How to make a flower cloud for your marquee or Barn

This flower arrangement is very easy with the right materials, so let’s get going…..

You’ll need:

Coated chicken wire

Fishing line

Reel wire (which is finer wire from a florist or online)

10 stems of pink Genista

10 stems of Grevillea

Some flexible leaved branches from a tree or use eucalyptus or evergreen branches

Instructions

1. First you need to make a sausage with greenery. a length of chicken wire about 45cm long and 45cm wide (If you are using a roll then keep the width of the roll and cut a length 45cm long)

2. Then place lengths of leaved branches (about 4 branches should do it) in the centre and roll the chicken wire up like a sausage roll.

3. Use reel wire (available from the wholesaler or at online floral suppliers) to secure the edges of chicken wire and stop it unraveling .

The branches will help to hold in the flower stems

4. Attach fishing wire at the four corners of the roll and attach to a beam in the roof or wherever you are able to attach this arrangement. A hook could be screwed into a ceiling if necessary. See the fishing wire here attached to the chicken wire.

5. I set this up in my studio and had the “sausage roll” at a working height from the floor as I could then easily and quickly add the flowers and foliage.

6. Start with the Grevillea, take each stem and strip off about 10 stems. Grevillea branches are quite large and you can get many stems from each branch. Each branch cost about £5-£6 so you want to get your moneys worth!

7. Begin to add the stems in horizontally , weaving them through the chicken mesh.

8. Add the stems around the entire piece.

9. When you are happy with the shape and everything is balanced, you can now add the Genista.

Again, like the Grevillea, you can strip off many stems from the main branch. At least 10 stems from each branch. This piece use 50 stems of Grevillea and 50 stems of Genista.

10. Hoist up the arrangement by adjusting the length of the fishing wire when you have finished.

11. This arrangement is excellent for a barn wedding with beams and it can be hung over a table.

Happy arranging!