Now here is a title that really challenges a floral designer! Achromatic means that it should only contain black, white and grey/silver. Added to that is the ever present requirement that plant material must predominate and a minimum (usually stated as a percentage of the completed design) of painted/coloured material can be used.
The challenge with these and other “single” colour designs is to ensure that you don’t introduce another colour, such as green foliage or stems or stamens.
My thinking for this design centred around the fantasy idea. I wanted it to look as though we were gazing through a crystal ball and seeing something very different to the reality around us….all this in black, white and grey!
The container for this design is a glass vessel which I think may have been used for an air plant originally. I have placed white stones in the bottom of the glass with a small amount of water to secure the placements of fresh plant material. The glass section of the container has a hole near the top of the front which I have used to insert shitaki mushrooms (white fresh plant material) and dried silver painted fern.
The container itself did not fill the allocated space sufficiently so I have placed it inside a black glossy round vase partially covered in silver tissue paper (paper is allowed as a plant “based” material for this design) with some horizontal placements of more mushrooms and dried fern.
Judges comments: The black of the container dominated this design and detracts from the overall effect. There is no feeling of fantasy or rhythm.
My review comments: Yes I agree the black surround of the container dominated this design. The fern was not the right choice as it does not give the ethereal feel I was expecting. Perhaps having it all placed vertically in front of the container would have made it look more like a “fantasy” forest that we could look through.
