Floral Styling Class for Fall Decoration Ideas

On Location at The South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes

By Kit Wertz

Flower Duet’s Fall “Pho­to Booth” at the South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den. We showed large group of stu­dents in a flo­ral styling work­shop how to cre­ate flo­ral arch­es, secure dec­o­ra­tion for an out­side semi-per­ma­nent dis­play and more! Flower styling by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

A few months ago, we were con­tact­ed by the South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den to cre­ate a new con­cept for a flo­ral class work­shop. After a cou­ple of years of teach­ing at the gar­den in the class­rooms, we felt it would be nice to take the class out into the gar­den and came up with our on-loca­tion styling workshops.

Flower Duet taught a team of stu­dents to make this beau­ti­ful flo­ral spray at the South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den. Pho­to by Kit Wertz

On Sep­tem­ber 30th, we held our first hands-on flo­ral styling work­shops using a fall theme. In the class, we taught stu­dents how to design and attach a flo­ral spray to the exist­ing gaze­bo on the low­er mead­ow where they hold many wed­dings and spe­cial events. All the stu­dents had a hand in mak­ing the flo­ral spray using red ros­es, hyper­icum berries, leu­ca­den­dron and ruscus.

After the flo­ral spray and some tips on attach­ing hang­ing flo­ral vase aisle dec­o­ra­tions to chairs, we walked to the front of the gar­den entrance where stu­dents helped us install two sea­son­al­ly themed seat­ing areas where patrons of the gar­den could come through­out autumn to take fam­i­ly pho­tos for hol­i­day cards.

Kit of Flower Duet made this wreath out of real leaves for the South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den flo­ral styling class dis­play. Pho­to by Kit Wertz

Flower Duet styled the gar­den theme with hay bales, plants and suc­cu­lent pump­kins. Kit made cus­tom pil­lows for the hay bale “sofas” in which Casey cre­at­ed the back­rests using some ply­wood, paint and brack­ets (and a drill). This is where the degree in McGyverol­gy is a necessity.

The stu­dents had a great time, despite the bright hot morn­ing sun and we look for­ward to see­ing some great fam­i­ly pho­tos tak­en in the seat­ing areas through­out the season.

Flower Duet will con­tin­ue its “Flo­ral Styling Work­shops” on loca­tion The South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den through­out the year. Stay tuned for more dates to come!

Flower Duet cre­at­ed “hay bale sofas” using a stan­dard hay bale pro­vid­ed by the gar­den and backed it with cus­tom back­rests we paint­ed to match our theme. Kit sewed pil­lows and seat cov­ers to make the area invit­ing for gar­den patrons to rest and have their pho­tos tak­en. Styling by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Flower Duet designed cus­tom suc­cu­lent pump­kins to match the fall theme of reds in the gar­den. Patrons can pur­chase the pump­kins at the Gift Shop. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Flower Duet cre­at­ed a wel­com­ing seat­ing area on the back side of the fall pho­to booth with cus­tom pil­lows for the per­ma­nent memo­r­i­al bench­es along with a hay bale “ottoman,” fall leave tree and rus­tic stick cor­nu­copia. Flo­ral styling by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Kit designed and made this rus­tic cor­nu­copia from curly wil­low and a toma­to cage filled with pump­kins and gourds. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Kit’s daugh­ter, Keely, demon­strates the seat­ing area of the fall “pho­to booth” at the South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den. Flo­ral styling by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Natural Color Dye with Rose Petals — Step-by-Step Tutorial

Or…What to do with Leftover Petals from 200 Roses

By Kit Wertz

After our pho­to shoot with Joan­na August and her brides­maid dress col­lec­tion, we won­dered what can we make with 2,500 rose petals left over? Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Red Rose Petals make a deep pink dye. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Over 2,500 petals in a box from a pho­to shoot for Green Wed­ding Shoes and Kit just could­n’t toss them into the com­post bin. So, she made a nat­ur­al dye out of them!

In mid-Sep­tem­ber, we pro­vid­ed rose petals for this gor­geous pho­to shoot for the Joan­na August Col­lec­tion (see arti­cle below) and I took home the petals and could not part with them before try­ing out a new craft: nat­ur­al dye making.

A few sum­mers ago, I checked out a book from the library on nat­ur­al dyes (The Hand­book of Nat­ur­al Plant Dyes) using items like rose petals, cof­fee grounds and car­rot peels. I brought it to Vir­ginia when vis­it­ing my par­ents, but did not have a chance to try out any of the fun recipes.

So, we thought, we’d have plen­ty of rose petals to try our hand at an ancient prac­tice of dying nat­ur­al fibers with plants.

Here is the basic recipe we followed:

Plant Dye:

• 8 cups water
• 2 cups white dis­tilled vinegar
• 8 cups red rose petals

Bring mix to a boil, reduce to a sim­mer for an hour.

Fab­ric Fixative:

• 8 cups water
• 2 cups white dis­tilled vinegar

Add Silk, cot­ton or wool in the amount of about 500 square inch­es (1 yard of a 12-inch wide scarf or 1 cot­ton t‑shirt) and sim­mer for an hour while you are mak­ing the plant dye. Be sure if the fab­ric is new, to wash and dry it before dying it to remove any chem­i­cals or excess soap that will make the dye resist color.

Dye Instruc­tions:

When the plant dye is ready, squeeze out the fab­ric and place it into the plant dye. Bring to a boil and sim­mer for an hour. Leave in the pot overnight to set the color.

Wash any nat­u­ral­ly plant dyed mate­ri­als sep­a­rate­ly from any oth­er nor­mal laun­dry. Line dry.

Step-by-Step Photo Instructions for natural plant dyes:

Pick a piece of fab­ric that is all cot­ton, wool or silk. 

For this exper­i­ment in nat­ur­al dying meth­ods, I chose a cot­ton din­ner nap­kin that was once light yel­low and has fad­ed over the past few years. It has been laun­dered many times and was a good can­di­date for the dye bath.

Step 1a: Add petals to water and vine­gar. Sim­mer for an hour.

Add petals to water and vine­gar. Sim­mer for an hour.

Step 1b: In a sep­a­rate pot on the stove, sim­mer fab­ric in water and vine­gar for an hour.

In a sep­a­rate pot on the stove, sim­mer fab­ric in water and vine­gar for an hour. You can do this step at the same time as you are mak­ing the dye.

Step 2: Remove the petals from the dye bath. Squeeze out the excess water from the petals and keep that col­or­ful liq­uid in the dye bath. Dis­card the petals.

Step 3: Before adding the fab­ric to the dye bath, squeeze excess water out the fab­ric. Sim­mer the fab­ric in the dye bath for at least an hour. Allow to soak overnight to real­ly set the color.

NOTE: I put a lid into the pot to keep the fab­ric under the sur­face of the dye bath to ensure even coloring.

I put a lid into the pot to keep the fab­ric sub­merged dur­ing the sim­mer­ing process.

Step 4: Allow the fab­ric to soak in the dye bath overnight to real­ly set the color. 

Allow the fab­ric to soak in the dye bath overnight to real­ly set the col­or. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Step 5: Rinse fab­ric, let dry.

The fin­ished nap­kin now match­es a rose called “Blue­ber­ry.” So…red rose petals make a berry col­ored dye! Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

CAUTION WHEN DYING FABRICS:

• Use rub­ber gloves to avoid stain­ing your hands and tongs when mov­ing fab­ric around in the dye bath.
• Water is hot dur­ing all steps. Do not do this project with small chil­dren around.
• This process is a lit­tle bit smelly due to the vine­gar — so keep win­dows open and fans on.
• The col­or will fade after it’s washed.
• Make sure you laun­der & tum­ble dry all items that have been “nat­u­ral­ly dyed” sep­a­rate­ly from oth­er items as the col­or will wash out over time.
• Don’t drink the dye water. The petals from flow­ers pur­chased at most flower mar­kets and gro­cery stores have chem­i­cals on them. If you want to make your own rose­wa­ter, be sure to buy cer­ti­fied organ­ic plants from a resource such as Whole Foods.

Learn more from this great book (see book review below):  The Hand­book of Nat­ur­al Plant Dyes: Per­son­al­ize Your Craft with Organ­ic Col­ors from Acorns, Black­ber­ries, Cof­fee, and Oth­er Every­day Ingre­di­ents.

Photo Styling for Green Wedding Shoes — A Look Behind the Scenes

Some of the flo­rals Kit cre­at­ed at the pho­to shoot for Joan­na August. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

We were asked to team up for a pho­to shoot of the gor­geous Joan­na August brides­maid dress col­lec­tion to be fea­tured on Green Wed­ding Shoes, a pop­u­lar wed­ding indus­try blog. We had a full-day at The Colony House in Ana­heim with three beau­ti­ful mod­els, the tal­ent­ed artistry of hair and make up artist, Kacee Geof­frey and won­der­ful pho­tog­ra­phy work by Krista Mason.

Here are some pho­tos to let you know what goes on behind the scenes at a styled shoot.

Kit’s work area dur­ing the shoot. I spread down a plas­tic drop cloth so as to not get the floor too dirty and for easy clean up. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

An over­head pic­ture of my work area towards the end of the pho­to shoot. The Colony House has an upper loft area with a large bar area for post-cer­e­mo­ny cock­tails. The 200 red ros­es are wait­ing to be petaled for the last shot of the day fea­tur­ing deep red dress­es. This per­spec­tive is look­ing down from the loft. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

The dress­es and acces­so­ry table for the mod­els. Joan­na August designs. Pho­to by Kit Wertz at The Colony House in Ana­heim. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Joan­na request­ed a flower wall for the shoot so we came up with a light­ly pep­pered wall of green­ery and pink ros­es, high­light­ed by fresh Gyp. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Fash­ion design­er Joan­na August (left) and pho­tog­ra­ph­er Krista Mason (right) mod­el a few of the flo­ral crowns Kit made for the shoot of the Roman­tic Sep­a­rates line. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

The love­ly Char­lotte in a beau­ti­ful Joan­na August cre­ation with one of our ethe­re­al white flo­ral bou­quets. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

PopSugar & Hostess with the Mostess Feature Flower Duet’s Work

PopSugar.com

Pop Sug­ar fea­tured an arti­cle on Cre­ative Wed­ding Ban­ner Ideas and this pho­to made the cut. We worked with The Events Bou­tique, Jean­nie Mutrais Pho­tog­ra­phy, Par­ty Pieces by Per­ry and Per­son­e­fePa­pers for this styled wed­ding show.

Flow­ers by Flower Duet. As fea­tured on PopSugar.com. Pho­to by Jean­nie Mutrais Photography.

HWTM.com — The Hostess with the Mostess

Flower Duet was also in a fea­ture slideshow on Wed­dings with Vine­yard inspi­ra­tion. Last wed­ding sea­son, we had many wed­dings which fea­tured recy­cled wine bot­tles as vas­es, corks as table num­bers and place card hold­ers as well as wed­ding decor. Check out all the inspi­ra­tion in the arti­cle: 15 Pret­ty Vine­yard Wed­ding Details

Vine­yard wed­ding inspi­ra­tion comes in the form of recy­cled wine bot­tles and corks for table num­bers. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Venue Focus: Wedding Flowers at Vibiana in Downtown Los Angeles

By Flower Duet

We cre­at­ed flow­ers for a wed­ding at Vib­iana last month work­ing with the love­ly event plan­ning team from Nicole Alexan­dra Designs. It was an intrigu­ing evening with the cer­e­mo­ny and recep­tion in the same loca­tion. This sit­u­a­tion calls for a “flip” of the loca­tion. After the cer­e­mo­ny, guests are direct­ed to an out­side cock­tail area where they were enter­tained by a live band, cock­tails and passed hors d’oeu­vres. Inside, the wed­ding ven­dors and venue staff were busy mov­ing flow­ers, tables, chairs and cre­at­ing light­ing and set­ting up place cards! Here are a few snap­shots of “Pre-Flip and Post-Flip!” Enjoy!

Pre-Flip at Vibiana

Cer­e­mo­ny set up with aisle decor of petals and flo­ral arrange­ments. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz

The begin­ing of the aisle fea­tured two tall flo­ral designs. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz

The cen­ter­pieces and aisle decor fea­tured pha­laenop­sis orchids, white hydrangea and dark bur­gundy ros­es. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Post-Flip at Vibiana

After the cer­e­mo­ny, tables were moved in place for the 300 per­son sit down din­ner recep­tion. Flower Duet placed cen­ter­pieces on the table which were then light­ed with over­head pin lights. Flower Duet Flow­ers. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Kit cap­tured this pho­to as the staff moved cur­tains to reveal the recep­tion and the light­ing tech­ni­cian was walk­ing away from the cam­era to check his work pri­or to guests being let back into the room from the cock­tail hour. Flow­ers by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Flower Tool: Our “Kit” for On-Site Floral Installations

This Husky portable tool­box is per­fect for all our essen­tial flo­ral sup­plies to have for an on-site flo­ral instal­la­tion at a wed­ding or event.

Each time we deliv­er flow­ers to a venue, we car­ry with us a Flower Kit full of help­ful extras like bou­ton­niere pins, flo­ral tape, wire and rib­bon. When we are cre­at­ing an arch dis­play, we make sure we have a pletho­ra of zip ties in all col­ors and sizes. We car­ry extra flo­ral shears, vas­es, duct tape and more. Here is a fair­ly com­pre­hen­sive list of what we car­ry in our “Flo­ral Tool Kit” and why we car­ry each item.

Band Aids — Thorns, cut­ters, and wire can take a toll on fin­gers. It’s good to have lots of band aids on hand. We’ve saved a few wed­ding plan­ners, too!

Basic Votive Hold­ers & extra tea lights — Great for extra tiny vas­es in case a cock­tail arrange­ment is need­ed on-the-fly.

Bou­ton­niere Pins - They break or get lost. It’s great to have lots on hand. Also good for secur­ing rib­bons or fab­ric when drap­ing arch­es and tables.

Broom — Essen­tial for on-site cleanup.

Clear Tape — Great for many tasks.

Clear Vas­es in Var­i­ous Sizes — Since we also have extra flow­ers to put into flo­ral sprays on site or repair any break­age on the way to a venue, we are some­times tasked with an “extra” arrange­ment on site. It’s nice to have a vase to accom­mo­date the last-minute addi­tions request­ed by a bride or groom.

Bou­ton­niere Pins

Cor­sage Pins — Again…always a good idea to have extra in case that dis­tant Aunt real­ly did make it in time for the wed­ding after all!

Dig­i­tal Cam­era - Doc­u­ment your work with a good cam­era oth­er than your cell phone. Also helps to look at a pho­to of a flo­ral design to show you if you are miss­ing any flow­ers or if the design is a lit­tle off kil­ter. It’s eas­i­er to see this inside a frame as opposed to real life.

Drop Cloth — In case you have to add some flow­ers on site, it’s a good idea to keep the car­pet or floors clean around your ad-hoc work area with your own drop cloth. We use dis­pos­able plas­tic that can just be wrapped up and tak­en with us back to the stu­dio to be dis­posed of. We nev­er throw our trash away on site (most venues don’t allow it).

Duct tape — Some­times things break and it’s good to have strong tape to fix it.

Dust Pan — Great for clean ups in case a vase breaks or to pick up leaves.

Extra Can­dles — Some­times a few tables are for­got­ten on the check­list and can­dles can fill in quite nice­ly for flowers.

Extra Flow­ers - Essen­tial for every job…both big and small. I once deliv­ered two bou­quets and a cen­ter­piece for an inti­mate back­yard wed­ding. When I arrived, the cake lady had just deliv­ered the very plain wed­ding cake and asked me if I could dec­o­rate it. I had just enough extra with me to make a pret­ty composition.

Flo­ral adhe­sive — Great for attach­ing flow­ers to arch dis­plays, mak­ing cor­sages, and more. Dries fast and works real­ly well in many situations.

Flo­ral Cut­ters — Bring one for each mem­ber of your team and an old pair you don’t mind leav­ing behind with the wed­ding plan­ner just in case.

Flo­rat­ape Brand Flo­ral Tape

Flo­ral Tape (Flo­rat­ape Brand) — The dry non-sticky green kind of tape. Great for mak­ing bou­ton­nieres, cor­sages, posies and bouquets.

Kleenex - Self-explanatory.

Lad­ders - Be sure to know how tall a lad­der you’ll need before you go. Most like­ly, you’ll need two lad­ders and that venues do not pro­vide a lad­der ven­dors. Don’t use a cer­e­mo­ny chair…just bring the ladder.

Petals — For the flower girl, aisle, cock­tail tables, cake table, sweet­heart table, etc.…

Rib­bon in col­or themes — Rib­bons are your friend. Buy it often. Bring it always.  It’s great for mak­ing cor­sages on the fly.

Sand­bags — Keep that arch upright by mak­ing sure it does not come down in the wind. Car­ry sand­bags with you in your deliv­ery vehicle.

S‑hooks - Work great for attach­ing gar­lands, sprays, and more.

Scis­sors — Always save a pair of sharp scis­sors that is only used to cut rib­bon and noth­ing else.

Flo­ral Wire

Sta­ples & Sta­ple gun — Chances are, you won’t use this unless you have your own struc­ture to attach fab­ric to. Most venues won’t let you put nails or sta­ples into their struc­tures. Use zip ties instead.

Zip Ties

Tow­els — Great for wip­ing up spills.

Trash bag or con­tain­er — We always need some type of con­tain­er to place cut­tings. Bring your own. Take it with you.

Twine — Great all around tool.

Wire — Bring flo­ral wire in pad­dle and straight forms for gar­lands and all oth­er wire work.

Wire Cut­ters - Great for cut­ting wire on site.

Zip Ties — Next to our cut­ters, these are the most essen­tial tools to bring with you on site. We use zip ties to attach flo­ral sprays, gath­er fab­ric, and secure just about anything!

This is a pret­ty good list to start with, but we do add more cus­tom items to our kit for each job we do. Since we are a cus­tom design florist com­pa­ny and have a new job each time we head out of our stu­dio, we have a cus­tom “flo­ral kit” with us every day.

What do you have in your “kit?” Leave us a comment!

Book Review: The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes

The Hand­book of Nat­ur­al Plant Dyes: Per­son­al­ize Your Craft with Organ­ic Col­ors from Acorns, Black­ber­ries, Cof­fee, and Oth­er Every­day Ingredients

If you buy this book by Sasha Durek or even just check it out of  your local library, you’ll be mak­ing your own fab­ric dyes with­in a day. You would be amazed at all the ingre­di­ents you have in your own pantry (cof­fee grinds make brown and onion skins make orange).

By just using a few sim­ple fix­a­tives such as vine­gar, you can cre­ate your own dyes on your stove and col­or cot­ton, wool or silk using won­der­ful mut­ed col­ors of nature.

In the tuto­r­i­al above, I cre­at­ed a nat­ur­al dye out of left­over rose petals. I dyed a cot­ton nap­kin that was once a mut­ed yel­low but had fad­ed over the years.  Since I was dying with plant mate­ri­als, I used the vine­gar fix­a­tive. If I had been using berries as my col­or­ing agent, I would use salt as my fixative.

I was able to nat­u­ral­ly dye my nap­kin in just a few hours, but let it soak overnight to real­ly give it a rich vibrant look. It was a fun fall project that was per­fect for a cool Octo­ber morn­ing. Enjoy the book and my tuto­r­i­al. Find this book at your local library or on Amazon.com.