This design was produced for a training day for new floral art judges. It therefore has some obvious issues that should be noted by the judges and trainees. When we do these designs, however, there is still an element of “competition” between the designers staging them!!
This design would be classed as contemporary. “Wrapping” is a technique that can be used in contemporary designs. More often we see plant material wrapped in wool or twine rather than the plant material itself being the wrap. I wanted to highlight the idea of the plant material (the bark) being the wrapping as this might give me more points for creativity/interpretation in the judging.
The base is a small saucer with a kenzan (pinholder) and some water, hidden from view by the bark that wraps around the base of the design.
The plant material is at two heights – pineapple lilly and foliage at one level with native grasses at the top level. Once again bark waraps around the design.
Whilst I can’t share the judges comments (since it was a training exercise for them), I will tell you what needs attention in this design.
- The relative height/placement of the plant material needs work.
- There are two definite sections of the design – the top wrap of bark cuts the design in two visually.
- The design is bottom heavy -too much plant material in the lower part of the design.
- Care should always be taken with the finish – small ends of grass stems pointing out and away from the design would mean lost marks. Sometimes there is only fractions of marks between award winners so everything needs to be as perfect as you can make it when you finish staging.
