submerged flower centerpieces

Status
Not open for further replies.
wildflowerschicago

wildflowerschicago

New Member
Mar 30, 2008
1,964
1,031
0
Palos Heights
www.wildflowerschicago.com
State / Prov
Illinois
Ok, I have a question (that I should know the answer to)...

I am doing a wedding next weekend and the centerpieces are 3 different height cylinder vases with 3 different flowers submerged in them with a candle floating at the top. Every time I have done submerged centerpieces, I have had to do them onsite, at the last minute (and not very successfully at that).

My question is... is there a trick to sticking the little buggers to the bottom (weighting them down) so they can be made in advance and delivered done?

I am submerging 1)black magic rose 2)mokara orchid 3) antique green hydrangea.

Thanks in advance for your ideas!!!!!!
 
Magnets to the rescue

wildflowerschicago said:
Ok, I have a question (that I should know the answer to)...

I am doing a wedding next weekend and the centerpieces are 3 different height cylinder vases with 3 different flowers submerged in them with a candle floating at the top. Every time I have done submerged centerpieces, I have had to do them onsite, at the last minute (and not very successfully at that).

My question is... is there a trick to sticking the little buggers to the bottom (weighting them down) so they can be made in advance and delivered done?

I am submerging 1)black magic rose 2)mokara orchid 3) antique green hydrangea.

Thanks in advance for your ideas!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I do this with magnets. I glue a Swarovski crystal to one magnet, which goes at the bottom on the outside of the vase. The other magnet goes inside the flower. The magnet in the flower is attracted to the magnet on the outside, and sticks it to the side of the vase under water.

You do not need to glue the flower to the magnet. The pressure of the magnet against the glass will hold the flower in place.

With the three styles of flowers, you'd put the magnets into them in different ways. The rose can gently be opened so that the magnet is within a few of the outer petals. For the mokara, you'd choose a blossom near the bottom of the spray and put the magnet in the blossom throat. The hydrangea is a little trickier. You need to gather a little cluster of blossoms together, and stick the magnet into the center of the cluster. It does work.

In case the power of the magnet isn't quite enough to keep any flower where you want it (because the flower is large) you can use two magnets stuck together inside the flower. This almost doubles the power of the magnets.

If the magnets move during delivery, it is VERY simple to just move the outside jeweled magnet up or down, taking the inside magnet with it, to your preferred height.

In the attached picture, (my design in the June 08 issue of Florists' Review) the magnets are holding the callas above the water, but if you fill up the vases with water, the magnets will keep the flowers from floating to the top, too.
 

Attachments

  • Calla magnets.JPG
    Calla magnets.JPG
    375.2 KB · Views: 143
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
we have done in past, have used plumbing solder (acid free) easy to manipulate arround base of flower and heavy enough to sink flowers, put some water in vases off site and then filled the rest of way on site, also had candels floating on top. of course i stole this from a show that went.
 
BJBouquets said:
I do this with magnets. I glue a Swarovski crystal to one magnet, which goes at the bottom on the outside of the vase. The other magnet goes inside the flower. The magnet in the flower is attracted to the magnet on the outside, and sticks it to the side of the vase under water.

You do not need to glue the flower to the magnet. The pressure of the magnet against the glass will hold the flower in place.

With the three styles of flowers, you'd put the magnets into them in different ways. The rose can gently be opened so that the magnet is within a few of the outer petals. For the mokara, you'd choose a blossom near the bottom of the spray and put the magnet in the blossom throat. The hydrangea is a little trickier. You need to gather a little cluster of blossoms together, and stick the magnet into the center of the cluster. It does work.

In case the power of the magnet isn't quite enough to keep any flower where you want it (because the flower is large) you can use two magnets stuck together inside the flower. This almost doubles the power of the magnets.

If the magnets move during delivery, it is VERY simple to just move the outside jeweled magnet up or down, taking the inside magnet with it, to your preferred height.

In the attached picture, (my design in the June 08 issue of Florists' Review) the magnets are holding the callas above the water, but if you fill up the vases with water, the magnets will keep the flowers from floating to the top, too.
Click to expand...
What do you do if you need the flower in dead center of the vase?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
What I do is this.....I cut the stem of the flower fairly short....say about 1 or 2 inches.......then take a long peice of a complementary color of the aluminum wire.....I wrap the wire around the stems of the flowers up snd down the length of the wire, then I play with the wire, twisting and turning till I get a cool wavy shape.....then I re-cut the stems slightly and immerse in the vase of water. To secure....I bend one end of the wire over the lip of the vase.

Of course, when you submerge flowers completely, eventually little air bubbles with form alog the edges of the leaves and petals.....I tell the brides that effect enhances the beauty of the flowers form.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Carrieann said:
I wonder if you can place the second part of the magnet inside the vase under stones on the bottom? Maybe BJ can answer this question?

BJ, would you mind sharing what type of magnets you use and where you get them from?
Click to expand...

I didn't want to get the magnet description too involved. It's difficult to explain things in words... pictures and demonstrations work better for this.

However, we have glued magnets into the dead center bottom of vases. Then, a single steel wire (not aluminum) wire through the bottom stem of the flower sticks to the magnet.

I tried this originally with a hook glued to the bottom. Looked less than elegant and was hard to hook onto. The magnet just goes where it's supposed to on its own.

Part of the reason I didn't originally explain this part is because it's going into the book. I don't want to just share everything in the book for free.

As for magnets, they are similar to the Oasis corsage magnets, but I buy them in many different sizes for different uses. Some teeny-tiny, others fairly large (they can be dangerous)

I buy them in bulk from China, 50,000 at a time. I have been selling smaller amounts to my florist friends cheaper than I could find them myself when I was looking. But I'm not supposed to promote business in this forum, so anyone interested will need to contact me privately. I don't want to break any rules.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Thank you BJ, I understand your discretion. Sorry if I pressured you into sharing a technique you did not wish to at this time. (by the way, I believe you described it perfectly)

Can't wait for your book to come out, please be sure to let us know when it does!!
 
I do more of these than I'd like. They are very popular right now.

We take bamboo sticks and cut them about 1.5" long. Take 2 pieces and form an "X" and wire the flower to the X. Cover with stones. You'll have no problem with the orchids (and might not even need to wire). Roses and hydrangeas are a little more difficult.

To deal with the last minute set up issue, we do all of the wiring the day before, add the stones and fill the bases about a 1/4 of the way. Just make sure you double check them before you add water on site.

I have a submerged flower kit that includes wire, paper towels, bamboo sticks, buckets, pitchers to speed up the process on site. We have a wedding later this month that has 20+ trios and we only have an hour and a half of set up. Should be interesting!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Mocha - out of curiousity, what are you charging for these cylinders may I ask? What kind of labor do you anticipate in prep and on site? My brides are pretty traditional and it's one floral centerpiece after another. This is unchartered water (sorry for the pun) for me...
 
When I have done these in the past I use a couple pliable pieces of curly willow to hold the flowers down... I twist the curly willow in the vase and then tuck the flowers around it. Works great.
I love the Magnet idea, that photo is great BJ!
 
Ok, the wedding is over, and despite delivering in the pouring rain, it all turned out very well. The overall look was very pretty!

The centerpieces were SO easy to make!!!! I used Robin's idea of wiring some washers to the stems with copper bullion thread. The orchid and hydrangea were wired through the flower bracht and the roses were just wired around the stem and pinned upward with a bout pin. I made the centerpieces on Wednesday and kept them in the cooler (filled only to the base of the flower) and filled them the rest of the way on site.

I thought these would be SO labor intensive, but I was wrong as usual!!!! I will be showing them again to budget minded brides, as they give a nice impact without being too expensive.

My caution...I was trying to be overly efficient and was carrying 3 of the tallest cylinders full from the kitchen of the banquet hall, and I gracefully tripped (Keep in mind that this was the last stop of my 3 weddings Saturday, and the remnants of Ike had made his way to Chicago, so I was wet and exhausted). Anyway, I managed not to completely fall and break glass all over the dining room, but I did spill what felt like a gallon of water down the entire right side of my body. There I was, in my white polo shirt, drenched from shoulder to knee. Naturally, I had to make my back out to the van (through a vestibule full of people from an earlier wedding) for at least 3 more trips. Nothing like your florist having their own little wet t-shirt contest at your wedding...can you say CLASSY?!?!?!?
 

Attachments

  • late summer 2008 109.jpg
    late summer 2008 109.jpg
    756.4 KB · Views: 52
  • late summer 2008 107.jpg
    late summer 2008 107.jpg
    664 KB · Views: 78
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
wildflowerschicago said:
Ok, the wedding is over, and despite delivering in the pouring rain, it all turned out very well. The overall look was very pretty!

The centerpieces were SO easy to make!!!! I used Robin's idea of wiring some washers to the stems with copper bullion thread. The orchid and hydrangea were wired through the flower bracht and the roses were just wired around the stem and pinned upward with a bout pin. I made the centerpieces on Wednesday and kept them in the cooler (filled only to the base of the flower) and filled them the rest of the way on site.
Click to expand...

Glad it all worked out well. Your bride should be very pleased. Nice job.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back