This hi-impact design features Pantone’s color of the year with Rio Roses products such as dark blue delphinium and beautiful yellow roses. Learn the tricks Erik uses as he creates structure and style with unexpected elements.
Materials used: Metal design bowl, 6 short cardboard shipping tubes, faux aspidistra ribbon, double-sided tape, pan-melt glue, fresh floral foam, waterproof adhesive tape, aspidistra leaves, New Zealand flax, blue belladonna delphinium (Rio) ‘Brighton’ roses (Rio) yellow calla lilies, and yellow pincushion protea.
Step 1: Cover shipping tubes with strips of faux aspidistra ribbon. Attach with stapler and double sided tape to completely cover all of the tubes. Glue fresh flower stems inside 4 of the tubes on two sides with pan melt glue.
Step 2: Set floral foam into your container and anchor with waterproof adhesive tape. Set the 4 shipping tubes on stems into foam at different levels. Carve half round sections of foam on each side and add 2 additional tubes sitting on foam surface. Insert additional fresh variegated aspidistra leaves into foam and allow them to swoop around tubes and anchor with stapler.
Step 3: Form loops of aspidistra by piercing stem though surface creating a loop and tail. Insert multiple aspidistra loops in groupings at the base of the design. Insert tall blue delphinium belladonna (Rio) through tubes and into foam. Continue adding delphinium into tubes and outside as well as short lengths are base of taller tubes. This creates an illusion that the tubes are literally floating in the design.
Step 4: Insert ‘Brighton’ roses (Rio) in strong groupings at the base of the design. Create accordion flax chains but splitting a single flax leaf in half and weaving back and forth. (It’s kind of like paper chains we made as kids.) Insert into foam and knot to strong stems in the design.
Step 5: To finish the design, insert yellow calla lilies surrounding the structure and pincushion protea to add the final drama to the design.
