Thursday, January 31, 2008

Day Fourteen...

So, today was our practical test and I'm not so sure how I did. Here's the deal: we had to make 3 different types of arrangements - a bud vase, corsage, and arrangement of our choice in foam. Here are my finished products, but we don't know how we did until tomorrow. I don't feel like my creative juices are really flowing yet and I hope they start by the time I start Advanced next week, because we get a lot of freedom in there.

So, here's my final corsage.

Here is my final bud vase. For the life of me, I could not get my rose to cooperate!

And I thought it would be fun to do an Ikebana design for my last foam piece.
This picture isn't very good bc you can't really see the snake grass pieces in the back.

Anyway, so those are my final design pieces for this class. There will be more to behold in the Advanced class next week. Ok, I have to admit..I had a minor break down today. We were discussing the business and job aspect of the floral market today and I had all sorts of doubts and fears. At this point, I know that I love to design but there isn't fantastic money in working for somebody. I know I want to work from my home whilst working for somebody else in a shop and gaining experience, but I worry about getting a business started, and building clientele, and doing a good job, and making enough money to pay bills and start a business. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life right now and it drives me crazy because I'm such a planner. It's forcing me to reveal my insecure, high-strung side that I try so hard to keep hidden. I'm having major inner turmoil because I know that I am here for a reason, I know that I love flowers and that this is something I want to do, but I really worry about what the future holds. I guess I need to just have faith and trust that things will work out. So far, things have worked out and I have been blessed immensely since moving to Portland. Oh to be young and in limbo! Ok, deep cleansing breaths...I'll make it through this.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Day Thirteen...

Can you believe I only have 2 days left of this class? Craziness. So, all I can say about today is Freedom, sweet, sweet freedom. We are working from a price point now, so we set up a "store" in class today and got to pick whatever flowers we wanted from it as long as it was within our price range. I loved it! We didn't learn any new techniques or design styles or anything today, but we did learn how the "real world" works now. Pretty cool.

So, the first design we did was a bud vase. I used dutch iris, daffodils, and bear grass in this one.

We got more money for the second bud vase and I used larkspur, freesia, and statice.

Next we got to do full vase arrangements. I used gerbers, daffodils, dutch iris, statice, button mums, and bear grass.
Front

Back

On the second vase arrangement we got more money, so I used the same flowers from my last one and added some heather and more button mums.

Front (kind of looks like it's leaning a bit...weird angle. sorry)

Back

Last we did a hand tied bouquet using the same flowers, but we got more money because we got rid of our vase, so I added tulips to mine and took out the bear grass. Also, I got an extra couple of dutch iris because we needed to use them. :) So...we tied it, wrapped it, and took it home. Lovely!


Oh...and we did corsages too. I forgot about that part. I used mini roses, button mums, and statice in mine. Apparently we're getting tested on these, so I'd better get better at making them!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Day Twelve...

So, nothing too crazy and exciting happened today. It was only raining, so we still had school. We did learn some really cool new design techniques today and we got to bring home both of our arrangements. I'm so glad I don't ride the bus anymore, because the second one was huge! It's really cool because we're getting a lot more freedom in our designs, and Kathy says that this is how the advanced class is going to be. Therefore, if I like what we're doing now I will like Advanced next week. Good thing I thought today was the best day because I'm already registered for Advanced!

Horizontal Line design before it was critiqued.


Horizontal Line design after it was critiqued.

This one was fun! We had to bring something in from home so that we could learn how to anchor interesting items into a design, and Pam brought the glasses I forgot at her house, so...tada! These ended up being huge and they were so fun to do. I LOVE my glasses and I'm glad she remembered them for me.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Day Eleven...

This is the first day of my last week and it started out a little funky. We got a skiff of snow last night, so they delayed the schools 2 hours. That would have been fantastic, except for the fact that I woke up at 6:30 to do my study guides and what not for the test today. AND my alarm didn't go off because the speaker stopped working in my phone. Boo for that! Anyway, so I got up and did some homework, got ready, and then went back to bed for an hour before I had to go to school. Weird. It's crazy too, because we actually managed to fit everything we were supposed to do into our day and it seemed like an ultra long day. Weird. Anyway, so we did more contemporary stuff today. We did 3 different line designs, and we got to bring 2 of them home. Yippee!! I'm glad I drive to school now though or that would have been really awkward trying to get all of those flowers on the bus!

Ikebana (Japanese line design with a Western influence)

Front of Landscape design. It's supposed to look like a planned garden.

Back of Landscape design

Vertical Line design

Friday, January 25, 2008

Day Ten...

Ok, two weeks down and one to go! What a way to go out too. We were split into two teams and given weddings that we needed to design. So cool, and what a great experience! It was awesome because we got to let our designing juices flow, while taking what we have learned so far and applying it to our designs to incorporate all of the elements and principles. I seriously had so much fun and we had a great team! Both teams did a FABULOUS job and I thought both weddings turned out really beautifully. Anyway, it was a great day and a lot of fun.

My practice pew bow...Pollyanna style. I'm bringing it back!

The other team's wedding. Garden style in yellows. Gorgeous! They did such a good job!

The other team (l-r): Maryann, Josie, Alyssa, Treh, Sandy

Our wedding. Simple elegance in whites and creams. How'd we do?

My team! (l-r): Alisa, Nicole, Pam, Debbie, and Me
(Note the lovely hair garland we made earlier and I forgot I still had on.
I think it gave me my designing juices!)

3 Bridesmaid bouquets and 1 Maid of Honor bouquet (made by Debbie)

The Bride's Bouquet (made by yours truly)

Cake topper (made by me), and other cake decorations done by Pam and Debbie

Corsages and boutenirs for the wedding party (made by Pam, Nicole, and Alisa)

Flower girl's nosegay and Ring Bearer's boutenir (made by Alisa)

Guest book flower vase (made by Pam)

Me with my lovely Bridesmaids ;) haha just kidding.
We just wanted to try and get good pictures of our pieces, but I'm realizing I need to take better pictures of my bouquet for my portfolio before it's too late!

Day Nine...

Today was wedding day! Actually, tomorrow is the day we actually have to do a fake wedding, but today we learned all of the how-to's for wedding etiquette, etc. and how to make bouquets and a new corsage. I don't know why, but I always forget to take pictures of the corsages we make. Ooops. I guess they're so little that I overlook them. Seriously, this class is super fun but by the end of the week I'm exhausted! Also, it's super late right now because I went out to Hayden Island with some girls from the class. It was a blast! We went out for pizza, toured around the island, and went to Pam's floating gift shop, which is sooo cool! She's the one I'm going to work with and then live in her same condo complex thing for my last 2 weeks here. She's a riot and so is Alyssa. I think I'm actually going to be sad when Alyssa goes back to California. She's a cutie and lots of fun. Anyway...here are the few pics I took today and I will definitely take some good ones tomorrow of our "wedding."

Round, hand held bouquet

Round, hand held bouquet arial view

Cascading hand held bouquet. Seriously...who's had one of these since 1988??

This one is more of an arial view, but not really. Oh well!

Alyssa and I in the wicked glasses Pam let us bring home from the shop!

Pam, Alyssa and I modeling the latest fashions in plastic sunglasses.
She told us we could keep them, but I forgot mine at her house. :(

p.s. to all of you who have checked out my blog and commented on my work, thanks so much! I really appreciate the support in my little adventure. It's nice to know I have friends and family who still check up on me and care about what I'm doing, and encourage my creativity. It helps a lot and I'm very grateful for it. :)

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Day Eight...

Wow! Can you believe I'm already more than halfway finished my basic class? I can't believe how fast time has gone by and how much we've done already. Today was a good day because it was all about roses. Beautiful! I know they say a rose is a rose, or something like that, but I must say that I lucked out and got some really beautiful roses in class today. I got a different variety than everyone else and they were all really jealous bc mine were so visually interesting. I think they're called the Fashion rose, so they're kind of an orangey-cream color on the inside and a deep red on the edges, so they look almost velvety. Very cool. Anyway, we did vase arrangements and arranged a dozen, half dozen, single bud, and triple bud vase. Then we got to do hand-tied bouquets which are slightly difficult...especially bc I dropped mine right as I was tying it all together at the end. Nooo! Luckily my teacher and I both saved it before it fell too far and completely fell apart. I actually think it ended up better than it was before! Who knew?!

First attempt at a dozen roses

Another view of the first attempt at a dozen roses.

Second attempt at a dozen roses. I hope this one is better!

First attempt at a half dozen roses

Second attempt at a half dozen roses.

Kind of an arial view of the half dozen roses again.

Single rose bud vase.

3 rose bud vase

Hand tied bouquet

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Day Seven...

Whew! Kind of a big day today...literally. We continued in sympathy designs today and did a few new, fun things. We learned 2 new easel sprays - we only got to choose one though, so I don't have both of them pictured. We finally did a casket spray too, which was interesting. It was a group project, so that put a whole new spin on things. I think ours turned out pretty well though. We also did a composite flower, which is taking apart several flowers and making one out of them. It was actually pretty cool and I really liked doing it. Then, to top it off we made cute little corsages.
I would never have guessed this, but learning and designing for 8 hours a day wears me out more than a full time job! By the end of the day I am beat! AND I'm even getting like 8 hours of sleep a night because I go to bed so early. Who knew? And I'm not the only one! We all drag ourselves out of there at the end of the day.
Oh! So today one of the girls cut practically the whole tip of her thumb off with her floral knife and I first-aided it all better! For some reason blood doesn't really bother me, but I could never go into the medical profession. That's just too much - sorry Megan!
Ok, big news too that I haven't shared yet...there is an opening for a one-year paid internship in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand in the floral department. How cool would that be?! Can you imagine the experience and the networking that could be gained through such a great opportunity and what kind of business I could build off of that? Wow. I'm sooo applying for it! Cross your fingers!

Cameo easel spray. My form is a little weak on the top bc I had
a wilty fern, so it looks empty up there in the picture. My bad.

Here's half of the class (my group) with our casket spray.
l-r: Nicole, Maryann, Yours Truly, Alyssa, Pam, and Eukoku (I have no idea how to spell her name bc she's from another class and is only here for a couple of days. Oops.)

Front of casket spray

Sort of arial view of casket spray

Side view of casket spray

Ok, here's where things got really cool...Take two gladiola stems, dissect them, glue them back together, and what do you get? A Glamellia!

Gladiola (what we started with)

Camelia (the flower we're "making")

The end result! I think mine turned out pretty darn good. In all the areas of my life that I struggle with in patience, I made up here! Totally worth the wait!

My cute little corsage. We learned some pretty cool stuff about how to take apart larger flowers and create smaller ones out of their parts to use in corsages. Cool stuff!