Adhesive problems

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kimber K

New Member
Nov 14, 2006
342
97
0
55
Toledo
www.toledofloristandgifts.com
State / Prov
OR
Well, I've now got my first prom under my belt! Whew!!

I used the floral adhesive for most of the corsages (until I ran out and had to go back to wiring and taping). We had a blast and made some darling corsages!! But.... a few of them had flowers come loose throughout the night.
I was a chaperone at prom and I KNOW of 3 that had problems. Two of them had a rose fall out and this was pretty early on. One, I know, happened during dinner! Luckily it was just a small rose on the side but the other one had one fall right smack out of the center. :(
The other that I know of, a carnation corsage, came completely apart. :( I felt so bad.
I did a test run a few weeks before prom to make sure that I was doing it correctly and the two corsages that I practiced on held together like concrete. I whacked it on the counter, flung it back and forth by the ribbon.... they were definitely not going to come apart. So, I'm not sure what might have gone wrong with these few. Maybe misted them too early before the glue had a chance to set? Too much? Too little?
Any tips so this won't happen again?

Kim
 
if using roses

When using floral adhesive, it's important to cut as much of the rose stem off as possible down to the calyx, this way when you apply the adhesive, you're coating the back of the petals also. When I make wrist corsages I make a bow with #9 ribbon (chiffon usually) then attach this to the wristlet or beaded bracelet and use it as my base. It gives you a lot of area and levels to glue and tuck flowers and doo dads in. :)
 
As a base we use both ribbon & a tulle puff. The tulle has worked great to really grab the glue and hold the flower in place.
 
We put silk leaves on the base of the corsage after wiring the ribbon onto it (through the folded metal "wings" of the wristlet. The flowers are glued onto the leaves and into the ribbon. The silk leaves are eventually completely hidden. We use lots of pieces of babies breath, tucked around each flower and also into the ribbon. The BB, or whatever accent flower we use, is positioned for appearances, but just as importantly, to add something else to help hold those flowers into place. We also do not use full sized roses, only spray roses. We spray with Crowning Glory as soon as the corsage or bout is finished, allow to dry, and place into the cooler.

Hope these ideas help you. What a bummer to have the problems that you had.
 
Yep, we did use spray roses and mini carns.
The one where the rose fell right out of the middle had a little glue "crater" there. Almost like the glue never really stuck to the flower?
This is why I wondered if they were misted too soon?

I'm also not certain if the ones that came apart had a lot of BB in them... I can definitely see where that would help hold things together.
We did use big loopy bows that had lots of nooks and crannies" for the flowers to stick to, or so we thought... I do love the tule idea! that would definitely hold em in place!

The mini carn corsage... well, I was worried about that one from the beginning. The calyx were so long that the gluing surface is pretty small compared to the "weight" of the flower when you stand it up. I probably should have wired and taped that one.

Yeah, it was a bummer... I was pretty embarrassed :( especially since I had really been talking up our "new" corsages with the kids..
I think I thought way more of it than they did, though. Like my daughter said, "mom, they really only care that they look good until pictures are over. After that, half of them take them off anyway." But still!! I don't want my corsages to be known as "Wal Mart-Fall Apart" :eek: LOL
 
connie-isnt crowning glory supposed to be used on flowers that are still in water? if you use CLEAR LIFE on the flowers instead it will lock the water in the petals, so it doesnt transpirate(?) -just what i was told.
 
I can think of a few reasons the glue could fail...

- If you were running out of glue, it could be that not enough was used in an attempt to make it go further.

- Were the stems glued deeply into the ribbon? They need to be pushed into the binding point to provide as many 'touch points' as possible.

- Was the calyx wet? This could possibly cause the 'crater'?

- Did you use Green Glow, Pokon or some other leaf shine of the foliages before the corsages were glued? They are all oily and cause the glue to slip.

- Was the ribbon very 'plasticy' or slick? Matte or sheer ribbons or tulle hold much better.

- Did you remove all the rose sepals? We tend to leave them on since they help the glue 'grab on' to the bow/fabric (your 'anchor').

- Did you leave on too much stem? The best place to glue is at the calyx and to use generous amounts of glue there.

The mini carn size should not have been a problem. We've used far larger flowers without any issues.

Here's a shot of wrist corsages we made last Friday with Oasis Adhesive, spray roses, dendrobiums, a white anthurium and silver tree protea foliage.

original.aspx


Angela - We've used CG on corsages for more than 20 years. Just don't over-saturate them and allow them to completely dry before refrigerating.
 
That's a beautiful corsage!!! Thanks for sharing.

Well, I think we tried to follow most of those guidelines you mentioned, but.... we obviously missed something on those few.
I do know that there were a few of the "slick" ribbons used... and that "crater" very well could have been from a wet calyx.
I didn't make the two rose corsages that had the issues so maybe she wasn't cutting them clear down. I know that "I" was, even actually cutting just a bit further down to create a flat end. As far as I know, none of the rose corsages that I made had the issues. But I did make the mini carn corsage that completely came apart :( I'm guessing I should have used more glue (this was, I think when I started to run out) and probably should have used a loopier bow.
We'll have to pay extra close attention next time to all the little details.

Thanks for all the input.

Kim
 
well done avante garden florist ! what an inspiration. that wrist corsage is beautiful. I still wire and tape ( old hat i know) but am inspired to change my ways ( im always scared of disasters)
 
Kim,

If you cut the calyx completely off and then don't hold the rose down tight enough for long enough it will "raise up" from the contact point and after a bit of abuse can fall apart.

Just leave a little bit of the calyx in tact so there is something to stick down into the ribbon.

We had this problem with a few of our trial glued corsages and this is what the culprit was. I had completely removed the calyx and when I let it go it popped up a bit and the only thing that held it together was a few of the outer "petals" of the calyx.
 
Thanks Heather,
I tried to just cut a tiny little bit off, Mostly to get rid of the "point".
But that very well may have been what happened on the ones that came undone. Maybe there was just too much cut away.
Next time, at least we'll know all the "could have's" that might have caused the problem and make sure we don't let any of those things happen.

Thanks to everyone for all your input. I'm glad I have this new milestone under my belt. Now, Mothers Day!!!! and I should be over all the BIG HUMPS!

Thanks again!
You guys are awsome!
 
We have been glueing our prom corsages now for at least 10 yrs. One thought regarding flowers falling out; make sure the flowers stems are at room temp. not cold from the cooler. I used the tip someone gave this prom season about using the green taper candle holder inserted in styrofoam to pour the glue into so it would set up a little. This worked slick. Each work station had their own little holder. Threw away at end of day. We made about 100 glued corsages, no problems! Thanks to all florists for sharing tips.
 
angelalovesart said:
connie-isnt crowning glory supposed to be used on flowers that are still in water? if you use CLEAR LIFE on the flowers instead it will lock the water in the petals, so it doesnt transpirate(?) -just what i was told.
Click to expand...

We use the Crowning Glory on all corsages. We also use it on finished arrangements. Usually we do not use it on red roses because it leaves a film on the rose. We make 300+/- wrist corsages per prom season, and we've never had a problem with any flowers falling out. We also give each corsage a good shake in front of the customer as part of his/her inspection because we have a sign up which states "Please examine your order very carefully before leaving the shop. No refunds are given on prom orders." The person picking up the order also signs for it. Lessons learned the hard way.
 
Connie, do you mind if I asked what happened that you had to start had to post your "no refunds" sign for Prom orders and also started having them sign for it?

I like to have a heads up on any type of issue before it happens to me too?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back