Curtain of flowers

[Carol Bice]

I have a wedding coming up next month that needs a curtain of flowers. It will be 12 feet wide and 8 feet long. Any ideas out there that might help me produce this? I am thinking of using fishing line filament to string the flowers on....but, is there a trick to making sure they don't slide down the string?

At this point, I am thinking of white dendrobian orchids, but, if there is something that works better, I am open to it.

Also, how do you keep those 8 foot strings of flowers from getting tangled? I am thinking about wrapping them around carboard before delivering to wedding site.

Any thoughts on how long this will take me to make or how much to charge. I can charge up to $5000.00. Will that be enough. The string need to be 6" to 8" apart.
Carol Bice

 

[Pam]

The thin bullion wire ...

is good for making garlands.... I haven't tried it but have seen it at a show. Then you just wind the wire around the stem of the dendrobiums and you don't have to tie it. The designer used shorter garlands, about 4 feet long and carefully laid them in boxes cushioned by tissue, sprayed them with crowning glory and enclosed them in plastic. However they were just doing one huge arrangement and layering the garlands to hang over the arrangement .... not anywhere near the size you are talking about.

 

[BOSS]

I can charge up to $5000.00. Will that be enough.
Carol Bice

Well, it's enuf to get me a ticket to come help

Bullion Wire is the way to go...then a simply "wrap and twist" on the stem or thru the drob will hold it in place rather than having to knot fish line at each blossom...

Is it going to be all drobs? How wide of a space do you have to cover?

Delivery: wraping them on cardboard may bruise the blossoms...I'd try to use cut flower boxes and lay them in, back and forth, then wax tissue between layers...(I have been known to rob boxes from appliance stores, like fridge boxes and cut them down to long flat trays).

Again, tickets are cheap this time of year to Texas, and I don;t mind hot weather at all

 

[Sher]

Carol, have you seen the netted oasis hanging garden garland links. they look very interesting...they might be too "full" for the look you want...but they look like they will cut back on a lot of labor on floral garlands and an easier way to transport... ..and in the right setting would be phenom.......it's i the aosis idea book...call me if you want me to fax you a picture..
Sher

 

[Holly]

Just thinking out loud.....
Make the curtain out of bullion wire (silver would give just a hint of glimmer without adding color), wrap the wire around the neck of a clear glass water tube (the ones that dendro usually come in), then when on sight slip the stems into the vials.
Then you'ld avoid damaging any of the stems.
If you want a fuller look, have the bullion running in assorted directions. up/down, side-to-side, diagonally and you would have a spider web looking base.
Depending on your color scheme...dendrobium for the cascading look, gloriosa lilies for a burst of fluttering color, reflexed roses roses for a English garden look.
But for that price, I would do about anything they wanted...

 

[carol]

I don't know if you need to have this drape so people can walk through..but if not.. there is an item balloon designers use, a large flat netting that is used to hold balloons up for a balloon drop from the ceiling. the netting had 2" 'holes'. and why not glue the dendrobs?? either on this netting or on what ever string you use. If you need this wall to be individual strings then I would suggest a heavy thead or light yarn.. the friction would hold the blossums in place and you may not even need glue.
Please be sure to take a picture.. it sounds marvelous

 

[Carol Bice]

flower curtain

I can't believe all the outstanding responses and ideas the members of the board have given me. I received several personal calls and several personal emails with very good ways to achieve this. The FlowerChat people are the best.

I tried a sample today using fishing line, but, had to put a little glue on the string to keep them from sliding down. Very time consuming....but, cost effective if I can pass the work on to other shop workers.

I have also contacted some lei makers today and got prices. It definitely seems very doable. Tomorrow I will try a couple other suggestions that were made.

At this point I will need 24 lines of flowers that are 8 feet in length. That will put them about 6 inches apart and a white curtain will be in the background. Does that sound like the right amount of space between rows?

Carol, your balloon netting idea has me thinking also. That might be worth looking into.

I'll keep you informed as we go along.

Thanks to everyone that offered their very valued opinion.
Carol Bice