Originally posted by Lady Biker Florist
Exactly what I already said. No grids, no tape, just greenery to hold it all together. Goes together in a few minutes and stays put. At least it does when I do it. Not sure about others. I used grids and then tape when first learing for a few months then stopped depending on that stuff. I am quite surprised how many "designers" are dependent on the grids and tape and stuff. I must be more naive than I thought I was. I just assumed professional designers didn't need tape, etc.
Did anyone else assume this?
I did... I was inspired by a very accomplished designer... I would have been slapped if I even thought about using a grid. I always thought it was absolutely fine for the first year or so while you learn...but now I certainly don't need it.
You just have to practice how to weave your greens first...Just keep greening vases until you learn how to make almost a basketweave effect. I use regular rose vases (Brody...I cover them with a big bow, anyway) After I green with leather, sometimes I'll put a stem of BB for a little "starter" stability. Then start from the top and work my way around with the roses. Finally, fill in and tighten the vase with more bb and greens. Sure, sometimes a few roses will move on you when you first get started...just be patient and move them back into position once you get eongh in the vase to make things tight. I weave everything...the greens, the bb, the rose stems...Weave them so well that if you try to take 1 stem out, the whole mass comes with it. When I do that, I definately don't need tape. And when you get to that point, you can honestly say that you wouldn't even WANT to use tape..it really gets in the way!
Funny, since I've been interviewing, I've seen plenty of designers tape their vases...so I was screwing around and decided to go back to taping...What a mess! Once you put something in, trying to move it was almost impossible without twisting the tape up. It also limited my ability to put things in their place...plus, I've always been paranoid about a customer going to dump the arr after it's dead and then thinking that we don't know what we're doing b/c of the grid...Don't worry, I'm sure consumers have no clue...I'm just weird.
Finally, I watched these girls tape the vases and it took the FOREVER! In the amt of time it took them to tape, I could have been half finished. I will admit 2 things, though... I think I probably use about 2 stems more greens in order to not use tape, and I still like to SPARINGLY tape vases with REALLY wide openings of 9" or greater. I tape the latter with only as much tape as you would use on a reg vase (tic-tac-toe), but I do it because of how much product goes in (that's a lot to fall out if tipped) and sometimes so I can cut back on a few stems, too.
I know it seem so easy to jjust pop on a grid and get to work, but please consider that anyone at a supermarket floral stand can do that too. We have to prove to consumers that we ARE SO MUCH BETTER than that...wow them with the fact that you could do a doz rose in an old paper bag and make it look good!
Just my 2 cents
face
Dana
