Wedding flowers DIY 1

Wedding flowers - 1

Flower Balls (AKA kissing balls)

Option 1. Silk flowers / fake flowers

Option 2. Fresh flowers

made of kermit mums

준비물: 스레로폼 볼, fresh carnations, Ribbon, Floral U pins, T-pins, Clay pots (optional ), Vases or flower bowls

Things you need: 
3″ Styrofoam Ball or 4″ Styrofoam Ball
Artificial Flowers (of your choice)
Ribbon (of your choice)
Floral U Pins 
T-Pins
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

Things to do:
1. Take your styrofoam ball and push a floral u pin through the “top” of the ball, then take the pin out. Place a few dabs of glue over the holes and place the floral u pin back in. Make sure that you leave about 1/4″ gap between the styrofoam ball and pin. The gap will be used later so that you can attach a ribbon or wire so that you can hang your pomander.
2. Next, separate your artificial flowers from their bunches and cut the stems to about a 1/4″ or 1/2″ in length. Starting from the top use your glue gun to create small dents in the styrofoam ball and add a dab of glue before placing each stem. Repeat this process until the entire styrofoam ball is covered. You can also use T pins or floral U pins instead of hot glue, depending on the size of your flowers and styrofoam ball. It may help if you start from the top and work your way down in a line and repeat the process this way so that you ensuring that the flowers are evenly placed with no gaps.
3. Once your pomander is completely covered with flowers, string your wire or ribbon through the floral U pin at the top. The length of the ribbon will depend on how you choose to use your pomander. Shorter loops are great for pomanders that will be carried by individuals in the wedding party and longer loops are better for pew decorations. You can also just skip the ribbon and hanging altogether, creating pomanders for bowls and wedding centerpiece decorations.

Plan Time for Flower Re-hydration

It can take up to 48 hours and depends on the flower

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Wholesale flowers are shipped in a suspended state and will not be fully opened in bloom without proper re-hydration. They should be left in a cool dark room with plenty of fresh distilled water to drink. Consult with your wholesale company of choice for specific directions as they can vary by flower.

DIY Wedding Flower Pomanders

Created from hundreds of red carnations

If you spray paint clay pots, I recommend using a clear coat to seal the paint. We sent guests home with the flower arrangements and many ended up with silver hands from handling the pots because I didn't use a clear coat.
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How to Create A Carnation Pomander

Use fresh flowers or silk, both create lovely kissing balls

• 1
  Order your flowers at least 3 days before your event. They will be shipped in a suspension state and need at least 48 hours to rehydrate. Plus you'll need a day to assemble the pomanders. I had mine delivered on a Tuesday, assembled the flowers on a Thursday and they were still fresh and beautiful on Saturday for our evening wedding. In fact the arrangements held their beauty for 2 full weeks after the wedding.
  
  I recommend sticking with one color of carnations for the beginner. The solid color look will hide mistakes and be quicker to put together.
• 2
  When your flowers are ready, soak the floral foam in distilled water for the recommended amount of time the brand specifies.
• 3
  If planning to hang or hand carry the pomander, you will need to wrap floral tape or wire around the circumference of the floral foam, and once more crossing the tape or wires and dividing the ball into quarters. Create a loop from the ends of the wire or tape to slip your pretty ribbon into. It's a good idea to test drive that this will hold, as these can be very heavy.
• 4
  Snip your carnation heads at an angle leaving 1.5"-2" of stem to insert into the floral foam.
• 5
  Push the flower head until it fully sinks into the flower foam. Following a straight line create a ring of flowers around the ball.
• 6
  Now make another straight line of flowers perpendicular to your last line. You will have made 4 sections of uncovered floral foam. Fill in these sections with carnations. Be careful not to leave any gaps.
• 7
  When finished the ball can be set out on top of a table alone or coupled with other accessories. You could place the pomander on top of a clear cylinder vase or spray paint a clay pot. They also look lovely hanging from the ceiling, an arch, doorways or the backs of chairs.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Transporting the Pomander Balls

  Mine were already attached to clay pots

  
  

  

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  Using the box the carnations shipped in, we cut holes smaller than the lip of the clay pots and gently set each one into the hole. This made them much simpler to transport.

How to create Pomanders to sit on a Clay Pot

A different spin to the hand or hanging pomander

Create the Pomander using the same steps as the hanging pomander, but leave empty space to attach the flowers to the pot using the steps below. I found it easier to attach the ball to the pot about halfway through making the pomander.

You will also need the following items:

• floral foam bricks


• clay pots that the pomanders will sit atop, pick a pot only a couple inches smaller in diameter than your ball, as you need these to be steady to prevent tipping


• spray paint to coat the clay pots, metallic looks great


• a clear protective top coat to keep the spray paint on the pots


• wooden dowels

I had the flowers delivered on a Tuesday and let them soak in distilled water and open up for 2 nights. Thursday afternoon the floral foam balls were soaked and each carnation was snipped to a 2 inch stem then stuck in the floral foam. I left the bottom part of the ball unfinished to attach to the clay pot. These pomanders are heavy and an 8 inch ball made a huge, heavy but impressive display!

Way in advance, I had sprayed cheap clay pots with metallic silver spray paint. It would be a good idea to spray with a clear coat to prevent the silver paint from rubbing off. I didn't do this and everyone that handled the pots ended up with silver paint on their hands.

To attach the pomander to the clay pot, I used some of the brick style floral foam, also soaked, and cut and smushed it into the pot, then stuck several wooden dowels into the floral foam of the pot and carefully placed the pomander on top of the dowels and gently pushed it firmly to the base. You will want 2-3 dowels in each pot to ensure the ball can't spin or wiggle once on the base. If you are making smaller pomanders, it may not be necessary to use as many dowels.

The flowers were misted with a bottle of distilled water when finished and again on Friday evening, the night before the wedding. We transported them by taking the boxes the flowers were shipped to me in and leaving the boxes intact, cut small circles for each pot to sit in. With a careful driver they all made it in one piece!

My red carnations pomanders looked spectacular lining the aisles to the ceremony and were moved inside and grouped together on a long table for a beautiful focal by the dance floor. At the end of the evening they were sent home with guests as a prize and they lasted the better part of 2 weeks, some without ever re-watering the floral foam. You'll be surprised how many people will be excited to take a kissing ball home!

Carnation Pomanders were a lot of fun to make, and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. It does take up some of your precious pre-wedding preparation time, but it's a great group activity to gather your bridesmaids and other family members before the big day.

Tip: If you've already had your nails done, wear a pair of latex gloves while working with the flowers to avoid any staining or chips to your manicure.
Note: The white columns my pomanders were displayed with were rentals.
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Leftover Carnations? Here's an idea!

Use them to create a gorgeous tray for your seating place cards

I ordered my carnations in bulk and ended up over ordering by quite a bit. So we filled three plastic trays with floral foam bricks and stuck carnations into them using the same process as the pomanders. Plunk the seating cards on top and presto! Easy and looks and smells great! Why did I have a Lion Table? Find out about my Zoo Wedding!