If the competition pieces at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show are anything to go by, florists have a special set of skills that mean they can create just about anything with unlikely materials. While everyone knows a florist can pull together a hand-tied in a matter of minutes, the average Joe Bloggs probably doesn’t realise that they can also build competition-winning floral thrones using recycled bannisters, fashion chandeliers out of hula hoops, build chuppah structures out of sticks, and there’s a world of possibilities with chicken wire.
While we pride ourselves on sourcing gorgeous accessories for your wedding and event work, we’re also always on the hunt for those niche tools of the trade that only a professional florist could make strangely good use out of.
Check out our 11 favourites and let us know if you can think of any new and imaginative uses for them!
1. Foam bouquet handles
Such a simple way to solve those lumpy bumpy stem situations; just slot into place and cover in ribbon or fabric to give brides something sleek and comfortable to hold. They’re also essential if you’re making your own brooch bouquet frames.
2. Design disk
Our famous patented attachment comes with all of our corsage bracelets, but it’s also available standalone with magnets so it can be attached to just about anything. Add some cold glue and fresh blooms to equal endless creative possibilities. They’re specially designed in the perfect material for gluing flowers, so you can use them to create anything from handbag accessories to venue décor, artistic sculptures to small add-on sales.
3. Tulle & organza
Unusually useful when it comes to weddings, keep a roll of tulle or organza in the van or shop and you’ll be surprised at how often it comes in handy. Use tulle to create decorations such as pew bows, chair back bows or even to decorate balloon weights, and organza is great for table runners and other venue decorations. Use it to strengthen large designs or to cover-up mechanics, for wrapping around bouquet handles or for stuffing the gaps between brooches on brooch bouquets.
4. Bouquet armature
An amazing tool to make creating brooch bouquets as well as fresh and faux flower bridal bouquets easily and beautifully. Available in large, small and tear-drop shaped, our armatures are like a blank canvas for you to work from. They’ll provide the perfect shape for a tight round design, or use them as a base to build on for something larger – offering complete creativity as you can wire absolutely anything into them and still finish with a neat handle to hold.
5. Corsage clips and magic corsage magnets
Stop being restricted by heavy flower heads and fiddly pins and instead look at buttonholes and corsages in a creative new light. Our corsage clips come in green and metal and they’re perfect for producing lots of buttonholes on a budget as it’s so quick and easy to attach flowers, either with wiring or gluing. Or, trial our magic corsage magnets which allow you to place designs vertically, horizontally or at any angle you choose while offering total flexibility to create anything you can think of – all firmly held in place by our powerful magnets.
6. Wooden pegs
A fun way to attach cards to arrangements, wooden pegs can also be used for fixing photos, pictures or other accessories to your designs and projects. They’re also great for window displays and can even make a cute way to decorate venues – think pegged photos of the bride and groom strung across the room or thank you notes pegged to the bouquet for the mother of the bride. We offer two sizes with mini versions and sets accessorised with little ladybirds.
7. Cold glue
If you’ve ever made a corsage before it’s likely you’ll have already picked up a tube of cold glue, so we don’t really need to remind you of its immensely useful qualities. Always have one in the shop for both extending your creative possibilities in all elements of floral design and for fixing floral mishaps.
8. Jute
Jute is a one-track route to success in achieving that sought-after natural aesthetic. Use it instead of cello for wrapping hand-tieds, nestle your wedding deliveries in it, decorate the shop with it, or use it to make table runners or decorations for a rustic wedding. It’s great for getting creative; think wrapping tin cans in it to create a quirky DIY container or adding it to corsages and buttonholes. Ours comes in 15cm, 30cm and a ribbon-like width of 7cm x 5m.
9. Corsage box
Your work is precious, don’t let it get destroyed during delivery. Ship corsages, buttonholes or other small designs in our plastic corsage boxes both for protection and to give your business a professional appearance. Just add organza or ribbon to decorate.
10. Skinny, bullion and aluminium wire
Always, always, always have wire on hand at all times – we didn’t need to tell you that. Snapped a stem? Lost a button? Broken a piece of kit? Need to attach some obscure object to an arrangement? Just wire it. Make sure you’ve a range of different widths and strengths in your stash as our tough aluminium wire can add strength and shape to a design while our skinny bullion is great for attaching things and adding an unusual texture. All are available in a wide range of colours.
11. Satin ribbon
Another item you probably already store by the bucket-load, but something you can seriously never have enough of. Use it for wrapping stems, hiding mechanics, decorating packaging and making corsages through to stringing things to the ceiling or even fixing furniture; we won’t list its endless uses but make sure you’ve got it in endless supply and in the wide range of widths and colours available from our range.
