The manual of floral designing

Front matter

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CHAPTER II— Pillows

The Pillow — The Right Beginning — How to Stem Hardy Ferns; to Cover Frames; Prepare Stock — Stemming Flowers for Design — Outlining; the Steps from the Beginning to the Finished Design Explained — The Garland Pillow. Pp. 14-21

CHAPTER VI— Funeral Sprays

The Funeral Spray — The Secret of Artistic Result — Faults to be Avoided — Getting the Material Ready — Constructing the Spray— The Final Touches — A Correct Ribbon Bow. Pp. 45-52

CHAPTER VI I— Casket Covers and Palls

Casket Cover— Pall. Pp. 53-60

CHAPTER VI 1 1— Table Decorations

Table Decorations — The Influence of the Prevailing Mode is Shown in Milady's Selection of Flowers for the Dinner Table. — A Forecast of Catchy Combinations that Conform with the Season. Pp. 61-71

CHAPTER IX— Wedding Bouquets

Wedding Bouquets — Characteristics of a Good Wedding Bouquet — Learning How to Produce it — The Forearm Shower — Always Deliver Ahead of Time— Taking the Order. Pp. 73-81

CHAPTER X — Corsage Bouquets and Boutonnieres

Corsage Bouquets — A Review of Best, Easiest and Quickest Methods Used by the Store Artist, Showing the Importance of Every Detail — How to Make a Correct Boutonniere. Pp. 83-90

CHAPTER XI— Wedding Decorations

Materials in General Use and How to Use Them — Decorative Properties — The Prie-dieu, the Gates and Canopy — Objective Points to Cover in Both Church and Home. Pp. 91-100

CHAPTER XII

Miscellaneous Decorations in Hotel and Private Home

The Modern Interior Calls for Relief Decoration, Except Where a Transformation is Required — A Lesson on Table Decorating, Defining the Three Kinds, and Explaining the Method of Doing the Work.

ILLUSTRATIONS

American Flag 32

Arm Bunch of Roses 77

Ballroom Decoration... . ...... .107

Basket of Roses, Delphiniums,

Spiraeas and Lilies 40

Bouquet, Bride's 72

Arm Bunch of Roses 77

Formal Bridal 79

Formal Bridesmaid. 80

Corsage 82, 84

Boutonnieres . . 89

Casket Cover, Lily of the Valley. . 55

Lilium longiflorum. Carnations and Valley 57

Wire Frame for 58

Church Wedding Decoration 98

Corsage Bouquet of Cattleyas... .82

Of Cattleyas and Lily of the

Valley 84

Couplet, A Rose 48

Decorations, Miscellaneous.

Interior Decorated on a la carte plan 102

Stage of a Modern Ballroom.. 107 Emblem, Woodmen of the World. .31

Artistic, used as a Funeral Design 34

Elaborate, made on a Panel ... 36

Hairpin Clutch 16

Pillow, Garland, Diagram for.. 15,17

Design of 19

Regulation, of mixed flowers.. .20 Prie-dieu at Home Wedding. ... 93

Spray of Callas 47

Of Roses, Carnations and Hyacinths 50

Table Decoration, Pink Acro-

cliniums and ferns 62

Cattleya orchids and Adian-

tum ferns 65

Pink and white Sweet Peas and Adiantum ferns. 67

Urn, Floral 43

Wedding Bouquets. (See Bouquets).

• A Near View of Prie-dieu at

Home Wedding 93

Elaborate Home Decoration

for Autumn Wedding 96

A Church Wedding Decoration. 98

Wire Frames:

Standing Wreath 9

Broken Column 9

Pillow with Designs Ift

Standing Heart 11

Harp 11

Wreath 12"

Standing Crescent and Star.... 13

Crescent Wreath 13

Casket Cover 58;

Wreath, Decorative, in Crescent

Decorative, Heroic Style of.. . .26

Shower 27

Of Ornamental Foliage 29

Chapter I

Text Books and Practical Experience both Necessary . . . Wire Frames . . . Mossing a Pillow Frame

UPON looking for some printed work on floral designing, we found no practical help outside of our albums of photographs. One large concern had organized a class of instruction, where private tutoring was given once a week, thus demonstrating the value of teamwork and expert assistance.

A woman florist in the beginners' class asked for assistance on wedding bouquets, offering to pay well for the tutoring. She said that the best trade of her town was beyond her reach, because people did not think that she had opportunities to learn the fine points of the art. The practical help was given and the business was gained.

The number of retail florists, particularly women, is increasing each year. No one questions their right to engage in this line of useful activity. There is no sex in business, any more than to mathematics. Good taste, courtesy, judgment, foresight and physical endurance, are not in any way limited.

The future may see an unusual demand for good floral designers and store artists, who must work with a knowledge of the best ways and methods now in use, and not by some crude, wasteful method of their own.

This brings us face to face with the need of training as a means of helping the retail store to success. Since those who read this book are daily practicing floral work in some field this will permit the use of trade terms, short cuts in copy and less illustration. Even the novice has

WIRE FRAMES AND MOSSING 9

some experiencej and to use his own words: "All I want is some idea of the ways used by the best designers, to help improve my own work."

Florists, as a rule, give each other credit for knowing something. Thus it is that our national societies prosper and our business is a factor in the business world.

Fig. 1. — Standing wreath

Let us now proceed on our little journey in designing, by starting at the very beginning.

Only Two Types of Wire Frames

Wire frames present only two outHnes: Straight and curved; a straight edge and an arc, are the two types presented.

The wire frame-maker has two styles, the flat frame and the box frame. The box frame has a double wire on the edge, making it easier to moss and more secure.

It is always used when a sharp outline is demanded, as in emblems.

It is a good plan to carry a line of frames of representative sizes in stock. Besides these, carry some extra wire bases for mounting wreaths, etc., when you have no combination frame in stock. Keep some wire tripods and a couple of wooden easels in your store room; also the large frarnes of "vacant chair," "broken columns," "gates ajarj" etc. Equip your tool-box with a complete outfit for cutting and changing frames. This outfit should

Pillow with designs consist of a pair of large combination wire-cutters and pliers, a chisel and a roll of No. 15 wire for lashing the sections together.

To Moss A Pillow Correctly

The fundamental principle in set designs is clearness of outline. No matter how elaborate your treatment in the making, this principle must be strictly observed. Many square, shapeless pillows are not entirely due to the bad eye of the designer, but to the poor mossing of the frame. Let an artist be given a frame that is not

WIRE FRAMES AND MOSSING

Fig. 4.— Standing Heart

Fig, 5, — Harp mossed properly and see what happens. Almost anyone in the store can moss a pillow frame after he learns how. Obviously then^ a well-made design must begin with the mossing.

The pillow is a representative design. In mossing this frame first cover the back on the inside with heavy wrapping paper or foil. For tying material I prefer, instead of string, a shuttle of wire, about No. 23. The green wood moss, when obtainable, is the best for all frames, although some use Sphagnum all the year. Do not saturate the moss before using it. If the moss is kept in a damp cellar it will be moist enough. After the frame is mossed, if it is to be put away for future use, do not wet it, for when it dries out again the moss will be as hard as a cinder. Soak the mossed frames when ready to use and allow the excess water to run out.

Begin by mossing at the upper right-hand corner, making it full and deep like the bow of an inverted boat. Use the left hand for holding the moss in place, while

Fig. 6.— Wreath

you wrap with the right. Make just enough turns with the wire to make it firm. After finishing one corner, do the lower one on the right and then the other two. Be sure to have them all alike. Then fill in the center, piling the moss in with the right hand and pressing into place with the left. When the center is filled, molded into a solid mass and tied, go over it with shears and clip off the ragged ends. If the job is good the work will be smooth and rounded, tapering from the highest point in the center to the four corners. If it is flat and uneven, with soft spots, holes and ridges, where the corners join the body of the pillow, it is a poor job and will not pass.

WIRE FRAMES AND MOSSING

Fig. 7. — Standing Crescent and Star

Fig. 8. — Crescent Wreath

Mark well the edges^ that they are filled fully so that the edging of fern leaves will not drop out. There is nothing about mossing that should require any special mention, yet this operation is of vital importance. Anyone who understands how to moss a pillow properly can moss any frame as well. The main points to remember and observe are evenness and proportion: that is, neither too thick nor too thin for the size of the frame.

Chapter II

The Pillow . . . The Right Beginning . . . How to Stem Hardy Ferns; to Cover Frames; Prepare Stock . . . Stemming Flowers for Design . . . Outlining; the Steps from the Beginning to the Finished Design Explained . . . The Garland Pillow

npHE pillow is, perhaps, one of the earliest designs used. ^ As an emblem, it belongs to the home and is nearly always ordered by the immediate family, consequently there are more pillows made than all other designs put together, excepting wreaths. Before we begin the construction of this piece, let us first consider some of the personal characteristics that a man or woman must possess to be successful in this vocation.

An artist must have an eye for color and outline; a musician an ear that appreciates the varieties of tone color. One is eye-minded the other is ear-minded, yet they both know beauty and harmony. An ambulance driver in France must have endurance and steady nerves. The business of the retail florist is more exacting than is apparent from the front of the store. He, too, must know what harmony is, and endurance and steadiness. The customers of the retailer all know him to be busy, yet they can think of no order that could possibly demand such immediate and exacting service as their order. Much is therefore expected of the storeman and his assistants. Take a mental inventory of yourself. See if you have the following qualities in stock. If you have them all in good supply, you are well equipped and the technique of designing will be easy. If short or lacking in some of them, do not despair, they can be developed by practice. The price is continued efl^ort.

Fig. 9. — Diagram for a Garland Pillow The dark spaces show the sections to be filled solid with Carnations or a substitute. The two crescent spaces marked G are to*be occupied by Roses, etc., forming the garlands, which run to a point of a single Rose bud, and extend ten or twelve inches beyond the frame at the corners

The floral artist must

First: Be able to think and to plan. To think and to think quickly on your feet, for the floral designer is ever a footworker.

Second: He must be able to picture the work mentally before it is begun. This is the faculty of imagination and is priceless. Without the aid of this mental architecture your materials would lie useless before you.

Third: Next, the maker-up must have a good eye, even the eye of an artist. Observe, read, watch what is being used and worn. Look for color in everything, and you will soon be able to recognize pleasing combinations readily and detect lack of harmony.

Fourth : You must be quick, decisive. Everything must go together with a cHck, and it is finished. It takes practice to do this, and while you should move quickly, you must never hurry.

In summing up these four personal requisites, let me say that all instruction can ever do or is intended to do is to be a guide just to help you get hold of the true idea. All things that talent does are within the reach of him who wants them enough to work for them.

The Hair-Pin Clutch

In mossing the pillow frame, we found that the principal point was evenness and proportion. We are now ready to make up. The first step is the stemming. As a. setting for the floral work, it is best to edge all pillow frames with hardy ferns. Some designers omit this, but it adds a great deal to the finished design, by cutting out the view of the feet and back. Take two or three fern leaves in the left hand, place them together like the ribs of a fan, and after breaking off the stem ends, turn a No. 20 wire on them, with a big loop up the back. This is the hair-pin clutch and there is no getting away from it. (See Figure 10.)

When you put the ferns into the frame, enter them in the lower edge, with a slight dip downward. Use them pretty thick and the pillow will look as if it were resting on a bank of fern leaves and not standing unsupported in the air, as it looks without them?

It is our intention in these lessons to pay strict attention to right beginning and to good methods, omitting non-essentials between the Fig. 10.— beginning of a design and the splendid detail

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clutch at the nnish.

Fig. 1 1.— In this diagram the garlands are reversed, being now on the top and bottom,

instead of the sides, as in the one on the left. Note that in designing a pillow, every

line is a curved line

Carry on hand some box wire in two or three numbers, 19, 21 and 23. For store wire leave out No. 19 and substitute Nos. 24 and 26 for winding on. shuttles. I do not favor or advise the use of toothpicks. Some designers use them exclusively. I believe this is on account of the dry Sphagnum used in mossing. Where green moss is used, toothpicks are unnecessary, except the long green ones used in base of large designs.

In stemming Roses, cut the stems to the lengths desired, which will be from jin. to Sin. Hold the Rose between the thumb and fingers of the left hand and enter the wire in the calyx with the right. Push it through and turn the end down about M-in. In turning the wire down the stem, use the thumb and fingers of the right hand. Don't turn it with an over-arm movement. Your fingers will get so strong from use in stemming that your friends will be afraid to shake hands with you. You can stem two Roses to every one of the fellow who turns the wire with his hand and arm.

Making a Mixed Pillow

An ordinary mixed pillow, where no attempt is made to carry a special design, requires no special treatment outside of the caution to keep the outline clear. Cover the moss with Laurel tips. This is a quick and efficient foundation. It requires no stemming and fills up so well that it will tighten up the design and make the work last longer, by keeping the air from getting through under the flowers. It is much superior, in every way, to fern leaves tacked flat on the moss.

The letter can either be put on a solid bed in the center, or a better way is to use adhesive letters, sticking them on a short piece of ribbon and fastening it on in any portion that suits your taste.

In finishing do not stick a number of plumosus tips in among the flowers. This is a common error among those who never stop to think that the proper use of greens is not to cloud the flowers and make the outline hazy. A little Adiantum used with discretion will give a softening and pleasing effect but it much not be overdone. The time given for making a mixed pillow, size 2oin., including the mossing, should be one hour, all the work being done by one person.

The Garland Pillow

The pillow of mixed flowers has no special character in its arrangement. In contrast to this is the garlandstyle pillow, which follows a definite plan in its make-up.

In this, we return to our early discovery that a pillow design is formed by segments of four circles intersecting each other. (See Figure 12.) The pillow is therefore a circular design and all its lines are curved. The garland style should only be used where a good price is given, for it takes considerable material and looks best in larger sizes.

Fill in the shade4 crescents shown in Figures 9 and 1 1 with solid bedding. This should be as flat as the moss itself in order to emphasize the garlands which fill in the white crescents. Fill these white crescents with Laurel tips, just as in the other frame, but be careful not to get the effect too bushy. To begin the garland, make a thin spray of Roses with loin. or I2in. stems, each Rose wired to keep the head from breaking. Start with one Rose and work back, using only about six Roses, and greens. This is the end of the garland. Fasten one end on each corner, by running a wire clear through the corner and twisting it on the back of the frame. Because these hang over like the end of a festoon, there is no danger of their pulling out as if just stuck in on a wood pick.

Fig. 12. — ^The space formed by the segments of four circles intersecting thus is the design of the pillow j^jimM^ ,

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Continue these corners by filling in the usual way with open Roses and heavy flowers close to the moss, and top off with the small Roses and trimming flowers, gradually getting higher and wider to the center and then reversing the direction to the opposite corner. These crescents should be pretty full and well rounded with very little green showing. On the 22in. frame, loo Roses, 50 in each garland, will barely suffice. Now finish the design by running an edging of any flower, like Sweet Peas, Roman Hyacinths, etc., all around the entire frame. Put them in long and let them hang over the fern leaves forming the base. Put a small cluster, like three orchids, directly in the center of the solid work between the garlands in Figure 9. In Figure 11, where the garlands run the long way, the name can be used on the solid center.

Now stand off and view your work. Here is a secret of the studio, in detecting any defects in symmetry. Stand back a couple of paces, partly close both eyes and look through the lashes. See how the form and lines of the design come before your view in bold relief, as the detail of the flowers is diminished. Try it and see your work as others see it.

Chapter III

The Wreath . . . Several Kinds Available . . . The

Decorated Wreath . . . The Solid Wreath . . . The

Shower Wreath . . . Use the Album of Designs to Make

a Better Sale

T^HE most useful floral design in the wreath. As an -^ emblem it is universal. The word wreath means garland. In ancient Rome and Greece it was a symbol of victory, a proclamation of triumph, a crown for the hero. In its present-day use, as a funeral token, it still holds the same significance in the conquering of the "last enemy,'* but not exactly in the same sense.

In Europe it is the custom to present a laurel wreath to the director of the Royal Opera, a great composer or any other celebrity on some fete occasion as a token of appreciation. In our large American cities, the conductor of the symphony orchestra is given a similar token, in the form of a wreath of Magnolia leaves, by his musicians at the farewell concert of the season or on some other signal occasion.

As a funeral design the wreath can be made very formal or very artistic. It may run in price from $2 to $200. A wreath can be made in as many styles and combinations of flowers as you can think of; in fact, do what you will in the treatment of this frame, it will never lose its identity.

The designer who prides himself on his initiative and originality here finds an ever present opportunity. To him the wreath gives a free reign.

Kinds of Wreaths Classified

There are round, crescent or broken and mounted

wreaths. In make-up we have three distinct styles, 22 namely: Figure 14, the decorated wreath; Figure 15, the sohd wreath and Figure 17, the shower wreath.

The old-fashioned, formal wreath, with its edging of Smilax and Rose Leaves, its close-cropped filling of Roses,

-Decorative Wreath in crescent style. Leucothoe leaves as substitute for Laurel

Carnations, Alyssum and what-not, is no longer made in the larger stores of the city, but it will always be a good medium for using up the odds and ends about the small place, with its own greenhouses.

Funeral designs are just as much in use as ever. Styles and customs alone change the manner of usage. It is well that they do^ for in a metropolitan store^, a design like the wreath just mentioned would not be profitable at the prevailing price, while a low priced spray is acceptable business in any store.

The Decorated Wreath

The decorated wreath came into popular use with the introduction of the Galax leaf. Other materials used in foundations are Leucothoe, Laurel, Ivy, Magnolia, Oak and Bay leaves. The last three are chemically prepared and are too well known to need comment. The regular crescent wreath frame, with its tapering lines, is best for use in the decorated wreath, which consists simply of a leaf-covered frame, decorated three-fourths of the distance around with a garland of flowers. The style, because of its quickness in preparing and effectiveness, has done more to promote the design business than anything lately introduced.

There are two methods of putting on the leaf foundation. The first is the flat method, by which the leaves are stapled on like shingles. The second is to stem the leaves and enter them in the moss in a slanting position. The first method gives a close woven base, which should be made evenly. Be sure and pick out the smallest leaves for the narrow side and use the large ones in the wide base opposite. Figure i beautifully illustrates the decorated or garland wreath in classic design.

Figure i6 illustrates a large, heroic form of the wreath of Magnolia leaves. In making this up, use a large box frame and moss it rather fully. Stem the leaves in pairs — side by side — using the heaviest wire you can turn with the hair-pin clutch. When the leaves are all in the frame it will present a very massive appearance, with proportions of width and depth. Like all decorated wreaths^ it looks well with only a few flowers, but it can be made as heavy and elaborate as desired.

The Solid Wreath By a solid wreath we mean a design in which the foundation, as well as the decoration, is composed of flowers. It is a conventional design and the style is an old one. It is illustrated in Figure 15. Lilium speciosum rubrum can be used instead of Roses. They are much more effective and oftentimes cheaper. In the solid part, use white Carnations, Petunias, or any bedding flower.

The Shower Wreath When several wreaths are ordered for the same funeral, and we wish still more variety, we have the shower

Fig, 15.'/— The old style solid wreath is a good money maker with

the average florist. It gives variety anyway, when there are a

dozen wreaths ordered for the same funeral

Fig. 16.— The heroic style of decorated wreath, as the base

Magnolia leaves wreath. This is the third style under our classification, and while it may be said to be somewhat freakish, it nevertheless represents a fixed idea in designing. The shower has doubtless been given to the wreath from the bouquet in an attempt to relieve the monotony of the circle. The wedding bouquet and the funeral wreath are in no way related, so when you make the shower wreath, never use narrow ribbons in the shower. Figure 17 is an illustration of the shower wreath when it is well done.

While all the varied forms and combinations come under the three classifications of decorated, solid and shower wreaths, we are occasionally called upon to furnish something still different and we make a wreath entirely of foliage. (See Figure i8.) This design belongs to the decorated wreath class. It can be augmented by the addition of a few flowers, but they must harmonize in

Fig. 17. — The shower wreath is an effective design when it is well done color or form. As a suggestion, a few choice varieties of single Dahlias would blend with the color in the Croton leaves, while Easter Lilies, Asters or pink Roses would destroy the beauty of the foliage.

The wreath is the most profitable design. With the wealth of materials available at all times, it is up to the retailer if he doesn't make money. The leading supply houses now carry and offer mossed frames in all sizes, covered with Magnolia or Oak, all ready to make up. With these foundations on hand, the making of a beautiful design is but the matter of a few minutes, while with emblems and other set designs, which we are to take up in our next paper, it is necessary to spend several hours in the completion. At the same price which kind is the more profitable ?

How TO Use the Album in the Store

Not all storemen use the album of floral designs as it should be used. The first thing to remember is that it is not intended that you should sell a reproduction of a design in the book. These designs are suggestive only, and not intended to show how to make up. Suppose now that you are using "Floral Designs De Luxe".^ This book covers a wide range, in fact, the whole range of floral art, so do not hand it to your customer to look at. Find out first what the customer has in mind. If he has nothing special in view, suggest something, and then turn directly to the page where it is shown. Handle the book yourself. Begin at once to talk, while the picture holds your customer's attention. Go on with your suggestions as to the kind of flowers, according to available stock, etc. Make no specific reference to the picture. You are not selling photographs, for flowers are flowers to most people, and it is better to have it remain so. Watch for and expect increased interest from your customer, for that is just what the album of photographs is intended to do. It will postpone the close of the sale until the customer's confidence and interest is so great that he decides to get a $15 design instead of a $10 one. The album will always get favorable attention. It will increase interest as shown, but it remains with you to close the sale into a profitable one.

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Fig. 18.— The^wreath of ornamental foliage for those who want something different

Chapter IV

Emblems . . . Choice of Methods . . . Amusing Designs

Wanted by Customers . . . Keep your Poise . . . Don't

Take the Fault-finder too Seriously

/^^ ENERALLY speaking, all floral designs are em-

^J blems. The cross, the anchor, star, crescent, crown and horseshoe are all emblems, yet under our treatment of this subject we must draw a line between these designs and emblems proper, as known in the trade.

Designs in general both large and small, mounted or unmounted^ need no different treatment from the pillow and wreath. The principle, that of correctness of outline, is the same in all, and in a good understanding of this principle there will be no round-cornered crosses^ neither will the points of the star, the anchor, etc., be bounded by curved edges, instead of running to a well defined point as they should. So important is this that once your eye is trained to its correct observance, you may be said to have mastered the art of floral designing.

We shall now take up the subject of those stereotyped designs that we call emblems, by beginning with a definition. A floral emblem is a copy in flowers, of some other emblem or of something emblematic. It may be taken from a lodge button, or it may be an original design depicting a symbol, scene or historical event. In copying the design of an emblem, the facsimile should carry a marked accuracy of outline, proportion and color. In view of this fact, it is often necessary to resort to the use of certain materials, besides flowers, for to reproduce some things in flowers is impossible.

Fig. 19.— Emblem for the Woodmen of the World

Emblems are not always made for funeral use. In fact, the floral artist, especially the one who adds the title of decorator to his name, is likely to be called on at any time, for something original. If his interpretation is a good one, it may bring him everlasting fame in his community and a reputation that cannot be bought by paid advertising.