I thought you might be interested in selected behind the scenes insights into my designs.

this is the first …

A gestural design of few ingredients:

Hydrangea petiolaris

Thunbergia ‘African Sunset’

Astrantia foliage

A rusty vase filled with chicken wire, placed on a wooden stool

mechanics

A rolled-up ball of frequently used chicken wire was shoved unceremoniously into the vase. Even in a narrow vase like this, use chicken wire, it enables you to control the positioning of your stems much more. Use quite a lot. Multiple layers offer good support for wayward stems

Technique

I spied a beautifully curved stem of hydrangea and scrambled and climbed to cut it.  Knowing that the hydrangea was going to be the main star of the design and pretty much be the only ingredient, movement was important.

 I wanted the colour of the hydrangea to dominate, so the other ingredients were chosen purely based on whether they complimented it. The unusual, speckled markings on the astrantia leaf informed my choice of container, the rust on the urn picked up the brown of the speckles perfectly and pulled everything together. 

The choice of container for me is a huge part of the design, I always consider the shape, colour and texture of any container carefully before starting the design.

The flowers & foliage usually guide me towards the container, not the other way round.

Placing the tallest stem first created the shape around which everything else would be positioned.

I originally used one of the astrantia leaves centrally, very low down, but this gave a congested feeling to the design, so I placed it further out.

The addition of the thunbergia accentuated the curve at the top.

After trimming the overbearing dried hydrangea flower, the two tiny dried florets sat perfectly inside the negative space the curve created. Probably my favourite detail of the design.

I faffed around with the bottom thunbergia flower for ages, so that it’s glorious little ‘twiddle’ could shine (Looking back now I regret not removing the tiny leaves as these detract from the twiddle! It’s a fine line between over-manicuring and emphasising the design) and even though the lower flower was past its best, I left it in deliberately.

Finally, I relocated to my ‘go to wall’ to get the final images, the light is just better. Or maybe I’m just more familiar with it?

If there are any designs you would like me to feature in future BEHIND THE SCENES entries, please do let me know