Celebrating autumn

I was recently given a beautiful book which has rapidly become my favourite. It's by Liza Dalby, and is called EAST WIND MELTS THE ICE. Inside cover says: "... a unique record of nature. In this beautiful journal Liza Dalby writes about the passing seasons, gardening (eastern and western), Japanese customs and a life lived between two cultures." (She's American).

She has also written a book on the kimono (I've got the book on order !), and writes dreamily about the colour combinations. For example:

"... for ladies of the Heian court, maples had another aspect as well. Among all the numerous layered color combinations of robes worn throughout the year, the most flamboyant were the momiji (maples) ensembles that came into season at the end of autumn. In these fashions, a six-robe set was layered so that each robe showed a sliver of colour at throat and sleeve.


... A set of colors named 'Green Maples' arrayed layers of acquamarine, deep yellow, pale yellow, gold, pink and maroon.



The most riotous of all was 'Mixed Maples', in which each robe also had a lining of a different color. The top aquamarine robe had a pink lining, then came a pale blue with a pink lining. Next was a dark gold with a pale gold lining, worn over an amber robe with a pale yellow lining. Underneath everything was a pink robe with a pale yellow lining. I would love to have seen this outfit. It would only be rivaled by the maples turning colour now in northern California."(P211)

Yesterday I went to my favourite gardens, CLOUDEHILL in the Dandenong hills. Had I written those words, I could have written: "It would only be rivalled by the hydrangea turning colour now in Melbourne ."

Moving news !

I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front over the past couple of months, but let me assure you that my life has not been at all quiet !

After having been in the same cute little shop for 6 years, and in another just a few doors away for about 6 years before that, I decided that I really, really had to make a change. Last November, I started to advertise for a new tenant to take on my lease, and in February I finally found one. That was the good news. The tricky thing was that I then had to find somewhere to move to ... in ONE month !

I had a Plan B and a Plan C, but I still wanted a Plan A. The day after the deal with the new tenants was negotiated, I remembered that I had long had the idea of setting up a shared studio workspace - ideally with a couple of other florists and/or designers. I'd tried to do it, a few years ago, but then the GFC happened, and everyone (including me) got a bit scared. Anyhow...

In less than 24 hours I found, on the first website I looked at, someone who was looking for a creative someone to share a converted factory with a company of architects and an IT person. I went to look at the space after work, and got very excited ! My Plan A !

So, here I am, all moved in and more or less set up, with more time to spend on designing floral arrangements, and on working with my customers.

This has confirmed the fact that I should always have confidence in my ideas, and follow them through, no matter how risky they may at first seem .

I don't remember where I found the photos, but I think it was through the Velvet & Linen blog.

6 things you should think about....

I often receive phone calls from women who have just become engaged, and are wondering how soon they should consult with a florist. Whereas I am always happy to talk about flowers, I can be most helpful if you already have this information:

1. The style and colour of your dress.
2. The number of attendants and the style and colour of their dresses.
3. The other members of the party (parents etc.) who will wear or carry flowers.
4. The location and time of the wedding and the reception .
5. Your vision and/or concept for the wedding event (will it be casual, formal or themed ?)
6. The floral styles that you like. If you are unsure, we have many magazines to help you choose, and there are thousands of websites that you can look at - of course, I hope that you start with mine: www.calypsoflowers.com.au !

Here is a flowers checklist to consider:

Bride, bridesmaids, flowergirls
Groom, groomsmen, best man, page boys
Mothers of the bride and groom
Fathers of the bride and groom
Specials members of the family (brothers & sisters etc)
Grandparents
Guests
Throwaway bouquet
Flowers for the ceremony and the reception
'Thank you' bouquets
Petal confetti.

Please send me an email - or a comment - if I can help you further.

Rainy Day Wedding

Torrential rain had been forecast for the day of Rebecca's wedding. And torrential it was !

It was about a 45 minute drive into the country, to Yering Station winery, and on the freeway we were barely able to see the car in front of us. Poor things ! At least they had the option of having the ceremony totally undercover in a renovated barn.






The team were still setting the tables for the reception when we had finished our part, and so I don't have a photo of the finished tables, but I'm told they looked fantastic, with her hand- embroidered lavender bags, place names tied to linen serviettes with a sprig of lavender and raffia, and little vases of dried lavender too.

I do have photos of the rain (!), of the finished candles, and of her L..O..V..E.. mugs, filled with 'country bunches' in the theme colours of lavender and white, which were to grace the bar.

I'm told that once everyone had arrived and was inside, everyone had a great time. Can't wait to see her photos !

Rebecca's Candles

Earlier this year, I was approached by Rebecca to do the flowers for her wedding. I had done her sister's flowers a couple of years ago, and I was thrilled to be asked again. Rebecca's theme was lavender, and the wedding was to be held at a winery, so she wanted to incorporate those country elements in the design. Can you believe that she was hand embroidering 22 lavender bags - using no less than 3 shades of purple - to give to the female guests? It didn't take much to work out that she had a very keen eye for detail !!

I made a sample candle decoration. The candle was 20cm high, and had a woven structure around it, like a very small tray, upon which we could place the elements that she wanted: lavender, lichen-covered twigs, freesias (which would feature in her posy), grapes, and anything else that might take our fancy.

The sample one had Singapore orchids, grapes and lavender.

To make it I heated on the stove, short pieces of wire which I then embedded into the candle. Note: use pliers, the wire gets a bit hot. You need to have an odd number - there were 17 'spokes' in mine.

Then I wound long pieces of raffia under and over the spokes to the required radius of the base. I had found some purpley-grey cake stands onto which I was going to place the finished article, and they were about 20cm in diameter. I roughly joined the raffia pieces with a knot and left the ends loose, so that later I could tie the flowers and twigs to the base. I also didn't want it to look too sleek.

When it was wide enough, I tied the various bits and pieces on to the base, and then trimmed the ends. I finished the ends of the wire by slipping on a lavender bead, and then bending over the end of the wire to avoid any unfortunate finger piercings and subsequent tetanus shots at the reception.

The major change from Mark I candle was to use a taller cake stand, and make the raffia base at the bottom of the candle, rather than a couple of centimetres from the bottom.

I was really pleased with the result, and thought that it would make a great Christmas decoration, especially with some sparkly ribbon, or red raffia wound through. If you use the raffia base that is a bit higher, i.e Mark I, you could place the candle in a shallow bowl, and then poke real flowers through the base, so that they can drink water from the bowl.

Good idea ? I have to say that the original idea came from Master floral designer, Gregor Lersch, in his book "Floral Craftmanship", and I thank him for it.

A hint of mint and lemon.

Mint, lemon verbena, white roses and freesias guaranteed that Lesley's posy would look and smell fresh throughout her wedding day.

I started off with a small problem in that the roses which came in were huge, which is great... unless you want a soft unstructured look, which I did.

I found some open spray roses, and these, together with the wild 'tails' of the freesias and the bright green tips of the mint and verbena, gave the posy a less structured look.

To finish off the posy, I framed it with white sweet peas. Very sweet !

Let me tell you that nothing makes a floral designer happier than a bride saying "Oh ! That's exactly what I wanted!"

Thank you, Lesley, for allowing me to be part of your wedding !

To see more of our weddding flowers, go to www.calypsoflowers.com.au

Urban Waste...not !

There's nothing that can stop me in my tracks as quickly as a kerbside collection of green 'waste', waiting to be picked up by the local council ! I can spot a sawn-up silver birch, bundled-up bamboo or trussed-up twigs a mile off, and if I can lift them and/or squeeze them into the back of the mighty little Peugot, in they go ! Nature's bounty !

Recently in my neighbourhood, I found a tangle of branches from an unidentifiable tree, each of which branch, on its own, was worthy of rescue, being of a fantastic wind-blown shape. They were all rather large though, and would have needed to be displayed in a warehouse-sized room.

I have broken these branches down into smaller pieces and used them in several ways, and I've still got heaps left !

One became a sort of nest above branches of silver birch (from another street collection), which had been screwed upright on to a wooden plank for stability. Originally these branches had candles on them, and were used to decorate a table at Christmas. This time, I affixed water tubes to them and put stunning violet Vanda orchid blooms in each one.

I was also able to make little hand-tied bundles of twiglets, which I could then jam in to a favourite rectangular ceramic vase, and use to support these beautiful deep-sea-blue anemones. This tricky technique also works really well to support tulips in a wide-mouthed vase.

Then, finally, I tied little twiglets on to 2 metal candle holders which have been waiting for years to be used in an interesting way.

Just another example of what is one person's trash, is another's treasure.