Permanent Botanical design and display

[RWK]

We have design threads for Wedding, Funeral, and Everyday design - So, I am starting a thread for FC members to showcase their Permanent Botanical designs.

For our members who may not be familiar with the term PERMANENT BOTANICAL - This refers to such things as silk and dried flowers, artificial or any type of faux or man-made floral item.

So, post your pretty pictures everybody !!!!

The pictures in this posting were created for customer's special order - one of them is a cemetery memorial design - they wanted some type of fishing theme if possible.......we did not have anything in store suitable, so I asked them to bring me some lures or other items that they would like to have incorporated into the design for their son's grave........This was the result. I used red painted bamboo in the design to resemble cane fishing poles and attached small fish lures to them.

The other designs are part of a set of six designs being done for a customer's residence. The plaque is going on a wall in their foyer.......in the same colors and textures is a dining table centerpeice ( I had a maximum height of 30 inches to work with from the top of the table to the base of the chandlelier) and a complimentary design for a corner of the room.

 

[Connie]

Beautiful designs, Rick. I would have expected no less!

 

[CHR]

Gorgeous, Rick!

Though permanents aren't nearly as big a part of our sales as they used to be, we still do custom work. Here are a couple recent ones:

 

[Carol Bice]

Permanent botanicals used to be a big percentage of my sales. It has gone done steadily over the years. I really notice it when I do work at the Dallas Market. The silk companies are closing down like crazy.

What are your ideas about why this is not the good sales it used to be?

On a personal note, I find myself using lots of fresh plants in my house and when I have company, I pick up a few fresh flowers to put in a vase or I go out to my garden and cut fresh product.

But, I can't imagine that the average person has the capabilities to do this as easily as I do. Are they replacing the silks with other types of products or objects of art?

 

[Rhonda]

I think the market saturated a bit also. People that wanted permanents, got them, kept them and are coming out of the woodwork to get them "refreshed". I've had two in the past two weeks bring in silks I did quite a few years ago to be livened up. (mauve and blue with dried gyp - ugh - no more dried gyp here, better filler now)

 

[RWK]

I'll be posting some Spring Grapevine wreath designs later on..........I don't know if it is the novelty aspect of it, or if people are really tired of the same old wreath on a door design, but I can't hardly keep door/wall designs on things like the metal plaques, picture frames, wrought iron metal work, and the like in store........It seems that no sooner than I get two or three made........Out the door they go.

I'll be taking some more photos tommorrow.........I did one the other day on a square grapevine wreath form with a birdhouse, mixed foliages, and cherry blossom florals........that I personally love.........almost to the point that I would spend the money on my own design.

 

[anytimeflowers]

Permanent botanicals used to be a big percentage of my sales. It has gone done steadily over the years. I really notice it when I do work at the Dallas Market. The silk companies are closing down like crazy.

Yes, the showrooms at UMAGA carry a lot less in permanents than they used to.

What are your ideas about why this is not the good sales it used to be?

Because a lot of people seem to have a distaste for "fake". At the same time, they will feel my plants and flowers to see if they are "fake". It's hilarious. They used to feel the really good permanents to see if they were real!

On a personal note, I find myself using lots of fresh plants in my house and when I have company, I pick up a few fresh flowers to put in a vase or I go out to my garden and cut fresh product.

But, I can't imagine that the average person has the capabilities to do this as easily as I do. Are they replacing the silks with other types of products or objects of art

?

I think they are perfectly satisfied with the things that they "create" themselves. Many do not have the appreciation for a well-designed arrangement.
Now, that makes me wonder if their brains work differently and so do not percieve the beauty, like the golden ratio that CHR posted a while back.

 

[Rhonda]

I'll be posting some Spring Grapevine wreath designs later on..........I don't know if it is the novelty aspect of it, or if people are really tired of the same old wreath on a door design, but I can't hardly keep door/wall designs on things like the metal plaques, picture frames, wrought iron metal work, and the like in store........It seems that no sooner than I get two or three made........Out the door they go.

I'll be taking some more photos tommorrow.........I did one the other day on a square grapevine wreath form with a birdhouse, mixed foliages, and cherry blossom florals........that I personally love.........almost to the point that I would spend the money on my own design.

Ricky, what are the price points of the designs you make for display/sale - not special orders as they would have a higher price point, I would imagine.

 

[RWK]

These two wreath designs are typical spring designs for us - both of them created out of partial mixed flower bushes.......

As far as 'typical' price points - While we don't have specific price points as such, we do have general price guidelines they like for us to stay within for the most part. We are fortunate that they realize an important aspect of display and sales. That is that too many 'small designs' give the appearance of a cheap store with no appeal for the higher end customer, conversely all large scale designs appear as high end and discourage a budget minded shopper......but they realize that large scale design give the small design credibility.

Most daily designs we do stay within a 30 to 75 dollar price range.......although we do have some that are over the 300 mark ( and yes, they sell )

 

[sandytf]

Permanent botanicals used to be a big percentage of my sales. It has gone done steadily over the years. I really notice it when I do work at the Dallas Market. The silk companies are closing down like crazy.

What are your ideas about why this is not the good sales it used to be?

On a personal note, I find myself using lots of fresh plants in my house and when I have company, I pick up a few fresh flowers to put in a vase or I go out to my garden and cut fresh product.

But, I can't imagine that the average person has the capabilities to do this as easily as I do. Are they replacing the silks with other types of products or objects of art?

We have always done fairly well with silks. In our situation, we have always sold mostly loose stems. Customers would buy 10 or 12 stems and just drop them in a vase or their own container for a monobotanical look-much like one would see in a Pottery Barn catalog. About two years ago sales in silks started to drop off. But since then (probably starting last fall) I've seen an increase in requests for custom designs. Not sure why? There has definitely been a trend in buying the cash and carry fresh flowers for the past couple years-that's what I attributed to the drop in silk sales. Why I'm seeing an upward trend in custom work now-who knows? I've also started selling pot pourri again. Last summer we started getting requests for it. I picked up a line called Scentual Expressions-really good value-last fall and we've been selling it well ever since. I guess everything goes in cycles!

 

[vikki]

This is one I did for a customer a few months ago. I wanted to take it home..
Sorry about the dark background.

.

 

[sloan]

Your plaque design is VERY clever!

Thanks.

 

[RWK]

More Permanent Botanical designs

Included in this post is a link to a non-public viewable video I made showing some of the amounts of product we get in store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=VUZmYt9ymkc&sharing_token=LXCWz15I6nsIi7yO40_8NQ

The pictures are various designs and a picture of one pallet of spring stems.

 

[Rhonda]

so I take it bird houses are still "in"???

 

[RWK]

The way they are going out the door - not only in designs but just as little decorations.........the answer would be a definite YES.

Although we got in some U-G-L-Y ones........they are out of painted tin.....shaped like a huge daisy flower - and the opening hole for the bird is the center of the daisy.

 

[RWK]

apparently the youtube link is bad......I'll post a correct one in a minute.

Here is the correct link.........It was in the way I privatized the video setting.

So, I had to change it to public view...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUZmYt9ymkc

 

[Seasonals]

Very colorful. Who are the favored vendors for the bunches and stems?

 

[RWK]

That particular shipment came from a company called Silk Vision. The biggest permanent botanical vendors We get from are AllState floral, Regency International, Linz, Silk Vision, - we get stuff in all the time that just has a tag with a bar code and no company id though.

 

[Connie]

Rick, I couldn't give you a green dot, so I'm just going to put this out in front of God and everybody (old Southern expression). You are phenomenal as an artist and as a man. One of my greatest regrets will always be that I could not hire you. God bless you, My Friend.

 

[RWK]

Awwww, Thanks Connie - Out of all my FC friends who are leaving...........You will be at the top of the list as being missed by me.