Permanent Botanical design and display

[lori042499]

I find that consumers are very hard to educate about permanents....They come into my store and like my arrangements that are made and immediatly go right to the high end realistic ones, but then choke at the price, then turn their nose up at the cheap ones(I have both, only because the store came with some 600-1000 stems of some cheaper end silks and then some really bad cemetary quality bushes, Yuck!!!)

I am a permanent snob and only like to work with realistic single stem items, but will use some of the mediocre quality stuf for window displays if need be...with Michaels, AC Moore and Target it is real hard for people to see the value in a really good quality silk....the mindset here is I want to pay 25-30 bucks and I want it to last forever, even though I like this 150.00 arrangement that will go perfect in my home on my marble top credenza in my 700,000 dollar house....with a grand foyer...

 

[DebbyC]

What is your website address, Rick? I'm doing an article on permanent botanical sales and designs and I would very much llike to do a phone interview with you.

 

[RWK]

Our internet site is www.carolinapotteryusa.com - It is a not an e-commerce site. I will not be back in the store though till this coming Monday.

 

[Twila]

HOLY COW...that's a whole lot a silks!!!

 

[RWK]

We'll be getting new shipments now about every two/three weeks now through spring and summer.

 

[RWK]

Yeah, It is a LOT of silks...........but the one thing that you would be surprised by..........All that massive amount of product........containers galore, pots of every description, and tons of home decor stuff that you could accent with flowers........and it can get overwhelming. You would think "OMG - Look at all this stuff, it's a designer's DREAM "........ and that is not always the case.

 

[Rhonda]

So yesterday I saw an ad on TV for a "liquidation store" that received a shipment from a "bankrupt" west coast silk flower supplier... so today off I go down the interstate to one of their smaller stores (40 minutes from me) and bought lots of wonderful Aldik and AAF silks.... Prices ranged from $.29 - $2.39 - can't wait to get some time now...... my windows will benefit, lots of tall interesting stuff..... will try to take a pic of the haul on Monday. Neat stuff I would never buy from my regulars because the prices were too high. (also some ceramic urns for $7.09 each)
As this was one of their smallest stores, I can't imagine what they have in the larger stores down state......

 

[terri]

Ricky, I can't imagine having that kind of product available to design with! Are you allowed to use anything you want?

terri

 

[RWK]

Yes, The other designer and myself have total creative freedom. The only thing that is asked is that we showcase all the product, not just floral, but containers, home decor, pottery, and all our other merchandise as best we can.

We are asked to keep retail prices .........reasonable and realistic......for the design created. For instance, a 4.99 ceramic pot with a few garden flowers, perhaps a bird or butterfly is expected to hover around the 30/35 price point........whereas a 49.99 footed decorative urn is expected to be arranged and created at a higher price point.

To give an example......these two designs show what I am speaking of - the small design in the clay pot is a 36.99 retail design - the birdhouse had a 4.99 retail price point.
The other design is a 39.99 footed urn......the branches in the design are a set of three bendable, shapable pre-lit branches ( not battery operated/AC powered ) that retail for 34.99

So, the large pot with the addition of green and white flowers including silk green goddess callas, lime amaryllis, jade roses, and other flowers and foliages has a retail price over 200.00

Both the designs sold by the way.

When I was creating the little birdhouse design......I was asked how much I expected the design to be by one of our managers, I told him that I expected it to be no more than 40.00 tops. The house is only 6.6 inches tall.....He asked why.......I told him that with the size of the house, the size of the pot, that anything super large and dramatic would not showcase the house properly.

 

[Rhonda]

These are some of the urns and permanents I bought at a liquidation warehouse - Aldik & AAF product.
(attempt at a Hogarth)

 

[RWK]

That is a gorgeous hogarth design.

 

[RWK]

Over the weekend, I am going to take some more pictures of work I am doing. In the last two days, I have taken over 1000 dollars of custom permanent botanical orders......split between four customers, two of them were so satisified with what I created for them previously, they are coming back to me for more.

 

[Rhonda]

Here's two more of my window pieces. These are the liquidated silks from AAF/Aldik I picked up.
(BTW, my daughter is scoping out the stores down state to see what else is around)

 

[RWK]

The arrangement here is one I created for Mom's gravesite. - I did it in a low mounded euro-style look. Fantastic visual value and quite affordable

Ingredients were - 1 pre-made forsythia/twig wreath (retail value 19.99), 1 yellow rose bush (retail value 4.99), 1 yellow/white petunia bush (retail value 1.99), 1 yellow parrot tulip bush (retail value 6.99), 2 stems of yellow gerbera (retail value .99 stem), 2 stems of yellow lily (retail value 4.99 stem), and 1 stem yellow cosmos (retai value 2.49 stem), memorial styrofoam cone base (1.69) I think it turned out beautiful.

One 'perk' we have is that when ever we create a design for ourselves or a co-worker/fellow employee - we do not charge labor on the design.....just material cost and the employee discount comes off that.

 

[RWK]

More Permanent Botanical Designs

Been a while since I have posted to this thread. Got a few little things to showcase.

A grapevine wreath with a custer of orchids, A straw wreath composed entireely out of the left-over bits, peices, and flowers from other designs, A big wreath with sisal daisies, A metal heron bird in his habitat, A mountain cabin design for a deer hunter, A wreath design out of hotpink and green twig orbs and orange gerbera, and a picture frame design created out of dried materials ( I really liked making this one ), and some other little things

 

[anytimeflowers]

Ricky, those are great, thanks for sharing! I especially love love love the heron. I also like your "angel" wreath, you got the halo in there. Nice!

 

[Floral Pride]

I sell quite a few displays,mainly in the £35 to £95 range, the most popular are Scottish themed with thistles and heathers.
The customers also like grave posies in silks