Small vases and jealousy...

Sometimes I see something I like so much I just desperately want to be the person who created it.... This doesn't happen that often, but today was a killer. I can't remember the last time I felt so jealous and envious... it had been at least a whole week! Unfortunately, it must take an incredible amount of dedication your craft to be able to achieve something like this. I suppose I'm also jealous of that... maybe mostly of that.

Well, enjoy these, they just might be the most amazing little things I've seen all summer...

For more pics of Mitsuru Koga's work, (including tiny leaf cutouts...) check out his website.

Boutonnieres & corsages from the shoot...

Most of my own work I eventually get tired of, but not these!

Brides often come in with their friends or mothers, rarely their husbands-to-be, saying: "He says he doesn't care what I pick as long as he doesn't have to wear a boutonniere..." And yet the grooms I meet with all have a change of heart when they see these pictures. I shot many different things for my portfolio, and these have turned out to be some of the most useful... To think that they were just an afterthought, made from leftover or broken flowers!

You have to understand their fear though, considering some of the frightful things I've seen on some grooms and their groomsmen... (shiver) ...I hope these can contribute to attenuating the anxiety some men feel when faced with the idea of wearing flowers...

Gleaner's bouquet #1: tiny & blue...

Flowers can quickly become a pricey habit... The downside to not working in a shop is that you don't usually have flowers around unless they're spoken for. And this means that opportunities for experimentation can become few and far apart... This summer, I started scouring alleys/abandoned lots/parks in my neighborhood for interesting bits of green. The results became Gleaner's bouquet, pieces where all (or almost) the flowers come from around my house. I found enough goodies to keep me satisfied, creativity wise, without having to go to the wholesaler's at all. Single stems from the farmer's market, an hour each week spent "harvesting", and I was busy as a bee... I kept some notes on how things fared in water, their vase life, and how suitable they would be for arrangements next summer.

These guys feature kale, wine grapes (and their amazing little tentacles...), myositis, rosehips... As well as one green gladiola and two dahlias from the market.

Everything then went into these cute pots I found at a yard sale, a creamer/sugar set.

Green Wedding Collective flowers...

Here are some long overdue pictures from the arrangements I made for the "slumber party" at Amber's this spring. The event was organized by Bouquet, a green wedding collective here in Montreal. The afternoon featured the work of the members of the collective, including catering, photography, make-up and graphic design. CTV came by and interviewed a few of us, including me, even though I don't belong to the group... The result was part of the Living Green segment on the 6:00 news. I couldn't bring myself to watch it, I so I only listened... (cringe) ... All I could think of was the fascinating things I should've said. I taped it to watch it later, but it got erased by mistake... Now I'll never get to see my TV debut. I suppose that's what you get for being that vain...

Thanks to Farah for the pictures, you can find her as well as the other talented ladies from Bouquet here:

www.bouquetcollective.com

Radishes...

Sometimes, the hardest part of trying to be innovative and original in your floral designs is convincing clients that your ideas rock. The ones that drop by the shop for their weekly treat can be more daring, but a bride coming in for a wedding consultation will usually lean towards pretty safe options. Invariably, they start out with: "I want something very modern and original..." and end up with white tulips and hydrangea. How does that happen?

Knowing the looks I got from clients when I used the word "vegetable", I can only imagine the response a designer would get when proposing a wedding centerpiece featuring RADISHES. Unless you are a third generation radish farmer, it seems unlikely you would react positively to such an idea... And yet, are these not the prettiest things ever?

I found these on www.pollenfloralart.com, and will keep them preciously to show my clients when they make that weird face that means: "how could that possibly look good?"

Pollen's blog, crosspollinationfloral.blogspot.com, is worth the detour as well...

Unicorn workshop

Here are some pics of the workshop I gave at Boutique Unicorn this summer...

Four Unigirls and a few bottles of rosé is a perfect recipe for an awesome evening. After years of training interns, it was really refreshing to teach people with fresh eyes and no assumptions, as opposed to trying to communicate your sensibility to a student who has just been practicing triangular funeral arrangements for two years!

I have to admit, the girls surpassed my expectations and, at the end of the night, all left with a bouquet they were proud to call their own.