Thursday, May 3, 2012

Christmas Ball Floating Arrangement

Someone asked me recently how to make an arrangement of floating flowers.  They were trying to make one, but all of the flowers kept floating to the top.  I wasn't sure at the time, but I've since learned you can put a tack or nail in the stem of a flower to give it some weight helping the flower stay submerged.  I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds like a great tip.


I was pondering this question about the time I was making the little bud vases from Christmas ornaments, shown here. Well....... one thing led to another, and this is what I came up with.


Fill clear Christmas bulbs with flowers and water, then submerge them under water.


It works best to fill the ornaments first.  If you don't, the bulbs start to float making the arranging very difficult.  Next, start layering the bulbs and adding water a section at a time.


Also, you want to use flowers whose stems grow apart from each other.  This is important because when you push the stems into the bulbs, they create a bit of spring action and thus stay put. 

I really wanted to use all yellow mums for my arrangement, but there were not enough blooms yet.  I think the red and yellow ended up being a nice mix, however. 

A few final thoughts:

Use a chopstick to help arrange the balls as you go.  This also comes in handy to tap around on the arrangement to release small bubbles if some gather on the bulbs and flowers after a few hours.

Check your arrangement after a while for any bugs or floating petals that may have risen to the top.  I had a few.  That wouldn't be very attractive to see on a wedding table.

After 3 days or so the water starts to get cloudy, so don't make too far in advance.  A full day shouldn't give you any problems, though.


This doesn't require much floral arranging know how.  The bulbs position themselves nicely from each other, so all you really have to do is choose the flowers.  I can't wait to try this again in a tall cylinder.

Thanks for stopping by,

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1 comment:

I LOVE your ideas and comments. Thanks for taking the time :)

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