DIY Foraged Floral Arranging

What you have to understand is that I’m the kind of whacky person who actually misses school. I loved the art of taking notes (and there was an actual art to it—we’re talking color coded highlighters and white out for even the tiniest of mistakes), and I took great pleasure in my collection of pre-exam flash cards. So, suffice it say, I take every opportunity that I can get to enroll in workshops, and this past weekend I found myself very happily in the role of “student” once more.

It all went down downtown at TOOLRY, where Irvington Spring Farm had set up shop to teach us some foraged floral arranging tips. Post-lecture/demonstration, we got to have our way with teacups, big glass vessels and buckets upon buckets of the most gorgeous blooms and branches. Oh, and there were chocolate chip scones to devour, too. The detail shots you see in this post were shot in my studio, but I also just had to share a few from the talented Foster & Asher who photographed the people and the class inside TOOLRY.

^^^This was our creative (and oh-so-patient!) teacher, Sarah-Louise.

3 take-away tips for your own DIY foraged floral arranging:

1. If your arrangement looks a little bit funny but you can’t quite put your finger on what the problem is, I found that it often came down to an issue of height for me. Sometimes just snipping an inch or two of the stem so that the blooms nestled alongside one another helped to make the arrangement feel more finished.
2. When mixing colors, it’s typically best to keep it at least slightly controlled. When in doubt, a good rule of thumb is to combine complementary colors.
3. Greenery is your very best friend! And a cheap one at that…Head out to the woods and snip a few leafy branches off a tree and use those as your base. Greenery usually doesn’t cost you a dime, it allows you to buy less of the premium blooms and also acts as a good visual foundation for those show stoppers to make sure that they steal the show.

To keep up with TOOLRY’s workshop lineup (including the calligraphy class that yours truly is helping to host!) click through here. And thanks again to Foster & Asher and TOOLRY for the photos!

P.S. In case you haven’t heard the news, I’m partnering up with paper + palette to give away not one, but TWO $25 shop credits! Info and contest details this way.