Vases, Vessels & FoamYvette

Choosing your vessel or vase is another area of floristry that you can really let your creativity soar. Just about anything goes, and the choice of vessels available for arranging flowers is wide and varied. From jars, to cans, bottles, tea cups, or baskets…re-using and recycling is a perfect way to put new life into something old.

Rummage through your cupboards, op shops and garage sales for anything varied and different. Save glass jars, tins and plastic food containers of all shapes and sizes. Even the most unattractive of containers can be used to line a basket or vessel that would otherwise not be waterproof.

Materials like hessian, banana leaves and dried or fresh lotus leaves can be used to cover unsightly or damaged containers.  Use sticky tape to make grids across the top of containers to hold the flowers in place.

Just be sure to use clean vases or vessels, and choose the appropriate size and weight to balance you arrangement physically and visually.

A common question we get in our floristry courses and workshops is what the best method of soaking foam is. Simply add water to a sink (the height of the water should be slightly lower than the height of the brick), then place the foam brick with the branding facing up. Gently rest the brick in the sink (do not cover the brick with the water). Allow the brick to soak and absorb the water for a minimum of 20 seconds.

We love showing our floristry students the many varied vessels and vases they can use to make their arrangements.  Now that we’ve given you some ideas, it’s over to you to see what you can find.  Happy hunting!