diy flowers III

By far, the most torturous portion of the flowermaking ended when we could put down the floral tape, but we still had a lot of work ahead of us before we could get to the final product.

First, we had to open up all of the tightly wrapped flowers. Any lazy floraltaping was certainly discovered when the centers fell out or petals started falling off.

This was another stage where they were pretty nicelooking and we considered just leaving them that way. But we were too committed by this point.

Then, the painting--by watercolor. Madelyn and pp had a talent for this step and risked sore backs and stiff shoulders to help us get through it.

 There's a reason tattoos are used to identify criminals; they're pretty distinctive.

 

 This is pp. It's only fair to out her, too.

Coffee filters are very absorbent, but they also take a long time to dry. Jon devised a very complex "station" consisting of two folding chairs and some twine, but it worked fabulously.

No two were painted exactly the same.

Jon had always said he wanted the orange to be used sparingly throughout the wedding stuff, just a pop of it here and there. I like the way monochromatic looks, so we decided the flowers would all be tones of green-blue--one good thing about making faux flowers is that you can have any color at any time of the year, even roses. Everyone seemed to think that a little variation was nice, so the painting got purposely splotchier as we went along. Madelyn even went so far to paint a few of them orange, just for kicks. 

 

The orange ones were gorgeous, especially when wet.

After they were dried upside down, the petals were all sort of stuck together and misshapen.

 I love the way that texture looks with the paint.

So that meant re-forming them again. And topping that off with giving each and every petal a signature roselike curl.

Jon did the bulk of the curling, with help from a few people like my parents. I did some, but dang it wasn't my favorite part of the process by far. I'd rather tape, if that says anything.

 Everyone was right, the ones with more variations of color really were the best looking.

 

Mfm and Angel07 were INSTRUMENTAL in arranging these badboys into the vases. I won't bore you with all the things we tried before we decided on tulle and foam for innards, but there was plenty of discussion and trips to the store. Jon and I just prepped the vases for them, and these two went to work, making sure the dozen or so roses in each vase were secure and lovely to look at.

These two did a much better job than I would have. You'll see more of Mfm's work when you see our bouquets.

We thought it needed just a little something. So we added some orange ribbon. And then the ribbon wouldn't stay put, so we used some of the big return labels left over from the invitations to seal the deal.

 Doesn't seem like much to show for so much work, does it?

Oh my goodness, was this a labor of love. I will forever use this flower project as a yardstick against which I will measure the insanity of any other project I try to undertake. There is NO WAY Jon and I could have pulled this off (with seven days to spare!) without the love and support we got from our family and friends. Even the people who continually checked in with me to make sure I was on track were essential for me not to have lost my mind over this.

And I'm happy with the way they turned out. Which is something I never say.

How one of the finished pieces looked at the end of the night.

The materials for each of these centerpieces cost $7.00. That is a STEAL. If we paid my mom, my dad, Madelyn, cc, pp, mfm and Angel07, as well as myself and Jon $10.00 per hour (and that would be a very low wage considering the occupational hazards of tape, skewers, hot glue and sheer fatigue) that was spent on these, each of these centerpieces cost around $1,800.00 apiece. THAT IS A CRIME.

That said, I won't be subjecting my loved ones to this kind of torture anytime soon. I thank each and every one of them from the bottom of my heart.

Aren't you all glad I'm only planning on doing this once?