Another challenging class title – how do you show “nautical” inspiration with plant material? My mind worked through what the word nautical means to me bearing in mind I didn’t (naturally) want to interpret this in a simple way by just using a boat shaped container….
So I went with a broader “sea” interpretation, thinking about waves crashing on a beach and how inspiring that can be to watch. The awesome power of the sea is something I do find inspiring but would the judges follow my thinking?
The structure is made of two components – a brown metal stand with a top section containing floral foam and a separate but tied together palm frond stem (the extremely hard section to which the leaf is attached). The palm stem has been edged with agapanthus and sisal rope (you can see the technique for the agapanthus rope by clicking here). The base twisted piece is a palm infloresence naturally dried to this swirling shape.
In the top section I have used curly leaf kale, white chysanthemums and tulips to mimic the waves and sea foam crashing over the “driftwood” of the palm infloresecence. A small section of agapanthus rope made into a fishing net is placed between the top section and the bottom to connect the two parts as well as mask the back of the structural support. Gypsophila is used throughout for added “spray” effect.
This design placed third.
Judges comments: Excellent techniques on show. The tulips needed to come down further to bring the colour through the design as well as more gypsophila in the base of the design to soften the visual impact of the base placement. This would also have helped with the balance as the design is top heavy with colour but bottom heavy with the impact of the palm.
