Nosegay Class - Part 2

If you know me, you'll know that I love bright colors!  So in Saturday's nosegay class, the four flowers the instructor taught us were all rather pale in color for my liking! Yes, I like pale and white, but also like bold and bright!!

The instructor had brought in a few books so that we could try some other flowers. Looking at the doublet crepe paper that was available, I was really attracted to the purples, oranges and pinks and so I decided to  try a few crocuses and some anemones.

 

Dipping the crepe flowers in the wax really does bring their colors out.  They are much more vibrant after dipping and also it gives them a translucency.

 

I loved the leaves of the crocuses too and the brightness of the saffron stamens.

I've put the anemones in a vase in the guest house, and the crocuses on the bed stand.  Flowers ready for our guests without me having to remember!!!

Doesn't it look like a fun class!   It's made me want to create some clay flowers now too!  I loved making all the stamens and everyone seemed to enjoy dipping the flowers in the wax!!  A slow cooker with candle wax and you just dunk them in!  Apparently you  can wax real dried flowers too which makes them a little stronger. My mum uses a lot of dried flowers...maybe she'll give that a go.

Have you tried a new class lately?

Nosegay Class - Part 1

As I mentioned on Friday, I went to a class on making nosegays this weekend.  The class was a gift from my sweetie friends Angie and Marly and it was held at Castle in the air in Berkeley. It was my first time taking a class there.  They have a lovely set up and were very well organized.  They also have an online store if you aren't in the Berkerley vicinity - and some very unusual items for sale that I've never seen anywhere else before.

I so enjoyed my day making flowers. A whole day doing something new with a quick lunch hour to do some shopping too!

The idea of the class was to make small crepe paper flowers which you then dip in melted wax to create a more translucent effect.  The "nosegay" part was a little bit of a misnomer however, as our little posies weren't scented.  Maybe we should rename them "eyegays"!!! I asked the instructor if she had ever scented any - but she hadn't. I think maybe adding a little essential oil would make the posey gently scent the room..... or make your nose gay.... Maybe I'll try that.

Wild rose and orange blossom

The instructor - Ulla - showed us how to make four different flower:  cornflower, orange blossom, apple blossom and a wild rose.

Cornflower, handpainted wild rose, and apple blossom bud

Cornflower, daisy and wild rose

We then spent sometime making these and then could also look in her books and try and few other flower shapes.  Here is a daisy that I made myself from one of the books :- it is similar in design to the cornflower.

Today's photos are all the flowers she taught us directly (with the addition of the daisy).  Tomorrow I'll post the other flowers I tried on my own that are lot brighter in color!!!! 

I've decided that I'm going to 'scatter" these around the room in the guest house as decorations. As you can see in these last two photos, here are the whites on the bed.

Don't you wish you'd come with me? More tomorrow - hope you'll come by and take a look.