This design was for a National Designer Competition where we were required to submit a sketch of our proposed design for consideration about 3 month prior to the competition. A panel of judges selected 8 designs to be staged for the competition with the title “Poetry In Motion”. The designs had to be a minimum of 2 metres in height and were to be on display for 4 days after judging.
I have very mixed feelings about this competition. I have competed previously and felt that each year, whether I was competing or not, the judging did not follow the established judging rules for floral art. That said it is a very prestigious competition and those selected to compete look forward to the challenge (including me!).
Planning began in the backyard – the only place I could have a trial run of the structure. It is a requirement of the competition that minimal construction happens before the staging day. We have 8 hours on the day to complete our designs.
My idea was to have a sphere that showed plant material movement with a subtle covering of the stand in poetry printed on paper. The main sphere is made from hula hoops cut in half with wire to tension them against one another. They were then covered with thin cork and secured to the top of a three leg metal hat/coat stand.
Deconstructed placemats of dried and braided water hyacinth foliage are attached to the “arms” and left to fall for additional movement. Two willow wreath rings are attached to the top of the sphere to provide for the hanging paper mache balls that will be covered with the printed poetry paper. (For the paper mache ball technique click here).
This is the staging area – a genuinely blank canvas with just the supplied base in place.
The legs of the hat/coat stand were covered with the printed poetry pages, dried strelitzia leaves , craspedia, gymea lily foliage and palm leaves were added to provide movement in the design. A wire edged metal ring was used at the base to give extra stability to the structure and a starting point for the plant material moving upwards in the design.
The best laid plans………after I finished staging I took a walk around video and realised the tensioning of the sphere was not equal, making it look lopsided. There was nothing I could do to remedy this as the staging time was almost finished and now the structure was complete I couldn’t actually physically get the the height to try any adjustments.
Prior to judging the sphere did fall slightly meaning it was not at the required height and was therefore “Not According To Schedule” leading to the design being disqualified. It was left on display and did gain some popular public support.