Ever heard of "tissuing"

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shannonlovesflowers

shannonlovesflowers

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Oct 16, 2007
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So I was teaching my 2 new designers that I inherited how to make corsages quickly, other wise it would have taken them an hour to do a 2 rose corsage.

Then they ask me "Do you do the "tissuing"

"What are you talking about?" I say

"You know, where you get a wet piece of tissue and put it on the stem of the flower before you wrap it with tape."

With amazement, I replied "NO you don't need to do that. just spray the finished corsage with clear crown really well and it will hold up just fine"

One of the girls tells me "But you HAVE to tissue!!!" And she really meant it. She's been working at the store Amy just bought that was combined with ours for less than a year, I'm a 25+ year vet....

BUT....
I don't know everything, so I think about it for a minute and ponder.....

In all my travels, all the design shows, all the workshops, all the classes, I have never heard of such a thing, never.

So I thought about it a little more and I decide to tell her this...
"putting a tiny bit of wet tissue on the stem of a flower is the equivalent of putting a wet washcloth on your head and thinking you will stay hydrated."

"oh" she says.

Hope I wasn't off the mark!

So, is this something any of you do, and seriously if you do...Why?

BTW, if I am wrong, I will admit it to them..

BTW2, I can't find my AIFD book to look it up.
 
Good grief... I went to Flowers Canada and excelled in corsage making. Never heard of such a thing! What a waste of time.

V
 
Does anyone use the corsage stems, kind of like the stepanotis stems? One gal swore by them, we tried them and the rose died much quicker. I have heard of people using a cotton ball with certain flowers like orchid corsages and that was recently. I was trained by someone that had been a florist for eons and they never did that.

Trish
 
Shannon,
This is a very old, old method....from at least the 1950's. I was taught to do this in my very early youth.....this was before the days of Steph and rose corsage stems.

The idea was to put a very tiny piece of wet tissue on the end on of the rose stem, after wiring thru the bulb, and then floral tape over. Was supposed to hold in moisture.

Small cotton balls were frequently used on the end of gardenias, for exactly the same reason.

Did it work?? Maybe.

Is there bether methodology and products to use now? Of Course!!

Tell your designers to put away the old methods, and get with at least the 1990's!!

Cheryl
 
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Yes, I thought it may be some old way of doing it! Thanks Cheryl.

The person who used to own this shop (2 owners ago) does old school stuff, and teaches old school stuff, obviously, and has no room for new stuff. Ironically she can't be any older than me (37).

Don't get me wrong, I know some old school too, and like I said I figured that was old school, it's good to know old school, but stuff that is extinct, this case in particular, it must extinct for a reason.

Still, if anyone can give me an argument/reason to do this,,,I'm all ears!
 
CHERYL BAKIN said:
Shannon,
This is a very old, old method....from at least the 1950's. I was taught to do this in my very early youth.....this was before the days of Steph and rose corsage stems.

The idea was to put a very tiny piece of wet tissue on the end on of the rose stem, after wiring thru the bulb, and then floral tape over. Was supposed to hold in moisture.

Small cotton balls were frequently used on the end of gardenias, for exactly the same reason.

Did it work?? Maybe.

Is there bether methodology and products to use now? Of Course!!

Tell your designers to put away the old methods, and get with at least the 1990's!!

Cheryl
Click to expand...

ditto what Cheryl said.

personally the stephanotis things never work with my clunking hands so I still hairpin in small pieces of wet cotton in stephanotis.

The rose things are a disaster. With a properly hydrated rose, a corsage will easily last the function without the aid of wet tissue/cotton and I rarely use any of the sprays.

joe
 
Shannon,
When I encounter this kind of resistance to change, I use this analogy:

Men in caves used stones and dirt to write with.
Then someone invented a pencil.
Then, ink and the fountain pen were born.
We enclosed the ink, and Voila! a ball point pen!
Pencils have moved to the extinct now, and we all have text messages and blackberries!

Change is constant, and ever-evolving.
Learn to change with the times, or get run over by a LARGE TRUCK!

:)

Cheryl
 
I add wet tissue to gardenias in wedding work. And occasionally pieces of hydrangea, when used off the stem. I also add crowning glory or hawaiian mist or whatever anti-transpirant is on hand.

The washcloth on your head isn't the best analogy, but the "arrive alive" packaging, or wet paper towels around loose cuts (old old way) is the same idea. And adding damp paper towel to hydrangea wedding bouquets, adding a condom over them before ribbon wrap is also the same idea. (thanks Erlene for that idea!) It's just a touch of moisture added that may benefit some hyper sensitive flowers.

Taking the time to add to every flower would make me like corsage work even less!
 
I use corsage stems for all our boutonnieres such as carnations and roses. Yes we used to use cotton balls and wiring before corsage stems. Especially in the warm months for weddings that extra moisture gave a source of water that otherwise would not exist. I have done tests (many years ago) as the other shops only always wired (before crowning glory) and their flowers didn't make it through a couple hours at prom and formal dances. Our lasted for days most times.
 
sweetpeas said:
Can you politely say " I prefer we do it this way" and move on, why spend time proving your point, as it may be received as an insult to your staff.
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well, because, I don't want them to think of it as "my way" I want them to do it the "right way" and like I said, if I'm wrong and there is some logical reason or it's a new technique and there is a valid reason to do this, then I will try it and let them know, "hey, I was wrong, this is a good idea."

I also think wet paper towels on the bottom of stems makes no sense.

My first boss used to put white tissue over the tops of gardenias and then spray the tissue with water to try and keep the gardenia hydrated/moist. That made/makes some sense to me.

But to me, it's not exactly the same. There is no way a rose or any other flower is going to up take water from a tiny little piece of tissue. It's just not scientifically logical to me.

I should also add, when I was learning (and still am) I want to know WHY I'm doing something or why we don't do something a certain way anymore.
 
shannonlovesflowers said:
I should also add, when I was learning (and still am) I want to know WHY I'm doing something or why we don't do something a certain way anymore.
Click to expand...

Why not test it yourself? Take 2 roses, use wet tissue on one of them, wire and tape both roses and leave them out in room temperature. That way you'll be able to show your designers if it really makes no difference.
 
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Yep. Definitely old school. It's the way I was taught way, way back when. We used to use tissues on all cymbids, too.

The anti-transpirants like Crowning Glory are far more effective than a bit of water to the flower head.

These days, we hardly tape and wire for corsages and glue the vast majority of our body flowers anyway.
 
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CHR said:
Yep. Definitely old school. It's the way I was taught way, way back when. We used to use tissues on all cymbids, too.

The anti-transpirants like Crowning Glory are far more effective than a bit of water to the flower head.

These days, we hardly tape and wire for corsages and glue the vast majority of our body flowers anyway.
Click to expand...
Well, after this post, case closed....

Thanks Cathy!
 
FloralFantasies said:
Why not test it yourself? Take 2 roses, use wet tissue on one of them, wire and tape both roses and leave them out in room temperature. That way you'll be able to show your designers if it really makes no difference.
Click to expand...

Once again, here comes my Engineering training. A sample of ONE OF EACH TYPE is useless. You could have a near-dead flower on the hydrated side and an ultra perky one on the "dry" side and NOT KNOW IT AHEAD OF TIME. Your 'Test" would "prove" that hydrating the rose KILLS IT!

For this kind of test to be meaningful, you need to do several of each. The more you do, the more accurate the results will be. My guesstimate would be a half-dozen to a dozen of each type taken at random from the same lot.

Bill
 
kt4ye said:
Once again, here comes my Engineering training. A sample of ONE OF EACH TYPE is useless. You could have a near-dead flower on the hydrated side and an ultra perky one on the "dry" side and NOT KNOW IT AHEAD OF TIME. Your 'Test" would "prove" that hydrating the rose KILLS IT!

For this kind of test to be meaningful, you need to do several of each. The more you do, the more accurate the results will be. My guesstimate would be a half-dozen to a dozen of each type taken at random from the same lot.

Bill
Click to expand...
forget that noise!!
 
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