The holiday season is a marvellous time for trying one's hand at festive crafts such as handmade holiday cards, knits, original gift wrapping, or creative flower arrangements. Follow Gábor Nagy’s tutorial on how to create your own modern bouquet, to give as a gift this holiday season or to brighten up your home.
Supplies:
• Plastic sheets
• Golden foil
• Acrylic black and gold spray paint
• Decoupage glue and floral glue
• Poppy seeds
• Wooden, black glue sticks and plexiglass sticks
• Binding wire
• Black thread and black straws
• Cable ties
• Seasonal ornaments (optional)
• Bowl (optional)
Flowers:
• 10 catopsis
• 10 black gymnocalycium
• 10 celastrus
• 5 leycesteria
• 40 orange euphorbia
• 10 orange gloriosa
• 10 pink allium
• 5 orange bromelia
• 15 mixed Venus slippers
• 6 mini Bordeaux moth orchids
• 6 mini orange moth orchids
Step one: choose your flowers
Since the bouquet will have a dark base, it is best to contrast it with more vibrant-coloured flowers, such as orange moth orchids, gloriosa, pink allium and black gymnocalycium.
Step two: cut out the bouquet’s base
With your flowers ready, it is time to prepare the base. Take a sheet of thick plastic and cut out a small circle to use as your flower support and a larger one to use as your base.
Step three: prepare the smaller circle
Start working with the smaller circle first by melting the plastic with a hot air blower. Once hot, cut or poke out small holes, or “craters”, in the plastic circle with a little stick. When the support is dry, paint it with decoupage glue and cover the surface entirely with poppyseeds.
Step four: prepare the larger circle
Take your larger circle and spray paint it in black on one side, let it dry and attach golden metal foil onto it using decoupage glue. Take a cutter and carve out small circles of different sizes in the circle, since the bouquet’s flowers will be tied through these circles.
Step five: connect the circles and create the wire structure
Glue and attach the circles, making sure to leave space between them by gluing and securing strong sticks between them as a holding foundation. Take your wire, glue and wrap black thread around it from top to bottom. Take wooden and black sticks and glue them around the perimeter of the larger circle. Wrap the wire around the straws and around the smaller circle. Finally, glue and secure pexiglass sticks with cable ties around the structure.
Step six: condition and add flowers
Clean flower stems and remove the leaves or any damaged parts before using the flowers. Insert your chosen flowers into the holes of the base structure according to the spiral bouquet making technique, pushing them through the craters. Glue the flowers with floral glue around the bouquet base to create a movement.
Step seven: add the final touch
Bind the bouquet and cut the stems of the flowers to the desired length. Finish your arrangement by gluing some seasonal ornaments and flowers onto the straws of the wire structure or in other places for volume, if needed.
Result
With a pop of colour that does not entirely follow traditional seasonal hues and tones, your handcrafted flower bouquet is an uplifting complement to your décor or a wonderful winter gift.