Updates on Funeral Work

I must say I surprised myself by how professional the funeral letters myself and 2 university colleagues created for a group exercise.  I was initially horrified with being given the task, but we really did turn the concept of letters on its head and mainly through improvisation with materials we had gathered from the college campus ( some beautiful finds . . . dried star shaped seed heads, conkers).
We ran with the idea that this tribute was intended to symbolise the deceased love of gardening and the overall effect was natural and very textural. The use of very earthy autumnal colours helped make this design seasonal - which also ticks the box for local sourcing of materials. . . Why not use rosehips, twigs and conkers from nearby hedge rows if your a florist based in country villages, as long as you prune sympathetically and leave some berries for the birds over colder months, its a great way to keep costs down,  and brings a real taste of the outdoors inside. 

Doing away with the traditional pleated ribbon in gordy colours instantly transformed the letters. Simply pining some moss round the letter edges created a softer profile and took far less time than creating rows of individual plastic pleats.To redefine the shape and tame the moss, we put to practice our 'hairdressing skills'

Beautiful clusters of Hydrangea created accent points across the tribute. We were mindful to place the groups randomly to create the feeling that the materials just natural sprouting out of the base.

We used Rosemary and Eucalyptus parvifolia for their beautiful aroma. So often herbs and scented flowers are used in weddings designs and bouquets, why not in a funeral arrangement.  The brain often associates memories with a scent. For example, I remember the smell of a particular Rose from my Grandmothers garden and when I smell the rose now I am transported back to the garden where I used to pick buttercups and play.

We softly grouped the materials to create a contemporary look. Instead of a spray, we used contorted salix to link the letters together. This created some movement and completed the design as one unit.

Improvements : I think the salix looks a little lost against such a busy background. A more dominant use of the Salix would soon rectify this issue.