Sunny Yellow Bouquet

Video Transcription 

Foam free, of course. Eco conscious, perfect to bring a little bit of floral sunshine into your day. Let's get started and I'll show you how it's done.

All the materials are prepared ahead of time. I have the Lemon Ice, a spray rose, and Regatta, a standard rose. I've removed the lower foliage and also removed the thorns so that they're ready to go. Leucadendron, in this beautiful yellow hue, lower end stripped down. Hypericum, buttery yellow. Green Trick carnation, and then lastly pieris, for a nice drapey movement. By laying everything out ahead of time, it makes the assembly so much easier. 

Start by gathering things in your hand, maybe a Regatta and a Lemon Ice and a leucadendron, and just clustering. Then once you have a few things started, give a little twist and keep adding, thinking about grouping some materials, balancing the color around, constantly turning and twisting. I'm letting it spread outward rather than going up, just to give it a little different vibe. If something slides down a little too far, give it a little tug. You can pull it right back up. Grouping again and turning. Each time you work, double check that the stems are staying symmetrical, that everything above your hand is beautiful and below are bare stems. That's the trick when doing any sort of hand-tied, is you want the binding point to be a definite delineation, that nothing below and all the beauty above. 

Since everything is laid out, you can just have fun. You don't even have to think real hard. Just kind of grab a stem, tuck it in, give it a twist, add another stem. And everything's laid out right in front of you. So you don't have to go, oh, I wish I had. You know that all the materials you're going to use are available to you and you can just keep adding and spinning, adding and spinning, double checking that you're balanced, and that you've got color grouped the way you want it. Maybe a little more of the darker. Coming around, adding in another leucadendron, another hypericum, another Green Trick. Then looking for symmetry, the Lemon Ice. Down to my last blooms, giving them a turn, double checking, and then standing and looking in the mirror. Double check that everything's right where you want it and it has the perfect form of a round bouquet.

Last, adding in a collar of the pieris, letting it drape outward, adding softness, clustering, and giving it a turn. And repeating. And you can see how it opens up the bouquet, makes it so much larger, a little more relaxed. Reaching underneath to get that drape in there. Then when everything is right where you want it, using a bit of bind wire, and holding it upside down so everything drapes away from you, wrap it around two to three times and secure it tightly to hold everything in place. 

For a contemporary look, cut all the stems to the same length. Then give it a little tap. And that way it'll stand on its own. Then using a large tray filled with water already mixed with flower food, you can just set that in for a very contemporary look on the hand-tied bouquet. 

The recipe is easy. I used one half-bunch of the pieris, then seven each. Seven hypericum, seven Lemon Ice, seven of the Green Trick carnations, seven leucadendron and then seven of the Regatta rose. So, seven of each and half a bunch of pieris for contemporary beauty. 

I often hear from Floral Design Institute graduates that the hand-tie is a challenge. The tip for today, prepare your materials all ahead of time. Lay them out so that you don't have to struggle. If everything's ready, it starts being fun, just to add them into your hand. Then remember, beauty at the top, bare stems below. And a lot of practice. You'll find more education, hand-tie instruction, and lots of inspiration on our website, Flower School .com. But now it's your turn. Gather your favorite flowers, prepare them ahead of time and then create a beautiful hand-tied bouquet. Be sure to take a picture and post on social media, hash tag Floral Design Institute. That way I can see what you do, as you do something you love.