The start of my 8 week flower class, week one and two.

Last September started a ten week flower arranging course in the shop. After the days trading i cleared the shop to make space for three trestle tables and a number of chairs, these are borrowed from the local council buildings. It was a great success and there was a good variety of designs and as it was near Christmas the last few weeks were spent on Xmas designs. My plan was to start another course in January but with Valentine day and mothers day then Easter so close we have only just started three weeks ago. The above photo is the design for the first week. My aim was to use tulips before the are out of season, and this week at market there wasn't the variety there has been. They are available later as they grow them in sand but they then become expensive. Tulips after cutting are the one flower that keep on growing and when i designed the arrangement the tulips were to fall downwards but by the morning the were all facing upwards but it just changed the arrangement and still looked ok. The phormium leaf was manipulated and shaped into a fan this proved to be rather hard for some of the Lady's but every one managed it in the end.

This was the second weeks design. The container was a short stone like pot and on top of this we made out of bio degradable wire lined it moss shaped it to a circle and placed it on the pot, wet oasis in the bottom and twigs and contorted willow was added. I washed the soil off some daffodils and Hyacinth's bulbs added them to the design and some irises. Finished it of with ivy, natural rope and lichen. It was an unusual arrangement but the class enjoyed the challenge and it was something different.

Future concepts workshop 20th April 08

A few years ago i joined a flower club in oxton called future concepts. Its a contemporary design club and we meet five or six times a year. Its usually a work shop for the weekend but i have to go on Sundays as i work on Saturdays. This year we are celebrating our tenth anniversary. To help celebrate we have booked the town hall in Burton on Trent and have invited life 3 three wonder full floral performers. Per Benjamin (Sweden), Max van de Sluis (The Netherlands) and Tomas De Buryne (Belgium). This all takes place on Sunday 6th July something to look forward to. We met last Sunday for a workshop our tuter was Sarah Horne. Sarah has been a florist for many years and has a thriving shop in Lemington she was a very good teacher. We made the basket from a new bio-degradable wire mesh, lined it with moss and i dressed mine with lichen twigs and catkins etc. I used pink Gerber's, Hellebore's from the gardens, daffs, ivy and two orchids. topped it off with a few bleached twigs and a lovely twisted thin branch as if it was a handle. There are over 20 people in the class and it always amazes me how we all come up with so many different designs, The two people in the photo Julie and Jackie are my Friends from when we were at collage, they live near Birmingham the opposite way to me so we don't get together often so its good to catch up when we meet. Over the years we have had some great demonstrators and workshops, its a great way of keeping in touch with new trends and techniques. there isn't another workshop until September so ill have to get my fix from another sauce until then.

Jackie's design
Julie's design

Yorkshire sculpture park

last year i found my self with a free day so decided to go to the Yorkshire sculpture park near Wakefield In particular wanted to see the exhibition by British born Andy Goldsworthy a land artist. As part of the flower arranging course we studied land art and as part of our last year studies we had to construct a piece in the grounds of the collage. I enjoyed this very much and the whole class did some amazing work. Some of the sculptures in the park have been there for many years with exhibits from Henry Moor and Babarbra Hepworth. Goldsworthy uses natural materials wood, stones, leaves water, ice and clay. He has many books and there are a number of interesting web sites. Just type in Andy Goldsworthy there are video's and his many designs on the sites. This sculpture is called hanging trees, there are three all linked together and is a permanent sculpture in the park.