4ft Cross for a funeral order

My review on a recent 4ft cross:

Yesterday I had to make a 4ft cross for a funeral order and this isn't the way that normally we do them. We normally base in double white Chrysanthemums but the customer specifically asked for single cream Chrysanths instead and she wanted the more natural look around the edge instead of pleated ribbon with bits of greenery poked in between the Chrysanths with a natural looking large white Lily and Rose spray with Roses continuing down the cross. This of course was fine with us but consisted of more labour and time than a normal double white based cross would take to make.

I first of all started by shamphering (cutting) around the foam to create more of a softer edge. Once this was done I then proceeded to wetting the foam. The next step for this was to go around the outline of the cross with foliage- here I used Leather Leaf and Pittosporum. When finished I then proceeded to basing the cross with the single cream Chrysanths, now because they aren't as big or fluffy as the normal double white Chrysanths that we use there would be some gaps in between but this didn't matter as later on once I completed a section (I did the top of the cross first and marked out where I wanted the large spray and smaller rose sprays to go, then did the two sides and the longest side last) I used my Leather Leaf and Pittosporum which I cut into smaller pieces and carefully poked it into the foam around the Chrysanths to create the more wild/natural look. When finished, I then greened up the sprays with Leather Leaf and rolled Aspidistra leaves and then added my Lilies and Roses. Last of all to complete the look I added the loops of bears grass to all the sprays.

Once I had finished making the cross I did however like the overall result even if it was not something I would personally pick. This was different from the normal crosses that we do and I think that is why I liked it so much more than the traditional ones as it's nice to have and make something a bit different. The floristry techniques used in this cross are:

• Basing aka massing, blocking and bedding (variations of basing include pavé, pillowing, layering and texturing)
• Caging from the looped bears grass in the large spray and the connected rose sprays.
• Grouping, this is shown by the main Lily and Rose spray as the two work together in order to create an area of dominance within the cross.
• Wiring from the bears grass and Aspidistra leaves in order to create the overall look and to give added security.