March 24, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review 



895 



BEGINNINGS 



IN DESIGN... 



M>»^'»?V**^ ^ - ' ^ ^^•^♦^.■J - J 



THE BROKEN COLUMN. 



.^^JSS^ Proportion of the Frame. 



In ordering or selecting a wire frame 

 for a broken column, have the diameter 

 of the shaft as large as is consi^tciii 

 with the height of the piece, and the 

 base as wide as the price lyill allow. The 

 wider the base or mounting of a piece, 

 the more imposing will be its appearance. 

 This need not add materially to the cost 

 of the work, for if the selling price is 

 inflexible, youi can help out the size of 

 your piece, or rather the base, with 

 hardy ferns; they are both cheap and 

 effective. The column here illustrated is 

 well proportioned. The distance across 

 the base diagonally is two-thirds of the 

 height of the shaft, and the diameter of 

 the shaft is almost one-fourth the height. 

 These are the proportions of the com- 

 pleted piece. The diameter of the wire 

 frame should be slightly more than one- 

 half the diameter of the finished shaft. 

 The reason for this is that before the 

 carnations or other background flowers 

 are inserted all around the frame, they 

 will begin to push each other out on the 

 opposite side of the column, and before 

 the shaft is completed you will have 

 considerable displacement of a surface 

 which should be perfectly even and 

 smooth. You will need to go over it two 

 or three times again, filling in those spots 

 where the flowers have been pushed out, 

 and smoothing the surface. 



Filling the Frame 



Line the bottom of the base with fern 

 leaves, as was done for the pillow, de- 

 scribed in the issue for January 7. This 

 is the only part of this piece to be lined. 

 Pack sphagnum moss in rather more 

 closely than for the other pieces, for it 

 must be solid enough to hold the stems 

 upright, and not allow them to work 

 loose. Have tlie filling of the base deep- 

 est at the foot iif the shaft, sloping to- 

 ward the edge. The construction of the 

 frame may indicate this or it may not. 

 Often one can improve on the shape of 

 the frame either in the filling with sphag- 

 num or in the trimming with flowers and 

 green. Next fill the shaft solid with 

 sphagnum, leaving a depression where the 

 column is broken at the top. The only 

 wrapping needed is over the top of the 

 base filling. XJse thin hemp cord laced 

 over the top of the frame, tied at a few 

 convenient places on the wire frame. 



The Break in the Shaft. 



If carnations are to be used for the 

 body of the design, cut the picks for them 

 a trifle shorter than for the pillow for 

 you will find the space all too small 

 for as many as will be necessarily crowd- 

 ed into the column. But we must first 

 prepare the flowers to be used in the 

 broken part of the column. Sweet alys- 

 sum seems to be the material here. Cut 

 the sprays into different lengths, from 



one to three iuehts. Three or four 

 sprays can just as well be stemmed to- 

 gether, on one three-quarters pick. Hold 

 the bunch of sprays irregularly up and 

 down against the pick, between the 

 thumb and firut finger of the left hand, 

 and have a bunch of six-inch lengths of 

 No. 36 wire ready between the last two 

 fingers of the same hand. Draw out a 

 single wire and wrap the stems in closely, 

 down past the point where the last stem 

 touches the pick, catching all the ends 



tion. There should be a sharp contrast 

 between the filling of the shaft proper 

 and the broken top. There are two ways 

 of doing this: by a difference in color- 

 ing, or, as in this case, by a different ap- 

 pearing surface. Heie the alyssum fill- 

 ing, by its different length sprays and 

 its new type of flower, makes that part 

 of the column rough and jagged and well 

 represents a break in the shaft. 



Covering the Shaft. 



After filling in the break, begin the fill- 

 ing of the shaft, from the top down, to 

 keep out of your own way. In contrast 

 to the arrangement of the alyssum, fill 

 the carnations in just as smoothly and 

 evenly as possible. Make this solid sur- 

 face extend over the base, down to and 

 around the edges, covering the sphag- 

 num eompletcly. Keep a sharp lookout 

 for stray bits of the moss around the 

 lower edges and in among the flowers. 

 Shove in the stray bits, rather than try to 



The Broken Column. 



carefully at the point of contact with 

 the pick. Stem barely as many bunches 

 as your sight estimates wiU cover the 

 broken part. Rather have too few, and 

 be obliged to stem a few extra, then have 

 too many stemmed and a part left over. 

 Fill in the broken end first. If flow- 

 ers of about the same color are to be 

 used for the broken section as for the 

 shaft, fill it in irregularly and roughly, 

 as shown in the accompanying illustra- 



pull them out. 

 struction. 



That finishes the con- 



Trimming the Base. 



Next, prepare to stem the daisies and 

 lilies of the valley to be used about the 

 foot of the shaft. There seem to be 

 about fifty of each kind in this piece. 

 Stem the daisies three or four to one 

 pick, as was done with the alyssum. Only 

 don 't cut off any of the length of the 



