Red and green hand-tied bouquet
I wanted to make an informal bouquet with a Christmas colour palette so settled on the soft greens of natural dried oats and wheat, and some dark but beautiful natural dried red roses. I brightened these up with some dyed green and red lagurus grass and some bleached stems of ruscus foliage and ivory phalaris grass.
(The central bleached poppy seed pod was found lurking in the phalaris bunch!)
Tying the bouquet
I chose a length of understated nutscene twine to finish the arrangement but a big blousy tartan ribbon would add a more luxurious effect.
Tips for bouquet making
- Strip the unsightly leaves from the roses before use.
- Strip the leaves off the lower portion of the stems of the ruscus and oats. This will make them easier to tie and be neater around the bow.
- When you’re putting the bouquet together, use a few stems of each type at a time – if you do one stem of each it will take longer and give a busier overall effect.
- Don’t be too picky about stem length – variation will add interest.
- Make sure the eye-catching items (the brightest reds, greens and whites) are evenly distributed across the bouquet.
- Keep going around the bouquet adding more until you can’t hold any more blooms and grasses in your hand.
- Hold the bouquet together with an elastic band temporarily while you tie the bow.
Merry Christmas everyone :)