Working Designer Wednesday

We’re changing things up a bit for the month of May! The Expert Panel designers are heading into a very busy wedding season and I decided we should give them a month off from writing the Panel posts. I know we’ll miss them, but we need them to retain some sanity! I’m so appreciative of each one of them and can’t wait to have them back at it in June.

In the meantime, we’ll have Working Designer Wednesday each week and, just for the month of May, we’ll add Succulent Saturdays. Join me every Saturday for a brief succulent fix. Apparently, I’m not the only one here with a “thing” for succulents…so let’s indulge for a month!

I’m so excited about today’s post! I know you’ve seen floral runners, garlands and overlays. And I bet, unless you’ve actually constructed one, you’ve wondered “How did they do that?” We have several guests today from The Chapel Designers who are here to share the mechanics behind these designs…Holly Chapple from Holly Heider Chapple Flowers, Susan Kelly from Three Sisters Flowers and Victoria Clausen from Romance of Flowers. Here’s what they had to say when I asked them about their personal techniques:

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Susan (Three Sisters):

“We used long Oasis raquettes for the table part of these centerpieces and
the Oasis garland for the draping sides. We connected the two side
drapes with heavy duty twine and then the raquettes sat on top of the
twine to help weigh it down. We wrapped the Oasis garland "sausages" in
plastic coated foil to help keep in the moisture (I was really worried
about the hydrangea holding up but that's a whole other story!). We also
folded up long heavy duty clear plastic from the Home Depot painting
department to place under the whole thing so it didn't soak the table
cloth.”

Susan also mentioned her gratitude for the helpful advice she received from Shawna Futagaki of Flower Divas in Santa Clara,CA when she was trying to figure out the mechanics for this piece.

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Victoria (Romance of Flowers):

“If working with more delicate, water-thirsty flowers like hydrangea, roses, etc., we use sculpting sheets (they come in 21”x21” size and are available at floral wholesalers).

As far as table runners go, it all depends on the width needed and the type of stems used. Floral raquettes work awesome with harder stems (like hydrangeas, roses). For runners that are wider than 12-15” and have lots of delicate blossoms, we use sculpting sheets as well. For the sides of the table we often mound either sculpting sheets or raquettes to a piece of plywood that connects the side parts to the tabletop pieces.”

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Holly (Holly Header Chapple Flowers):

{This table consisted of 2,200 white carnations and a runner of hot pink cabbage roses, orange tulips, yellow cabbage roses, blue delphinium, and hot pink stock.}

“To make a carnation board, I would line up Styrofoam boards that you can get from your wholesaler. My guy sells 5 boards in a box. The boards are 36 inches long, 12 inches wide and 2 inches high. I sometimes use them two deep to get more width. I use carnations on toothpicks inserted into the Styrofoam. We also do a bit of dipping with pan glue for security. The boards can be kept in the cooler until it's time to go and they last in the cooler for days. We did an entire table this way.

For a garland of flowers I would use the raquette holders by Oasis. This is a solid piece of Oasis encased in plastic. I would fill the raquettes in the studio creating full and lush designs and then lay them out end to end down the table. If you wanted the garland to go to the floor instead of hanging over the edge. I would use a base plate or concrete block with an upright drape pole or birch branch tucked up tight against the table. I would cover that post with Oasis garland and build a matching design that continues down the length of the table.”

Note: The design pictured above was created for the girls at Events In The City for the Washingtonian bridal show called Unveiled.

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To help you visualize the supplies mentioned by Holly, Victoria and Susan…

Oasis Floral Foam Raquettes Holder