Funeral Flowers

Lots been going on lately...
Here is one of the many funeral flowers I have been working on lately. This is the most special because they let me express myself in flowers for a family friend. May he rest in peace.

Sympathy Flowers

I am taking a Sympathy class in which I am learning how to make floral arrangements for Sympathy work. I didn't think it was going to be something I would be making right away but here I am, making arrangements for two young individuals who passed away within two weeks of each other. One was a tragic accident and one lost a battle to cancer. I was sad but honored to be the one to make some flowers for them. I made sprays of red and white flowers for one and green, red and white for the other. I also made a casket piece, a cross, a small doorway arrangement and a broken heart. :(

Much to my surprise, Funeral work is exactly like making wedding flowers. I don't particularly like that the flowers are so even-steven and so I tried not to space so much, but rather tried to group together a bit more. But in all the books I researched this is the style in which they are made. Good old fashioned western design.

So when it came time to making something I could just make as a freestlye, I chose to go with my Ikebana principles: less is more.

A Different Kind of Celebration: A Life

I don't only make arrangements for weddings and baptisms. I make arrangements for all of life's celebrations and this one happens to be for the celebration of a young man named Joshua who died last week. He was 18 years old and although his death devastated his family, I think today will be a celebration of his life.

I was asked to make a simple arrangement to take to the mass and then later to the burial site. I just love the colors of white to symbolize something pure and divine and then red to symbolize strength and vibrancy. A cross seemed fitting since he will be buried catholic I believe.
Here is my funeral arrangement in white carnations and red roses with a touch of curly willow.

The red fancy roses kinda look like red rununculas, no? BTW I started seeing rununculas in the market this week! I love me a rununcula :)

Here's a little background on the piece. You can buy the foam made in practically any shape you like or you can mold and sculpt yourself. I bought a ready made cross and totally got the wrong size( Hello?! I guess I was still asleep at 5am). So instead of this taking about 1 1/2 dozen red fancy roses and about 70 or so carnations. This puppy took a full two dozen roses and 100 carnations! Wow. I'm not going to make a skimpy arrangement though, so I had to go back to the market to buy some more carnations. Extra little things like this can cost you a pretty penny in time, cash, and GAS!
So be careful out there, plan accordingly D.I.Y.-ers (sp?)