990 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



Makch 31, 1904. 



mired him for his gifted mind, for his 

 independent spirit and his generous, ycl 

 fearless character. We have lost a dear 

 and valued friend and our profession 

 has lost a bright star. He never sought 



prominence in our trade societies, al- 

 though well fitted to adorn any oflice, 

 unselfish to the! last degree. 

 "And e'en his failings leaned to virtue's side.*' 



w. s. 



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BEGINNINGS 



IN DESIGN... 



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THE STANDING CROSS. 



The Frame. 



In preparing to make a large standing 

 piece, as is pictured here, it" is well to 

 have in mind a few hints about select- 

 ing the frame. Not only is the broad 

 base essential to the looks of the piece, 

 but also to its ability to stand alone. A 

 cross such as we propose to discuss today 

 is probably four to six feet high. No 

 attempt should be made to construct a 

 small piece after this style. To properly 

 balance a design of this height or over, 

 the base should be almost, if not alto- 

 gether, as broad as the distance across 

 the arms. Otherwise the upright piece 

 may lean or twist, and give the specta- 

 tors a very uncomfortable sensation, even 

 if there is no danger of a fall. To 

 guard against any such danger, we have 

 sometimes taken the precaution to have 

 our wire worker extend the cross frame 

 down to the bottom of the base, instead 

 of wiring it to the top of the frame, as 

 is safe enough to do with a light, small 

 design. 



A 'ivord here in regard to compactness 

 in the construction of floral designs. 

 Never consider a piece finished until it 

 can be handled or shipped without dan- 

 ger of displacing one flower or leaf. 

 The first step in securing this safe con- 

 dition is the critical inspection of the 

 frame to see that it is well balanced and 

 proportioned. A round base and the or- 

 dinary fiat frame are used here. 

 FiUing. 



Set the empty frame upright before 

 you. Cover the inside bottom of the base 

 with the lining of wood ferns, as was 

 done in the base of the broken column. 

 Next fill the base solidly witli sphagnum 

 and wrap over the top as before. It is 

 not necessary to use the best of the 

 wood ferns for this pur-pose; culls, broken 

 fronds and second class stock will do, 

 although it takes more of them than of 

 good ferns. Often the wood ferns that 

 have been badly wilted may be made as 

 good as new by being plunged in water, 

 frond and stem, and left there over 

 night. Watch these odds and ends. 

 Clean them all up for these purposes, 

 rather than throw them in the trash box. 



Now, lay the empty cross down on its 

 back, allowing the base to extend out 

 beyond the (idge of the work table, so 

 that the cross itself may lie perfectly 

 flat and not bend the frame. Line the 

 inside of the frame all around with the 

 ferns and fill with sphagnum. Wrap the 

 face of the cross frame with lacings of 

 hemp about three inches apart. 



Again place the frame upright ready 

 for the flowers. Cut the picks and pre- 

 pare the I'uniatiDns, nr whatever suit- 



able background flowers are to be usea, 

 in the same way as was done for the 

 broken column. Fill the cross solid with 

 the carnations, precisely as in the case of 

 the main part of the shaft. Cover all 

 sides of the cross, if the price will allow. 

 If not, cover the front and edges. 



Trimming. 



In the engraving there is a garland 

 extending from the right end of the left 

 arm across the center of the cross to 

 the lower left hand corner of the right 

 arm, from that point along the right 

 side of tao body of the cross, disappear- 

 ing, and reappearing a little farther up 

 on the left side, and falling to the base 

 on the same side. The same general in- 

 structions as applied to the construction 

 of the rose garland in the last study will 

 apply to any other garland, except that 

 in handling softer stems more care must 

 be exercised to prevent breaking and 

 crushing them. 



There is another way of producing 

 this garland effect, besides making the 

 garland completely before fastening it 

 in its place on the piece: Stem the flowers 

 separately on three-quartcv picks, leav- 

 ing their stems four or five inches long. 

 Insert the stemmed end into the sphag- 

 num on the back of the frame, with the 

 flower at an angle of about forty-five 

 degrees to the upright piece of the frame. 

 Let the flower stalk be bent around the 

 frame toward the front, and be fastened 

 in its place with a tie of No. 36 wire 

 drawn so tightly around the body of the 

 frame that it disappears between the 

 background flowers. The flowers on the 

 left side are inserted on the side of the 

 frame, instead of on the back, and are 

 erect. But they will need the same fas- 

 tening as the others. Continue this gar- 

 land effect down to the base on the left 

 side, thickening it gradually as it ap- - 

 proaches the lower end. 



Next cover the base over the sphagnum 

 with wood ferns laid flat, all around, 

 back, front and sides, and extending out 

 several inches beyond the edge. 



Many other flowers might be used in 

 trimming the base but they should have 

 stems one to two feet long. To stem 

 lilies, Harrisii and its kind, insert a 

 W'hole pick half way up inside of the 

 stem from the bottom. If the stem does 

 not split, that is all the work that is 

 needed. But if the stem does split, 

 wrap with No. 24 wire, as you would a 

 rose with No. 36 wire. Stem irises the 

 same way as the lilies, except a little 

 more carefully, as they have softer stems 

 if they are from forced stock. We often 

 find this class of flowers so soft that they 

 cannot be stemmefl. In such a case bore 



The Standing Cross. 



