W2D-013 Flowers - Colours-0.txt
Forever Flowers

By Maeve Watt

Frances Brown from Newtownards has always loved flowers and she started flower arranging ten years ago, beginning with leisure classes and was then encouraged to do her City and Guilds part 1 and 2. She enjoyed it so much that she decided to teach, got her qualifications and at the moment is teaching in Bangor Tech.

"I REALLY LOVE TEACHING, SEEING OTHER peoples work. I am learning all the time too." She also loves competitive work where there's a show and the entrants are given a title. "You have to interpret the title in flowers and my most recent piece, The Flower Fairies, won up in Antrim. I had to compete again in England and won - the prize was a nice weekend in Glasgow which was great, except that it rained constantly!"

Frances also competed in the World Show where she was runner up and won £ 500 towards going to South Africa to represent Northern Ireland. "I was absolutely thrilled. It's in February and I have to do an exhibit connected with Northern Ireland. I 'm working on it at the moment," she laughs. "But it's a secret! There's a World Show every four years, the last one was in New Zealand and the next one is in Edinburgh, so Frances is delighted to be going to South Africa! "It 'll be a wee bit nerve wracking getting everything over there. If you take anything from here, there are pest controlled regulations and even material has to have a fire proof certificate. Obviously, as I will be depicting something from Northern Ireland, I 'll have to take some stuff over, but you can order flowers there and I 'm busy working the whole thing out at the moment. The plane will be filled with flowers!" We wish her luck!

Over the years, everything grown in her garden has been converted for flower arranging. If I 'm doing a wedding, it's great to be able to go and cut stuff from the garden, nice and fresh, it also keeps the cost down a little," smiles Frances. And there's a lot to learn in flower arranging, it moves on from fashion to fashion and Frances has to make sure that she keeps abreast of the new trends - including dried flower arrangements.

"There are different ways of drying and preserving flowers too - you can glycerine leaves and silicone gel flowers and, of course, some flowers dry naturally." Her favourite flower is probably the rose because it can be dried as well. They must be picked just before full bloom on a nice dry day and hung upside down in a dark, warm place for about a fortnight. Red and yellow roses are the best colours to dry. Frances has a tip for beginners. "The best thing to do is to try to compete, starting off in the novice section. The best way to learn is on the show bench where you will get comments from judges and also see other peoples work. "It's so enjoyable," she laughs, "You may not always win, but at least if you make a mistake, you 'll know the next time! Frances Brown believes that a bowl of flowers brings a room completely to life and that a room without flowers or plants, is dead.

With Christmas dinner parties starting to fill up the calendar, Frances has put together a step-by-step guide to creating three very different flower arrangements, guaranteed to brighten up any table setting.

FLOWERS AND FRUIT

THE PLASTIC DISH containing a soaked oasis which has been taped down and is sitting in the middle of a vine ring. Just to keep the furniture dry, the ring is lying on a base of cork (1).

Frances puts a candle in the centre and round the bottom, she has taped on some kebab sticks so that they will go into the oasis and keep the candle in place.

She is going to use apples, grapes, cones, a pretty tartan ribbon and some little bundles of twigs, some spray carnations and foliage - not anything with a soft leaf that would have to be replaced in the warmth, but ivy and holly which will last a long time. Spray carnations will last longer than most flowers over the Christmas period.

The ribbon has wired edges to it which makes it sit up nicely and Frances just loops it four times, backwards and forwards before putting a wire tightly round the centre, making sure the wire is extended so that it can go into the oasis. She cuts the end of the ribbon in a vee shape to make it more attractive.

Secure the apples with kebab sticks into the stem end which will help it sit in the oasis. Put in the candle and the outline of the foliage making sure that the foliage is dipping down because it has to cover the oasis. Put in the apples and grapes which have been wired, on opposite sides and remember to clean the stems of the foliage before use (2).

Frances uses different foliage including Skimmia, turning the arrangement round all the time to make sure the oasis is hidden.

She places the flowers, layering them so that there is a pocket of flowers on the opposite sides of the fruit to balance the colour (3).

Cones are added to finish it off and little pieces of foliage, berries and small bundles of sticks to make it more interesting (4).

Always make sure there is enough water in the dish to soak into the oasis and spray the arrangement daily to keep it fresh and alive.

RING OF ROSES

USING AN OASIS RING which has been soaked in a basin of water (turn the ring upside down and let it soak until the bubbles stop coming out) Frances sets it on a brass tray so that when she waters it, the water doesn't escape onto the top of the table (1).

She uses gold coloured slimline candles in three different placements with a ribbon (wire edged again) at the base of each one. She also uses artificial gold balls, again in three different placements (2).

The candles are placed at different levels and the flowers used are rich red roses. Covering the oasis in conifer, turning it round all the time and also placing the foliage on the inside of the ring and on the top so that it is entirely covered (3).

She also uses variegated holly - the lime green colour goes well in arrangements as it lifts the colour. Frances picks all the foliage apart from the Skimmia, from her own garden.

She adds some red berries and some red roses to distribute the colours throughout the design (4). (If the roses flop, you can recut them and place the ends in boiling water for half a minute and then float them in a basin of water. They should perk up again!)

Frances finishes this arrangement by adding ivy leaves which have nice shiny surfaces to cover the oasis.

GLAMOROUS GOLD

PUTTING THE SOAKED OASIS into a container that has a spike in the end of it like a candle holder, push it down into the top of a glass container with a piece of gold lame material to wind round it (1). This arrangement is really for a buffet table.

Frances is going to use white silk poinsettias trimmed with gold and some golden fruit, apples and pears, white September flowers to do the outline and a gold rope with tassels. She drops the material round the glass, tucking it in at the bottom. Frances likes using candles in table arrangements because they 're pretty to look at when eating and for this arrangement, she has used the slimline candles.

She does the outline with the September flower and some lovely trailing ivy with a few variegated leaves towards the centre. The rope is then dropped down the glass over the material (2) and a cherub is added. His wings have been wired so he can rest in the middle of the arrangement.

Frances fills in the design with poinsettias and foliage - you can bend silk flowers which makes them easier to use. She adds some gilded fruit (3). This arrangement, whilst looking extremely elegant, is reasonably easy to assemble.
