Class Title: Nursery Rhyme or Fairy Story to be named
Staging: floor 1 metre square, height unrestricted, judged from front
My first though when seeing this class title was Rapunzel. I could not think of another story except Jack and the Beanstalk where I could effectively use the space allocated for this class. My thoughts were not isolated, every other competitor except one (Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage) depicted either Rapunzel or Jack in their designs.
I had a wonderful crafty friend (who has since passed away) that loved to contribute to my designs by making whatever she could as structures. The castle tower is her work – a base of plastic coated wired covered with papermache and painted. This provides the central part of the design with a doll secured at the top to “let down her hair”.
Around the base of the tower are hippeastrums and large foliage to soften the dominance of the tower. Tortured willow branches have been wrapped around the tower for ivy as I could not get an ivy to use. The hippeastrum flowers at the top of the tower are part of an arrangement with mostly foliage to mirror the base placement. Two braids of flax are hanging down the tower from a doll partly hidden in the top arrangement.
A small book of the story has been placed at the front of the design as we were required to name the rhyme/story chosen for out design.
Judging feedback: A good design with plant material in scale. The tower is too dominant for the design – its impact could have been lessened by more muted colouring and more plant material wrapped around it.
