On Friday 8 June, I had the pleasure of attending the Hand Tied Flower Workshop member event at our Hadleigh branch.
Helen Newman has worked for leading florists in London, New York and the Middle East, so I was very intrigued to see her demonstrate how to make a hand tied bouquet.
I love fresh flowers, especially in my favourite fishbowl vase placed on my dining room table. I buy simple supermarket flowers every fortnight and always have an idea in my head of how I will get them out of the wrapping and rearrange to sit beautifully in the vase…but can never seem to arrange them how they look in the florists!
Helen discussed her past experience before suggesting where to purchase flowers and qualities to look out for, highlighting that prep is key to flower longevity and display.
Helen prepped the stems and demonstrated the spiralling technique – gripping the flower stems and placing additional stems one at a time in a spiralling pattern so they do not criss-cross. This required a firm grip (and patience), an eye for symmetry (so that the same type of flowers/foliage were not bunched together) and an idea of whether you wanted to create a full loose or tight bouquet.
It certainly is a skilled art to make a beautiful bouquet, but Helen was there with us all every step of the way to help if needed so we could create our own from start to finish. Once we had tied off the bunch when complete, she even showed us how to beautifully wrap the flowers and create a pocket of water for transportation.
Tea and biscuits along with a few giggles from the members who participated made this a very enjoyable morning. Whilst I won't be opening a florist anytime soon, I certainly am now equipped in how to make a gorgeous bouquet, which has taken pride of the place on my dining room table!
