AUGIST 11, 1021 



The Florists^ Review 



23 



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FLORIST AS ARTIST 



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ABRANGEMENTS OF FLOWEBS. 



Birth Baskets. 



As all things have their beginning, 

 I think it would be well to start in 

 my remarks on flowers and their ar- 

 rangement with the time when a young- 

 ster conies into this world. We usually 

 have orders for flowers to be sent to 

 the mother, and there are many ways 

 of arranging them. The principal thing 

 to keep in mind is to have something 

 l)right and dainty and cheerful. Some 

 customers select the little cradle, some- 

 times putting in a kewpie doll; others 

 select a large handle basket, with a 

 small basket tied to the handle with a 

 ilainty tie and containing a few small 

 llowers. In filling any size of basket, the 

 liest way is to fill the receptacle with 

 fine cut ferns or straw; this will hold 

 the flowers in place in any position 

 whicli you may desire and allow each 

 flower to show for itself and not be 

 jammed up and stiff looking. Use plen- 

 ty of green, such as asparagus, ferns, 

 etc., with the flowers. In making up 

 baskets, I usually use flowers with dif- 

 ferent lengths of stems, as they will sliow 

 to much better advantage than if the 

 flowers are all at one height. 



Boxes and Corsages. 



As we follow the child in its growth, 

 the next period is the years at high 

 school or college. The young men buy 

 flowers for their girls and the girls buy 

 flowers for themselves. These flowers 

 arc eitlier put up in tlie form of loose 

 boxes of flowers, or as corsages. The 

 former need no elaboration, as each flo- 

 rist has his own method of packing loose 

 boxes, and all are good if the flowers 

 show off to good advantage when the 

 box is first opened. Corsage bouquets 

 niay be either the round colonial bou- 

 fjuet, or they may be the more common 

 form of flat corsage. There are also 

 wrist boucjuets, but I consider them as a 

 fad and will not take any time discuss- 

 ing tliem. In making a corsage, the 

 flowers should first be wired so that each 

 flower may be put in place and stay 

 there. Were they not wired, the flow- 

 ers would be jammed together and would 

 not look well. Use plenty of green, such 

 as Mexican ivy, maidenhair fern or smi- 

 lax, and finish off with a bow of nar- 

 row corsage ribbon or a cord, as is 

 ordered. It is a good idea to use a 

 back, or shield, so that the dress of 

 the wearer will be protected from stain. 

 These are inexpensive, and the absence 

 of one might mean the loss of sales in 

 the future. 



Wedding Flowers. 



The next period in the life of our flow- 

 er buyer is when wedding flowers are 

 wanted. There are several styles of 

 wedding bouquets, such as the arm 

 bouquet, the shower bouquet and the 

 <olonial l)oufiuet. In our part of the 

 state, the arm bouquet is most generally 

 used. Wire the flowers, and in the 



Paper on "Flowers ami Tlicir Arransement," 

 ''.V Cliiis. I'. MiieUer, of Wichita. Kan.. pr»!- 

 •si-ntcd at tlie meeting of the Kansas State Flo- 

 I'lsts' AsKocintion at Topeka August 0. 



case of roses take off the thorns; then 

 put the flowers together, using plenty 

 of green. If a shower bouquet is de- 

 siied, make up the bouquet as above, 

 and then tie the shower rit)bon in the 

 middle of the ribbon and make a series 

 of loops of ribbon radiating in different 

 directions. Another way is to cut the 

 shower ribbons in short lengths and tie 

 each individual ribbon to the flowers 

 of the bouquet. A bride 's bouquet 

 itiade up in this manner with white roses 

 and green, with the individual showers 

 of lilies of the valley and adiantum, 

 makes the nicest style of bouquet. 

 Bride's bouquets are usually made 

 of white roses or valley. Sweet peas 

 may be used for the showers, al- 

 though they are a little heavy for 

 such use. The price of a bride's 

 bouquet depends upon the kind of 



Mo^ difficult of all the work 

 a retail , florid has to do, if it 

 is to be done right, and that 

 in which in^rudlion is the 

 lea^ easily obtained, the ar- 

 rangement of flowers in the 

 many forms called for dis- 

 tinguishes the arti^ from the 

 mere vender of flowers. The 

 more proficient each retailer 

 becomes in this phase of his 

 business, the higher becomes 

 the ^andard all may strive for. 



flowers used and the style of bouquet 

 ordered. Bridesmaids' bouquets may 

 lie eitiier arm, shower or colonial, or 

 they m.iy l)e baskets of assorted flowers, 

 made loose ami decorated with chiffon. 

 The colors and materials used depend 

 upon the wishes of the bride, for usually 

 the bridesmaids' flowers are selected 

 to carry out some particular color 

 scheme. 



The table decorations vary with the 

 size and shape of the tables. The prin- 

 cipal tiling to keep in mind is that the 

 llowers are to grace the table and 

 should not be banked up high, so that 

 one guest cannot see another across the 

 table. The larger the table the more 

 elaborate the decorations may be, but, 

 in general, the simpler the <lecoratioii 

 the more effective it will be. If a buf- 

 fet luncheon is to be served, the flow- 

 ers may be banked much higher, and 

 more elaborate things may ha used. 

 These same principles will hold good for 

 table decorations for any purpose. 



Using Customers' Ideas. 



In any decoration, the first thing to 

 do is to get from your customer an 



expression of ideas concerning the work. 

 In nearly every case tliese will have to 

 be elaborated on, and some details 

 changed. Never push your own ideas, 

 no matter how good they seem to you, 

 as opposed to the wishes of your cus- 

 tomer. By doing this, the florist will 

 avoid monotonous work, and lie will be 

 surprised at the confidence of the cus- 

 tomer in his ability to do original and 

 satisfactory "decorations. One of my 

 old customers went into a larger city to 

 visit. While she was there she had 

 occasion to have a table decoration 

 made; so she went to a florist's shop to 

 place her order. The ]ieo](li' there told 

 her that they could not do the decora- 

 tion the way she wantiMl it liecause it 

 was not riglit and that it would look 

 much better another way. wanting to 

 pusli their own ideas. My customer left 

 that shop in a much provoked frame of 

 mind and went to another shop, where 

 she placed an order for the decoration 

 after she had been assured that her 

 ideas would be faithfully followed out. 

 I have done dozens of decorations for 

 this customer, all of them original ideas 

 .and successful, simply by getting her 

 ideas and following them as care- 

 fully as I could, even though they did 

 seem peculiar at times. I believe tliat 

 part of my success in Wichita has been 

 through doing such things as this. 



Funeral Work. 



The last thing in our flower buyer's 

 career is funeral work. And this is an 

 important item, in that at least half of 

 the volume of work done is for funerals. 

 Probai)ly seventy-five per cent of the 

 (|uantity (not value) of funeral work is 

 composed of sprays. In making sprays, 

 the main thing is to place each flower 

 where it will show to the best advan- 

 tage. Each florist has a <liff«'rent way 

 of making up his sprays; so I will tell 

 you of the one I use. I have small 

 si)ools of No. 26 wire: using a match 

 stick .-IS a backbone and the No. '2G wire, 

 each flower and piece of green is bound 

 to the match stic-k and to each other. 

 When the spray has reached the desired 

 size, the wire can be iiroken otf and the 

 loose end fastened. The spray is fin- 

 ished off with a tie. or if a tie is not 

 ordered, .a few pieces of fern are used 

 to cover tlie coarse en<ls of the stems. 

 By using a continuous wire, no time is 

 lost in fastening several short lengths, 

 which are used by some florists, and the 

 spray will not fall apart, even if it is 

 roughly handled. In the sjtray is only 

 a small one, it is not necessary to wire 

 each individual flower, but if the spray 

 is a large one, it is best to wire the 

 flowers so that they will stand up and 

 make a good showing. 



Double sprays used to be a hard task 

 to make, but with the simpler methods 

 used now they are quite easy, and really 

 make the most artistic form of large 

 spray. We use a small ])iece of board 

 (such as cut flower boxes are made of), 

 about four inches wide and as long as 

 is needed, on which to fasten, butt to 

 butt, two single sprays. About two 

 inches of moss is bound to the board 

 and flowers, stemmed long as for a de- 



