Practical advice for silk flower arranging
Arranging silk flowers is very different from arranging fresh flowers. Artificial flowers require some extra care in the beginning but, when done right, these bouquets will look fabulous for months. All you will need to do to maintain such a bouquet is make sure that you dust regularly.
When arranging silk flowers, you should use dried floral foam. Choose your vase or pot wisely before buying the foam. You will only need enough foam to fill the vase and there is no need to fill it to the brim! You should also avoid transparent vases because the foam will not look good. It’s important to test the top layer of foam to make sure that your stems can penetrate it with ease. Like wood, floral foam has a grain. If you struggle to insert the flowers in one side, try a different side until you find the best option.
Floral foam can be tough to cut. Again, this depends largely on the grain of the foam. It also depends on the utensil or tool you’re using. Putty knives work really well when cutting foam and they don’t make much of a mess (if at all).
Place the foam at the very bottom of the vase or container and add layers. This ensures stability. You can also use a glue gun (set on low heat) to glue your foam and flowers in place. When your glue runs low, simply apply some glue to the end of the glue stick and then add to the back of the gun so that you can continue working without the new glue stick falling out.
Conceal the foam by covering the top with sheet moss or a similar kind of covering. The moss will look particularly lovely if you use a brown or earthy ceramic pot. When cutting your flowers, make sure that you use high quality, sharp pliers. Silk flower stems are a lot tougher than those of fresh flowers. Using a blunt cutter or pair of scissors can result in injury or you could damage your flowers.
Cut your flower stems at an angle so that they are easy to insert into the foam. Think about the needle of an injection and how the tip is pointed and angled for easier insertion. When you apply the glue to your flowers, you need only apply it to about 1 inch or so of the stem. Insert up until this point and then move on to the next stem. If you are creating a particularly tall arrangement, you will need to leave the stems as long as possible and you may need to insert more than one inch for added stability.
Always fluff each stem before you insert it. This means that you need to spread out the flowers and leaves while bending each one into place. This will give your silk arrangement an even more natural look!