make-an-Iris-floral-centerpiece

What You’ll Need

•Floral Block
•Shallow Round Container
•Irisis
•Raffia
•Ferns
•String

Where To Get It

Floral block - JoAnn’s

Container - www.flowersandsupplies.com

Iris Flowers - Trader Joe’s

Raffia - JoAnn’s

Ferns - Florist

THE STANDING IRIS

BEAUTIFUL BUT SIMPLE

DIRECTIONS

1.Soak a floral block in deep water until it floats.
2.Tie a string firmly around the middle of the grouped Iris. Unlike some floral arrangements all the flowers should be at the same height. Cut off the stem bottoms so the flowers are approximately 12” long.
3.Tie strands of Raffia half way up from the bottom of the stems.
4.Holding the stem bottoms snugly in your fist, trace their circumference on a paper. Set the flowers aside and roughly trace 1/4” inside the circle you just created. You will use this as a guide for making a hole in the center of the floral block.
5.The best way to make the hole in the block is to use something in your kitchen that is a similar size to the guide or slightly smaller. Deep plastic caps on items like Pam Spray work well. Also discarded cans from tomato paste or sauce, olives, etc. These items are ideal because they are deep and will cut uniformly through the block. If you don’t have one of these, a knife will work but it will be more difficult to cut the hole uniformly.
6.Remove the block from the water and push the cap or can into the exact center of the block as far as it will go. If it doesn’t cut through to the bottom, dig out the center bottom until you can push the center out.
7.Position the block in the center of the container. If the block is bigger than the container, just push the block down onto the container edges which will cut the block for you. Trim where necessary. It doesn’t have to look perfect but the block should not extend out past the sides of the container. If the block is smaller than the container from side to side, fill that space in with another section of wet block. Floral block does not have to fill the entire container completely. It only needs to fit securely in one direction to keep it from moving around as you work.
8.Fit the Iris stems into the center hole of the block.
9.Fern stems inserted into the narrow sides of the block will need to be shorter than stems inserted on the long sides, in order to maintain the circular shape that makes this arrangement so attractive.

In this image, the faint circle outside the container represents the circular shape you want to achieve. The red lines represent the fern stems. Notice how the stems are shorter on the left and right, than on the bottom and top. Insert fern stems into the block at an angle, not vertically. Make one row around the base adjusting stem’s length to suit where they appear in the arrangement.
10.Work up the block with all the stems getting slightly shorter as they reach the top of the block.
11.Fill the container with water.

TIPS & SHORTCUTS

The hole in the floral block supporting the Iris bunch should be very snug so the flowers won’t lean. It’s better to cut away too little than too much.

This is also a good arrangement for tulips because they have thick strong stems like the Iris.

- FLORAL DECOR -

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