THE KNACK OF BOUQUET MAKING 



HINTS AS TO HARMONY OF 

 COLOR, ARRANGEMENT, ETC. 



EBEN E. REXFORD 



PERSONS who are not particularly 

 successful at bouquet-making gen- 

 erally .assert that there is a 

 "knack" about it which not everybody can 

 hope to discover. I admit that some per- 

 sons seem to have born with them the 

 knowledge of just what kinds of flowers to 

 use, just how many and just how to put 

 them together. They do not have to learn 

 these things. But that does not prove that 

 there is really any " knack " about the mat- 

 ter. It only goes to show that some per- 

 sons naturally have good taste — an intuitive 

 taste, we may call it — while others must 

 cultivate taste, or acquire it, in order to do 

 successful work at bouquet-making. Most 

 persons who have a good eye for color and 

 a sense of harmonious proportion may be- 

 come able, by a little practice, to do credit- 

 able work along this line. 



The first thing to do is to learn what col- 

 ors go well together, and the only way to 

 learn this is by experience. You may read 

 about "complementary colors" and all that, 

 but to know all about them you must see 

 them together. There must be an object 

 lesson, in order to get the idea firmly fixed 

 in your mind by the effect harmonious colors 

 have on the eye. Therefore, try all colors 

 together and find out which you can safely 

 use in combination. These experiments 

 will soon convince you that the line can not 

 be drawn at positive colors. Intermediate 

 shades and modifications of the primary 

 colors must receive quite as much consider- 

 ation as the primary colors themselves. 



Then the principle of contrast must be 

 taken into consideration. There are con- 

 trasts and contrasts, and not all contrasts 

 are harmonious ones, you will find. Scarlet 

 and yellow aflFord striking contrast, but not 

 always a harmonious one. Blue and 

 orange are not discordant, and their con- 

 trast is very decided, but it is not a pleas- 

 ant combination by any means, except in 

 rare instances where strong, high colors are 

 depended upon to produce certain results 

 which we would not care for under ordinary 

 conditions. In bouquet-making we find 

 that the most satisfactory contrasts are 

 those by which the use of a subordinate col- 

 or heightens "the efi^ect of the predominating 

 color. We may often secure this result by 

 using two shades of the same color. 



One color or shade must be subordinate 

 to the other in importance. They can not 

 have equal value in the combination without 

 detracting from or entirely spoiling the 

 effect aimed at. Suppose, for illustration 

 of the idea, we have some maroon and white 

 dahlias to arrange. If we have just as 

 many of one color as of the other, our bou- 

 quet will not please us. But if we have but 

 two or three white flowers among a dozen 

 dark ones, the effect is pleasing, because 

 the contrast afforded by the small amount 

 of white used emphasizes the darker color 

 work effectively. We see beauties in it 

 that we would not see if there was no con- 

 trast. Reverse the positions and let white 

 predominate. The few dark flowers used 

 make the purity and loveliness of the white 



