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Learn to create a hand-tied bouquet with Françoise Weeks.
Materials & instructions
Supplies: 13x 18-gauge wire, bind wire, stem wrap, cold glue, ribbon, scissors, sunex 4.5" end cutting precision pliers
Materials: Contorted filbert branches, jasmine foliage, kangaroo paws, scabiosa, chocolate cosmos, mini cymbidium orchids, ranunculus, hyacinth beans, clivia, blackberries
Prepare the base of your design: Gather your 18-gauge wire (I used 13 pieces) and tape them tightly together from the base to about 6 inches up to create the handle. At the top of the tape, wrap a long strip of bind wire once around and secure with your precision pliers. Bend each wire at a 90° angle where the wire meets the tape.
Tightly weave the remaining bind wire over and under the 18 gauge wire in a spiral until you've established a base. Continue to weave the bind wire over and under, creating larger circles of bind wire. Your structure will resemble a spider's web. Place your structure in a vase to begin decorating!
Decorate with textures and botanicals: Remember to spiral the flowers around the center and twist the bouquet as you add flowers. Bind the stems of the flowers together with tape and trim the ends to even them to the same length.
“It's hard to put into words how fantastic Françoise is as a teacher and a designer. She's truly changed the way I look at floral design. There's no one that looks at botanical materials the way that Françoise does.”
Alison Ellis
So what's this course about?
I don’t know about you, but I fell in love with flowers at an early age. My mother loved to buy flowers from the farmer’s market in Belgium, or cut them fresh from her own garden. I began helping her arrange them as a child. I was fascinated by everything floral—from designing centerpieces for my parents’ dinner guests to watching seedlings grow on the windowsill in my father’s study.
But, as you know, there is so much more to botanical design than just the flowers.
In my professional design and teaching career, my signature style of Textural Woodlands and Botanical Wearables have created a global following, and I’ve translated these styles into creating unique bouquets that go beyond the traditional. With that, I've created six structural bouquet lessons for this series to inspire, teach you new mechanics, and help you build your repertoire so you may offer more to your clients and grow your knowledge of, and confidence in, floristry.
Buy The Course Bundle Now & Get $450 OffLet's start at the beginning
What will these courses teach you?
If you haven't taken any of my online courses before, don't worry! This series is totally accessible to all ranges of floral design experience and skill. In this series, you will learn how to create hand-tied bouquets, rectangular bouquets, bird's nest bouquets, bridal fan bouquets, whimsical bouquets and cascading bouquets. I created these lessons to share how mechanics and techniques for creating structure can give you options to design one-of-a-kind bridal bouquets that go beyond the traditional hand-tied bouquet.
Each lesson will help you create any shape or style to give your clients something unique and different for their wedding day. I hope you’ll take away new mechanics and techniques and that this will spark your curiosity so you can keep up with this growing wedding industry and build a following of people who love your work.
Buy The Course Bundle Now & Get $450 Off
Want to see what you'll master?
Hand-Tied Bouquet
Much more than your average hand-tied bouquet, this bouquet utilizes 18 gauge wire and bindwire to up the customizability for you and your clients.
Rectangular Bouquet
I've created a rectangular bouquet using 18 gauge wire and floral mesh to turn the traditional bouquet into a modern stunner.
Bird's Nest Bouquet
This bouquet utilizes 18 gauge wire and floral mesh to up the customizability for you and your clients.
Bridal Fan Bouquet
For something more unique, I've created a fan-shaped bouquet using 18 gauge wire and equisitum to turn the traditional bouquet on its head.
Whimsical Bouquet
This bouquet utilizes 18 gauge wire and wire wreath frames to up the customizability for you and your clients.
Cascading Bouquet
For a true showstopper, I've created a cascading bouquet using 18 gauge wire and midollino sticks to turn the traditional bouquet on its head.
“Françoise has taught me to be curious, to cultivate my artistic voice and I've really learned to see the floral and plant world with new eyes. She will inspire you and continue to elevate the world of floral design ever more!”
Susan McLeary
I can't wait to see what you make!
These six structural bouquet lessons will inspire you to see with new eyes and to tap into your own passion for floral design, all while gaining confidence in breaking the circle to create new shapes, compositions and excitement.
This is a wonderful time of year to find and use botanical materials and to practice and share your creations with family, friends, and clients. Taking time for yourself to pursue what you love and learn new skills is a fantastic way to reinvigorate your passion and expand your floral offerings.
Post your design creations on social media, and use the hashtag #francoisebouquets for a chance to be featured! Voilà!
Buy The Course Bundle Now & Get $450 Off
