Class of 2012

We finished our Level 2 floristry diploma yesterday and celebrated in the glorious sunshine. I will certainly miss the other students and our tutors. I’m sure many of the students will go on to great things, judging by the talent they displayed in class.

It’s been a busy nine months, but as I updated my portfolio, it was wonderful to see how much I’ve achieved and learnt. I can see that I am instinctively getting better when I work – I don’t overthink as much, but the result is just as good, if not better.

Here is some of my work from the last year.

Wedding work: An Alice band decorated with viburnum and brassica petals, a hand-tied bridesmaid posy, a circlet, a comb decorated with lilac, phlox and Queen Anne's lace, and a wired bouquet (a fiddly and time-consuming design to make, but much easier to handle than a hand-tied and more delicate-looking).

Arrangements: Grouped basket, front-facing arrangement, basket, vegetative arrangement (a lovely concept - a design that is supposed to represent a garden), and an 'impulse buy' for Valentine's Day.

Event work: My cake decoration assessment (distinction) and practice, and my pew end/chair back assessment (merit).

The last few weeks were spent catching up on any gaps in our portfolio. I didn’t have photos of some of our early designs, so I had to redo them. This was the second to last piece of work I did: a loose, open cross. I brought some gorgeous-smelling roses, jasmine and escallonia 'Apple Blossom' from the garden, and also used eucalyptus and thistles from college. This was inspired by Claire and Liz Cowling’s stunning funeral work in Straight From the Heart – no white chrysanthemum basing and ribbon pleating; just lots of beautiful roses and cottage garden flowers and grasses. I think many of the designs could even translate to wedding or event work.

And my last piece of work. I think I frowned the whole time while I made this textured cushion – ribbon pleating is not my favourite thing, and I find it hard to get my head around compact, textured designs such as this. But I got some nice comments from other students and our tutors when I took photos of it…and after a day, with a bit of distance, I can see that it’s not as bad as I thought! Joy and sorrow in one.