Them: “This is Emily of Lola Event Floral & Design. Their designs have this great earthy, organic, handmade element.”

Me: ”Great.”

Them: “This is Emily Ellen. She does these amazing sculptural creations.”

Me: “Totally!”

Them: “This is Emily. She does these bold, modern arrangements with dramatic shapes.”

Me: “Yup.”

Them: “This is Emily. Her designs club you over the head and drag you by your hair back to her creepy plant cave.”

Me: “Whuh?”

Them: “This is Emily. She stole my socks.”

Me: “Well, why did you leave them by my croissant?”

Well, I’ll have you know, we are planning a little marketing photo shoot this weekend. It’s gonna be romantic. It HAS to be romantic. All the other participants’ work ooze romance.

Vintage Ambiance? Hello!? The bones of romance.

Alante Photography? Capturers of wistful glances.

Victoria’s Couture Bridal? Anybody who makes dresses this exquisite and customized can only be of the Fairy Godmother variety.

Kerry Efendi? A treasure maker.

Lilli-Pilli Patisserie? Dreams to eat.

Oasis- Herban Feast? Earthy wonderland.

Mollie McGrath of Pinup Salon: Expert of dewy skin, touchable hair, and kissable lips.

Until recently, I thought, “Ya, no problem. Weighty, drippy pieces, graceful sweeps, soft textures, fluffy something, soft lighting. Got it.”

Then, something started happening.  My thought process went a little something like this…

“Well this is all too much texture.” I thought, “How is anyone s’posed to see the shape?  It’s so blobby? The flowers look like a junior high cheerleader pyramid. That’s it. Cut out the flowers- just grasses with some flowering branches. Readable. But that’s not country estate in Northern France romantic. (sigh) What mademoiselle wants a load of grass and sticks on her  table…?”

“Hmmm. Is there a way to incorporate rocks? Oooh, a pile of jagged rocks in a dark corner with desaturated blue light and a piece of driftwood holding one of Vintage Ambiance’s candelabras… Moody.”

“Bah! Moody does not equal romance.”

“I couldn’t get peonies in the right color. Can I even have romance without peonies? What are romantic flowers.”

“Gasp. The colors. All muted tones. Without the contrast, without the massing, won’t they all resemble the approximate color of undercooked pork?! This is a mess, what am I doing? Can one who drops food on herself daily truly be responsible for creating a romantic arrangement?“

…

Why is suddenly trying to be romantic so damn strange? After all, I have done this before.

I’ve temporarily regained composure. As for romance, we shall see. I’m sticking with my original recipe for romance: graceful shapes, naturally weighted elements, effortlessness, abundance. I’ll keep you updated from the shoot.

Candles are romantic. Thank you Beeker, you always know what to do.

So how about a little show and tell?

This happy shindig was the brainbaby of Bamboo Beats DJs- as a thank you to their past and present clients. They wanted a futuristic themed night: tron, glowey things, that sort of stuff. They asked a select bunch of people to help throw a great bash. Part of that bash was a fashion show. Of course, I freaked out at the chance to do flowers and decor for an unusual theme. Halfway jokingly, I told Jojo that I would only do it if I could make a mohawk for one of the models, but after meeting with Carlisia Minnis of Mac Fashion House, the mohawk was ON!

We began the sequencing with a bold entrance piece that consisted of a wall of tubing to tie in the existing piping. Glass cylinders filled with green acrylic and that goo stuff were up-lit and side-lit. Yucca, Phormium, and tulips were placed, roots exposed, atop the cylinders and fixed by an acrylic cap. Some of the plants were upside-down. The effect of the bare root silhouettes was eerie and very cool.  The plants are now in a less exposed/ tortured state in my yard and are still looking very cool.

I’ll post some more photos on my Facebook page later this week that really show the roots a lot better.

We placed a luminary on each bistro table. The vase was wrapped with a paper cutout designed and cut by yours truly to mirror the Soundtrek logo. A submersible, teal LED light was placed in each vessel.

I had an urge to make an acrylic chandelier. We designed and cut this piece for this event. It hangs from a painted hula hoop. Acrylic does amazing things with light. The edge is like a fiber optic light transmitter. It glows even in low light. We kept all the pieces if you would like this funky thang to hang at your event. The best part of this chandelier?…..

… the fashion designer liked it so much that she routed her models runway to end under the chandelier…. Did I mention there was a fashion show? There was a fashion show! A futuristic fashion show! Mac Fashion House  put on a seriously good show and even let me make a few things for the models to wear.

This model is holding our metallic cone bouquet with carnations.

This model is holding our Calla Lily spray. One of the Lilies are wrapped in a cut-out neon green wrap. The Stems are wrapped with two metal bands.

I love these clothes. this guy is wearing our epaulets and funky succulent boutonniere. You can see a closeup if you scroll down.

This model is wearing our wrist cuff and acrylic boutonniere.

I will never forget the reaction to this look. The curtain opened, and everyone gasped. Maybe because the model and look is gorgeous, but I like to think it’s because my bouquet is so fierce it’s dangerous. She is also wearing our custom designed and cut acrylic necklace.

This model is also wearing a wrist cuff.

yes, the suit is lined with glowing line. He’s also wearing our kickass boutonniere.

I thought I’d throw in a bouquet that was halfway normal so that people don’t think I can only do weird designs. It kind of stood out in a bad way in my opinion when compared to the rest, but looks pretty good on its own below.

And here’s the final look with our helmet, tulle mohawk veil. She is also holding our Saturn ring feather bouquet.

I love it!

This simple bouquet is made of three metal cones each fixed with two metal fasteners. The flower is the unfussy and fragrant carnation.

The feather Saturn ring bouquet’s middle is composed of carnations.

Danger bouquet! Sharp. Lethal. So cool it needs two photos! The ball is ribbon with ends cut at a sharp angle.

Calla lily spray with metal bands.

Unusual boutonnieres!

And here’s our halfway normal hand-tied bouquet with fern, yucca, succulents, lisianthus, and hydrangea.

This is a detail to another truly spectacular floral piece that I will have to upload more photos to my Facebook later for you to see.

My tissue paper pouf light made an appearance and shed some light for Valentine to prune the landscape on this guy’s head. Valentine is amazing. The words meticulous and precise don’t quite cut it. The guys coming out of this chair were transformed. Check it out at Valentinesseattle.com

My fabric chandelier also made an appearance.

Other amazing people who contributed was Kim of Alante Photography- obviously talented by the work you’ve seen here. Rochelle, my awesome assistant who will not enjoy my usage of fragmented sentences. Ravishing Radish Catering who I am personal fans of and friends with. I like to eat their food. Baked cakes who did this amazing creation…

Ummm…. this is a cake. Judy of ItsJudyTime renewed my love of fake eyelashes and taught me some makeup tips. The Invisible Hostess crew kept a drink in our gyrating hands, Blue Danube who is behind the scenes with design and production but it SO makes a difference when the lighting, audio, etc is perfecto. Blue Elephant created some neat dangely banners in the entrance, 321 foto took some hilarious photos in their booth. Like this one of me and my friend Kate:

Finca Filidelphia has been a coffee plantation since 1874, part of a plan to bring the region out of economic hardship at the time. I think before then it was avocados. It sits about 20 minutes outside of Antigua.

Just Birds of Paradise… as a foundation plant…. no biggie.

One thing that surprised me is this whole ta-do about ‘shade grown.’ Turns out it doesn’t mean anything important. Arabica coffee plants (except new engineered varieties) need shade to optimize production. So any farmer wanting to produce the most coffee berries is going to grow their coffee in some shade. How that shade is achieved is where farms differ. And there’s really no ‘shade grown’ certification or stamp of approval to determine which is which.

Some smaller or family run farms can plant coffee into existing forests, preserving the native trees, understory, and multitude of other plants and epiphytes living there. The benefit of this is that it is low-cost for the producer, habitat is most preserved, water use and pesticide needs are minimized, and erosion is minimized because trees aren’t removed. Coffee grown in these situations can be certified ‘Bird Friendly’  The downside is that coffee berry yields are lower because the shade is too dense. Production oriented larger farms clear out the existing forest, and plant trees that can be managed easily to give the coffee plants the optimal light levels. The bummer here is that part of the forest is clear-cut which would lead to erosion. Non-native trees are brought in, and there is the potential for more water use and possibly pesticides/ fungicides. Once matured, these plantations can provide some habitat. The non-shade grown use no trees and is typically high in water and pesticide use, low in habitat viability. These are usually robusta trees instead of arabica bushes.

Filidelfia includes coffee fields in dense forests on the accessible-by-foot hillsides, and managed non-native canopy coffee fields in the more accessible valleys. The trees are from Australia and can take a heavy pruning to achieve the optimum canopy cover percentage. The wood from the trees are sold as firewood and the clippings and branches cover the coffee fields in a rich, thick layer of duff- an excellent mulch. With this much thick duff on the ground. Filidelfia only has to water for a very short period in the hottest months, and doesn’t use pesticides/fungicides. Yay.

And you thought this post wasn’t flower related. Here’s a coffee flower.

That ONE coffee berry is almost ready for picking. Coffee picking is CR-AZY. All arabica plants are hand-picked. As if that weren’t difficult enough, the berries aren’t mature at the same time and each individual berry has to be carefully removed from its tiny petiole, the little branch attaching the berry to the main branch. If this little guy isn’t still attached to the branch once the berry is removed, it will no longer produce berries. Ever. So imagine a coffee berry picker wants to fill their baskets fast (they are paid by weight) and strips all the berries off in one swipe… dead coffee bush. For this reason, the same berry pickers are typically hired year after year. Here they are mainly women since the fellas go off to harvest sugar cane near the coast. The ladies bring their kids, the kids learn to correctly harvest the berries, and they often take over for their parents.

Here’s the inside of a coffee berry. Apparently I had a freak berry (figures) that had three beans. Usually they have two.

The protective casing or parchment of the bean is sweet.

Arabica bushes are finicky and susceptible to rot. Here is where they graft arabica beans onto hardier robusta root stock to make for some stronger plants.

This process is amazingly low tech. I thought grafting necessitated lab coats and furrowed eyebrows…

…but the process only involves a deft, razor-wielding woman and wax.

Here are the arabica bushes with the severely hacked Australian canopy tree. Guatemala is especially well suited to grow good coffee given its elevation, climate, and super rich, volcanic soil. This wood is piled by the road and carted off by truck, or on foot to be sold.

Tillandsia!

Avocados! Did you know there are over 20 different varieties of avocado?

Here’s where the beans go to dry.

Grey beans ready to roast.

Here are three sizes of beans. Before roasting, the beans are sorted. The middle bean is just right, and the other beans are either tossed, or sold cheap. Remember the three beans that were in my berry? Only the one bigger one would have been allowed into this farm’s cup of coffee. If the beans are all about the same size, that ensures that they will all roast consistently, so some won’t impart an over or under-roasted flavor.

This is where beans go to roast.

My Americano. Muy rico.

And here’s a window with a wheel in it. Neato.

And a happy canna. One that probably doesn’t turn to black smoosh in the winter like it does up here.

So in summary, shade-grown schmade grown and go to Antigua, Guatemala.

Here’s some more info on shade grown coffee from Wikipedia

Shade-grown coffee – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This event was held at Pravda Studios on Capitol Hill and was catered by Lisa Dupar Catering. Red Sparrow Photography kindly came by to shoot some pics of our lovely arrangements pre-event.

Intermingled driftwood branches! You really don’t need much else for a striking shape and focal point.

Have I mentioned how much I love Pravda Studios? The light in here is amazing.

We used local water-lily dahlias in lieu of more costly and less available lotus blossoms. Bamboo stands in and outside of the water basin and mimics the Seattle skyline. The bamboo is painted in red enamel.

Half of the tables had the bamboo and half included these shiny black stones. This is the mountain part.

We always have a hard time staying inside the container.

Each table had one black napkin. That was the groom’s idea.

Hooray!
Another great thing about these event arrangements? No waste- well, maybe the candles. Everything is either a reusable, or a compostable.

PS, check out Lola Floral in this season’s issue of Seattle Bride in the “Paper Parade” article.

As it turns out, the entire trip along the 10 or so miles of the Ozette Triangle was a joy. Surprise, surprise. The Ozette Triangle is three segments of looped trail. the first leg through forest and wet meadow, the second along the beach, and the third back up through the forest. Not only did it not rain, the wind was at our backs, the sky was blue (a strange sight anywhere in Washington this time of year), and the temperature was downright pleasant. The trail is easy to walk with not a lot of grade change. Not sure if this beautiful day on the coast was a reward for slogging through 2011 or the forecast for a sunny 2012. Maybe both… probably both.

Deer Fern: Blechnum spicant

I love these happy, floppy ferns.

Confined, sheltered places into large a large open expanse… It has that light through the clouds- choir singing effect. Also one of my favorite design tricks to create a sense of arrival into specialness.

Evergreen Huckleberry: Vaccinium Ovatum

Seaweed is so cool. Unless it’s in the water touching you. Then it’s disgusting and scary. But here, interesting.

Heh, Triangle, get it?

dreamy.

and back up into the forest.

Sneaky mushroom

Soft white underbelly

And the lichen encrusted  bridge brings us back home.

Thank you Cedarbrook Lavender Farm for the stay in your lovely Vacation Rentals.

That is until my beloved bro moved with his family of huggable ragamuffins to Franklin, Tennessee. I’ve been a few times and now love, love, love it.  One of the big delights? The people are so nice. Downright neighborly and helpful. Unbelievably more than keep-to-yourself- observe-and-assume Seattleites. Another delight? Decorating is kind of a big deal.  Here are a few decorations that caught my eye while walking down Main Street and around downtown Franklin.

Gallery 202 has an amazing display featuring luxurious swathes of fabric, and simple evergreen garlands adorned with lemon chains and antlers. Beautiful.

I squealed when I saw these velvet pumpkins with real stems at Avec Moi.

I love the comfy elegant feel of Lulu with this leaf garland made from old books, and a woven felt christmas tree.

This fruit wreath adorned someone’s house just outside of town. So lovely!

This little experiment is for an idea I will be showing a March bride this year. We’re trying to keep costs down and thought maybe an inexpensive way to get a lot more interest would be to dye the water varying shades of purple. She likes aubergine, but in the interest of testing some samples, we’ve done some cooler violets, too. I found all my colors in the baking section of the grocery store.

First experiment (above)- shorty wine glass is one drop of purple food coloring.

To the left, one drop of blue is added… then two drops of blue on the far left.

To the right of the shorty is one drop of violet and one drop of red.- Barfola!

let’s switch to pink. To the right of Barfola is one drop of violet and one drop of pink. I like where this is going.

Next is Two drops of violet, one drop of pink and the far right is three violets and one pink.

This is just one drop of violet, one drop of pink, and one drop of blue- mixed with increasing volumes of water. Very nice.

I liked the pink violet combo- Here is an expanded spectrum each with one drop of increasing violet. (there is actually much more variation in the darks than is seen here).

We’ll have to incorporate candles or lighting trays.

Very nice.

Ubermind:

Dynamic, young, edgy- How about we use some unusual shapes and unexpected additions

Innovative, resourceful- How about some smartly up-cycled elements.

Young and bold- um… chili peppers?

Smart and creative- All this dynamism could easily get away from us, so let’s make sure the creative impulses are wrapped in an orderly, measured way that conveys some elegance and organization.

Seattle- Something tells me there’s a lot of facial hair and bike riders over in Ubie Land. Probably weekly meetings are at coffee shops and instead of costco pastries, they have organic, vegan donuts in their conference room- Great effort has been spent to make their conference room less conference-room-like. It probably is very open and friendly with semi reclining furniture and tactile things to play with. (Mr Potato Head?) They probably have a resident Beagle or Blood Hound. Definitely a Blood Hound… named Blossom. (sigh) so definitely some local/ organic flowers are in order.

Hooray!

The curly fabric is recycled rags. Peppers are from the Pike Place Market.

Wahoo!

It helps when your walk-about is around a picturesque mountain river.

Here’s a photographic account… Also, it’s also kind of a study of steel blue, rust, and desaturated orange colors in nature.

Cowlitz River?

two of my favorite beards.

Why so sad rock? It's Thanksgiving.

Things growing.

steely blue and desaturated orange- the perfect colors of fall.

fuzzy guy.

lichen... so pretty.

another lichen?

more lichen.

evergreen?

]]> http://flowerbrained.com/2011/11/30/how-to-make-room-for-more-food/feed/ 0 Flower-Brained mountain river2 mountain river beards unhappy rock things growing rain on rocks pool orange rock mushroom muddy rocks moss lichen3 lichen2 lichen leaf gold fern dougs mountain river3 http://flowerbrained.com/2011/11/23/what-are-you-making-turkey-flowers/ http://flowerbrained.com/2011/11/23/what-are-you-making-turkey-flowers/#comments Thu, 24 Nov 2011 03:07:53 +0000 Emily Ellen Anderson http://flowerbrained.com/?p=826 ]]> Have you ever experienced something like this? You are surrounded by materials that are just full of potential to be a gazillion different things. Your brain chooses a direction and your hands take off- adjusting and remaking as you fly. The creativity is so thick you have to stop to smear it off your glasses. Finally, you rest. The fruit of your labor is glorious. It’s simple and clear but has a little of something extra to reward those who look closely. It glows. You stand back and say, “It is good. My people will enjoy it.”

You hold it high and present it to those who wished it into existence, and they say…

“Oh, it looks like a turkey.”

(sigh)

Not a turkey… a glorious flower arrangement.

“Oh, look at it’s pretty tail.”

Not a tail. trailing gloriousness.

(sigh)

And here it is.

Front and Back

and

closeup

Now if there’s anything I learned in sculpture school, I learned this. My intention doesn’t really matter. People are going to interpret it how they are going to interpret. Might as well embrace that.

How would you like THIS on your Thanksgiving table?

And let me take a moment to give thanks to the technology that generated so many search results with this as the input: Pilgrim Riding a Turkey.

As my pilgrim, I chose this patriotic chubby kid.

Happy Thanksgiving!