I went to a funeral this weekend and there was a funeral piece that was supposed to be a arrowhead. It was covered with white carnations sprayed brown. It just didn't look right, the shape was correct, but no one knew what it was, and many people just looked at it and made a face. What would some of you have done to make the arrowhead????
When a funeral piece is ugly......
- Thread starter janetaugusta
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I am with you!!
I myself went to several funerals for the Kings family, and dear that crap scared my so bad, was out of line, I have used chocolate hypericum berries, yes it takes alot but worked, also. when I have seen items like this, it was the excuse of oh how much they paid for it.
I myself went to several funerals for the Kings family, and dear that crap scared my so bad, was out of line, I have used chocolate hypericum berries, yes it takes alot but worked, also. when I have seen items like this, it was the excuse of oh how much they paid for it.
thebloomcloset
Well-Known Member
Well..........
Well, did they have anything else on the arrowhead, straps of leather, feathers, etc.? was the arrowhead the right shape? longer in the middle than on the sides?
My two options would have been, cut the shape, cover with leather or suede fabric, tie with leather and attach desert type flowers, feathers etc., to give that arrowhead indian vibe.
My second option, if the customer really wanted flowers would be carnations, dyed browns, different shades, wrapped in leather straps, (like being tied to the arrow) and do flowers on a igloo at the bottom of the spray.
I actually have seen this at a funeral, it was very bad and unfinished. This is the problem with funeral work and really, salesmanship. It really looks bad, (ex. Elvis Thread), but the customer has a vision, but they don't know how to do it, it is our responsibility to create their vision, not a concept that was overcharged and underdone.
The poor customer, imagine, no one knew what she took the time to order and tried to personalize, to convey her emotion. I wonder what the florist thought when she sent the spray out? There is the question......
Well, did they have anything else on the arrowhead, straps of leather, feathers, etc.? was the arrowhead the right shape? longer in the middle than on the sides?
My two options would have been, cut the shape, cover with leather or suede fabric, tie with leather and attach desert type flowers, feathers etc., to give that arrowhead indian vibe.
My second option, if the customer really wanted flowers would be carnations, dyed browns, different shades, wrapped in leather straps, (like being tied to the arrow) and do flowers on a igloo at the bottom of the spray.
I actually have seen this at a funeral, it was very bad and unfinished. This is the problem with funeral work and really, salesmanship. It really looks bad, (ex. Elvis Thread), but the customer has a vision, but they don't know how to do it, it is our responsibility to create their vision, not a concept that was overcharged and underdone.
The poor customer, imagine, no one knew what she took the time to order and tried to personalize, to convey her emotion. I wonder what the florist thought when she sent the spray out? There is the question......
If this had fallen to our shop - the first thing we would have done is to gently persuade the customer that such a piece is not cost effective as experience has shown that most specialty pieces are quite costly to do them in a size that is pleasing to the customer. If he or she persisted, then we would have offered some creative alternatives using real stone arrowheads or faux stone arrowheads, and if he or she still persisted, then it would have come down to a question of cost.......in order to do this piece as you would like it......it would be this price. and name a price high enough to cover size and labor.
If he or she was ok with the cost of such a design - then I would have carved a shape out of styrofoam, covered the form with carnations, then sprayed the entire design with brown spray, and added leather touches, and other things to add authenticity to the design.
If he or she was ok with the cost of such a design - then I would have carved a shape out of styrofoam, covered the form with carnations, then sprayed the entire design with brown spray, and added leather touches, and other things to add authenticity to the design.
Good Ole' Alabama
Well here in Bamaland, LOL, anything you can think of the customers have asked for as a speciality piece. Horse heads, Cars, Fiddles, Fish, Coal Trucks, Boats, Trains, Deer Heads, Pigs, horseshoes, footballs, softballs, bats, and on and on, LOL, OK you get the picture. The trouble is they never want to pay enough. Once in a blue moon you will find someone willing to actually pay the price to make it something really special. I love doing these kind of arrangements though ( when given enough money to work with) shows your talents/artistic ability!!! I agree though I HATE to go to the funeral home and see something that is so ugly that it makes you wonder how this person could even make the customer pay for it!!!!
Well here in Bamaland, LOL, anything you can think of the customers have asked for as a speciality piece. Horse heads, Cars, Fiddles, Fish, Coal Trucks, Boats, Trains, Deer Heads, Pigs, horseshoes, footballs, softballs, bats, and on and on, LOL, OK you get the picture. The trouble is they never want to pay enough. Once in a blue moon you will find someone willing to actually pay the price to make it something really special. I love doing these kind of arrangements though ( when given enough money to work with) shows your talents/artistic ability!!! I agree though I HATE to go to the funeral home and see something that is so ugly that it makes you wonder how this person could even make the customer pay for it!!!!
Carrieann
New Member
Like Flowergirl we get these type of pieces often. Have done things like, Cars, trucks, towtrucks, a firemans axe, a telephone, horseshoes, motorcycle etc... I also really like doing these pieces. They are all priced to order. The planning process takes just as long as the construction process. When possible I ask the customer for a photo. As it is generally is made in rememberace to something the person owned or loved. They are all created to scale (stay in school kids, math DOES apply to the real world)
If I were doing the arrowhead. I would start by figuring the scale and cutting out the overall shape. I would use different shades of brown to give it a realisitc look, create depth if approprate by pushing some of the flowers further down than others, and use embelsishments such as leather straps, feathers, and such.
If I were doing the arrowhead. I would start by figuring the scale and cutting out the overall shape. I would use different shades of brown to give it a realisitc look, create depth if approprate by pushing some of the flowers further down than others, and use embelsishments such as leather straps, feathers, and such.
I live in a VERY small town and another flowershop opened up 2 years ago. These 2 women have no floral experience just some natural talent for designing. However, as all of us trained florists know, there are certain things only training can teach. I see the ugliest pieces from that store! Sometimes I think they have lost their mind with the things they do. Here's the problem. For most of rural Wyoming, a pretty flower is a pretty flower regardless of how it's designed. People keep buying bouquets from them because they don't know the difference between a well designed bouquet and a poor one. I get so frustrated!! And, they are not the cheapest either. Just the "new" place. One time I made a beautiful bouquet with more upscale flowers, newer design. It was returned by a very angry woman. Of course I made her what she wanted, carns and babies breath, roundy moundy. UGH!!!!!
Julene
Well, I made a design earlier today.....( no digital camera to get a pic with....arrgh ) but, this was for a young lady killed in auto accident. She worked in a local day care facilty and the owner came in and wanted something nice "from the kids". We talked about various things until I asked her if there was a particular storybook she read to the children. She said yes. She then went and got the book and brought it in.....I was thinking about a table design with the book mounted at an angle....and I quoted her 175 bucks.
Well, color me surprised when she upped the price to 250 bucks. So, I racked my brain all night on how to do this to get the dollar value and meet her criteria of 'something nice'.
I finally hit on the idea of putting the flowers on a chair ..... as if she was going to sit down and read to the kids.
So, when I got to the shop this morning......I got an old ladderback chair that we had, got the shop owner to give me a dollar value for the chair, contacted the customer and ended up using the book with the chair in an updated version of the old style sympathy peice called " The vacant chair"
The owner of the daycare came in and fell head over heels with this design.....they loved it.
Well, color me surprised when she upped the price to 250 bucks. So, I racked my brain all night on how to do this to get the dollar value and meet her criteria of 'something nice'.
I finally hit on the idea of putting the flowers on a chair ..... as if she was going to sit down and read to the kids.
So, when I got to the shop this morning......I got an old ladderback chair that we had, got the shop owner to give me a dollar value for the chair, contacted the customer and ended up using the book with the chair in an updated version of the old style sympathy peice called " The vacant chair"
The owner of the daycare came in and fell head over heels with this design.....they loved it.
thebloomcloset
Well-Known Member
Awesome
you know, that is the best feeling in this job, getting that rush of emotion and having to challenge yourself to come up with something bigger and better, and I am so glad you pulled it off! It's great being a florist!
you know, that is the best feeling in this job, getting that rush of emotion and having to challenge yourself to come up with something bigger and better, and I am so glad you pulled it off! It's great being a florist!
Rhonda
Well-Known Member
On the same line of thinking "Ugly"...
I had family flowers for my youngest daughter's husbands grandmother today. I did the husbands flowers three weeks ago (they were both late 80's)
The husband's flowers were very nice, styles chosen from a book with colors and flowers changed to suit the family's requests. On Saturday, the "girls" came to order for their Mom and chose the same styles but in lavenders, purples, touches of blue, with pink roses with baby's breath. Their words were "clouded with baby's breath, whispy".
The three pieces, casket spray and off setting easel sprays for the head and foot of the casket were done with larkspur, liatris, campanula, Iris, delphinium, roses, monte casino aster, florigene carnations, sprengerii, plumosa, "touch of cedar" (cause they loved the woods), and bells of Ireland. Then it came time for the gyp. I started out doing the "sheltering of the pieces" with the baby's breath but it is sooooo against my efforts to leave baby's breath behind.... I called one daughter who was adamant about the baby's breath, she came to the shop and we discussed what I was doing and it was what she wanted. She was sobbing saying "it's exactly what Mom would have wanted". Okay, I'm onto it. But they were ugly!! You could just barely see the beautiful canterbury bells, roses, florigene, larkspur or even the greens through this canopy of white!
I went to the visiting and all three girls told me how perfect the pieces were, exactly what they wanted. So I did what my customers wanted...they were all extremely pleased....(but they were still ugly with baby's breath, gotta say it just once more)
I had family flowers for my youngest daughter's husbands grandmother today. I did the husbands flowers three weeks ago (they were both late 80's)
The husband's flowers were very nice, styles chosen from a book with colors and flowers changed to suit the family's requests. On Saturday, the "girls" came to order for their Mom and chose the same styles but in lavenders, purples, touches of blue, with pink roses with baby's breath. Their words were "clouded with baby's breath, whispy".
The three pieces, casket spray and off setting easel sprays for the head and foot of the casket were done with larkspur, liatris, campanula, Iris, delphinium, roses, monte casino aster, florigene carnations, sprengerii, plumosa, "touch of cedar" (cause they loved the woods), and bells of Ireland. Then it came time for the gyp. I started out doing the "sheltering of the pieces" with the baby's breath but it is sooooo against my efforts to leave baby's breath behind.... I called one daughter who was adamant about the baby's breath, she came to the shop and we discussed what I was doing and it was what she wanted. She was sobbing saying "it's exactly what Mom would have wanted". Okay, I'm onto it. But they were ugly!! You could just barely see the beautiful canterbury bells, roses, florigene, larkspur or even the greens through this canopy of white!
I went to the visiting and all three girls told me how perfect the pieces were, exactly what they wanted. So I did what my customers wanted...they were all extremely pleased....(but they were still ugly with baby's breath, gotta say it just once more)
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