It was such a wonderful day, I wish Hayley and I could do it all again! Thank you for all the lovely chats and especially the laughs! I’m looking forward to seeing Hayley’s foam free asymmetric arch and hanging installation creations at her upcoming Cacti and Wildflower weddings. If you would like to find out more about our upcoming masterclasses for florists or one to one masterclasses check out the website.

Keep safe