Day Five...

Today was the last day of class, and I won't lie...I had a lot of feelings. I totally loved this class and I'm so glad that I took it because I learned a lot and I gained a lot of confidence in my ability to design and in my creativity. I can't believe I've been in Portland for 4 weeks, and I honestly don't know what I'm going to do on Monday when I don't have to wake up and be in class by 8:30. Thank goodness I start doing some work at my friend's floral shop! When we got our certificates at the end of the day today I read it and got all sorts of emotional inside (for many reasons), because I was thinking "Wow! I can't believe I've finished already!" I felt a sense of accomplishment having finished it, and it also felt great because I have finally finished something that I have been thinking about doing for 6 years now. I followed one of my dreams and now I'm excited to see where it will take me. It feels really great, and I just had a rush of inner emotions that felt very cool. Anyway...so here is what we did today. Also, this is it for the floral blog until March 26th, unless I make something super cool at the shop or something whilst I'm working.

A lovely topiary viewed from several different angles, shown here.

Vegetative design also viewed from many different angles, shown here.
Note the real live mushrooms and brussel sprouts.

I love this one! It's a geometric cube and please note the cute little oyster I made out of limes. :)

And here is our Advanced Class. Perfectly small.

Note: the designs on yesterdays blog were indeed mixed up. The first one was a foliage sampler where we experimented with new foliages and then added in the birds of paradise. The second one is the Asian formal linear design (the red one with the ginger, anthurium, uluhe, and kiwi branch).

Day Four...

Ok, today was the first day of contemporary, so we started with the Asian persuasion. We did three arrangements and they were all really cool and a lot of fun. I really can't decide which style I like better yet - Asian or European. They're both so different and we do European tomorrow, so I guess I'll be able to have a better idea then. That's pretty much the style I've always done though, so it was cool to do the Asian stuff and experiment with negative space and what not. I really like it because it tends to be really dramatic and thought provoking. Anyway...so here are the three pieces we did today. Can you believe that tomorrow is my last day of class for a month? Weird. It went by so fast, and that means that I've lived in Portland for almost a month. Super crazy! Anyway...

This one is an Asian formal linear design. It's actually only done in foliage for this one and I tried to capture the movement at the bottom with the trailing bear grass. It barely fit in the picture!

This is the same one we did above, but we added in our Birds of Paradise

Yet another angle of the Asian formal linear.

Shoot! I forgot what this one is called...but it's pretty cool, eh? :) Asian...something... I remember it had something to do with using Fibonacci's code, but I forget. It may just be another take on Asian formal linear. I think I might have gotten the two names confused. Oh well...

This is an Asian armature, which means that you use branches or a nest of sorts to stick your flowers into your container. Also, that companion piece at the bottom is done using "petaling," which is apparently really popular right now. Interesting anyway, and fun to do because it's funky and artsy. :)

Day Three...

Last day for wedding design. :( Sad face for real. I have had so much fun doing this advanced wedding stuff. I think I feel confident enough that I know enough about weddings to want to try a few. I'm pretty sure I'd do all right! So..we made a plethora of things today: a pomander ball (what they're supposed to look like, not like the ones I made for Robyn's wedding.) ;), a composite lily, which is similar to the glamellia we made a couple of weeks ago but different entirely, and we made a flower girl basquette. Love using all of the modern materials and what not and I can't wait to start contemporary tomorrow!

Pomander ball, aka kissing ball. Note: you actually have to figure out area, etc. to do this one. Interesting...and news I wish I would have had a month ago doing Robyn's flowers!

Composite Lily

Composite Lily - popular to have these as bridesmaid bouquets because it's one giant, cool looking flower made of multiple flowers.

Another view of the composite lily.

Flower girl basquette

Here's the view from the top. It's a little bouquet inside a basket-type thing that we make.
Kind of hard to describe I guess, but really cute when they're done.

And in answer to my mother's question: ALL of the arrangements I have made and brought home are either currently perched/hung in various places around my house, or have been placed there, died, and replaced by another. Our house is cold and so nothing dies!!! We seriously live in a floral refrigerator and my house looks like a floral shop. Ha! Good thing my roomies like it. Be prepared when you come on Thursday, Joni. Flowers, flowers everywhere! It really is too bad I couldn't have done this at home and been able to give some of these away so you could all enjoy them. ;)

Day Two...

So, here we are on day two of Advanced. Love, Love, Love it! We did weddings again today and tomorrow, and then we move on to Contemporary. Today we did an altar piece, archway, and candlebra. So cool and so much fun! I looove doing the big pieces and I'm super excited because Debbie is going to do the large scale class with me in March now. Woo hoo!! I'm stoked to be taking it with a friend! We brought those big altar pieces home....yeah. I have no idea where I'm going to put it in my house, so it's on our kitchen table. I've run out of room! It's a good thing you can break it down into pieces or I would have never gotten it home! Anywho, we each did pieces of the archway garlands, and then split into two teams to do the arch piece and the candlebra. Deb and I did the arch and Nicole and Tracie did the candlebra. They both turned out beautifully and they complimented each other well.

The altar piece. Note the branches of curly willow inside the vase. I love that touch.

Our pieces of garland on the archway before we added the arch piece.

Completed archway with arch piece made by Debbie and I

Beautiful cascading candlebra piece done by Nicole and Tracie

Day One...

I'm honestly a little confused. I didn't know whether to call this day one or day sixteen? It's the first day of Advanced, but the sixteenth day I've been in class. Whatever. So...I LOVE the Advanced class!! Oh my gosh - so fun! We have total freedom, there are only 4 of us, and we get all sorts of great materials and expensive, fragrant, beautiful flowers. I'm so in heaven right now. We worked with two of my favorite flowers today, learned a technique I've been dying to learn, and got to use our individual creativity on every piece. AND we got to bring all three pieces home. How funny that three pieces took us longer to do in one day of Advanced than multiple pieces one day in Basic. One word...detail! Well, or I could say that it's all hand work too. FYI - the Advanced class covers 3 days of Advanced wedding design, and 2 days of Advanced contemporary. Today we did 2 new wedding bouquets and 1 corsage. Ok, for your viewing pleasure, I have included many photos!

Arial view of hand wrapped bouquet. It has a gardenia, stephanopsis, roses, and orchids in it.

It smells soooo good, but those are some expensive and fragile flowers.

View of whole thing. Those orchids dangle down and bounce when you walk. So cute!

Up close and personal.

Another close view from another angle.
Sadly, I didn't realize how bunny like that bear grass is until I saw the finished product.
Note to self: make bear grass loops shorter or at least not the same height.

Dutch spiral technique of a hand-tied bouquet with tulips.

Arial view of the dutch spiral. Oh, and this one is crossed with lioropes.

Front view

Corsage of stephanopsis made with aluminum wire. So now! ;)

Day Fifteen...

The End! I know that's a strange way to start a new post, but seriously that's the end of the Basic Course. That was tons of fun and I'm really glad that I met some fun people and made some new friends. Now that Alyssa has gone back home to California, my new friends are 51 and 53, but they're super cute and I totally love them! This class was awesome and I can't wait for my Advanced class to start on Monday.
Today was pretty chill. We took our written final this morning, went to the Portland Floral Market, ate a delicious pot luck with some great Vietnamese food and desserts to die for! Then we picked names and made hand tied bouquets for somebody in the class, but I didn't take a picture of mine. It was pretty sweet though, I must say! I made mine for Ikuko, who is this super cute lady from Japan. After we gave our bouquets to each other, we got our graduation certificates and ate delicious chocolate cake. All in all it was a good day, and I ended up bringing home 3 floral arrangements (the ones we made for our test yesterday plus the bouquet we received). Pam, Alyssa and I went to dinner after school to this really cool place down on the river front. We had super good food and I'm sad to see Alyssa go, but I'm happy that Pam and I will be working together and will also be neighbors for my last 2 weeks in Portland. Good times!


Oh - I guess you guys are probably curious how I did on my tests? Well, to anyone who knows me and school...I'm a freak. I got 100% on all of my tests, including the written final. I have to admit though. I was less than satisfied with my practical test. Between the three designs (corsage, bud vase, and arrangement of my choice) I got a 95%. I know, I know..it's still a good grade, but I always strive for perfection. Design is one of those things I'm going to have to learn to let go of perfection on. So, I guess we could say I passed with flying colors. I hope Advanced goes as well.