|  | | | Flower Hour | | | Maintained by: | | Floristry, Wrapping & Crafts store. A huge range of cellophane wraps, cello card envelopes and gift bags, paper and kraft bags and a big range of floristry supplies. Ribbons, bows, florists foams, confetti rose petals, lavender, cinnamon, gift bags and more, along with great prices and service. | |
|
|
 | | New to making multiple purchases?
Click here to find out how to combine and pay for your order together |
|
|
| Free guides & 'how to' articles
 |
Classic candle arrangement using our gold and red berries. It looks fab but is so easy to make, just don't tell your friends! Click the image for our free guide |
 |
The great giftwrap guide! All you need to know about boxes, baskets and more. Click the image for our free guide |
|
|
How to make a handtied bouquet. See our new picture guide by clicking here |
|
|
Fantastic pew end decorations. Read our step by step guide by clicking here |
|
|
Make these traditional florists bows - find out how by clicking here |
|
|
Fun, loopy bows, perfect for decorating your gifts - find out how by clicking here |
|
|
Introduction to wiring a corsage, great for beginners - find out how by clicking here |
|
|
Decorating for a wedding on a budget - read our guide and find some handy tips here |
Add us to your favourites and subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of new guides, makes and special offers! |
|
|
|  |
|
| Make Beautiful Pew End Decorations
Welcome to our Guide to make these fantastic pew end decorations, using simple traditional materials and fresh or silk flowers.
Although you can use proprietary pew holders, we prefer our tried and tested method of using these very simple, effective and cheap 'shovels' that are readily available and can be reused time and time again. We've produced a full step by step guide with plenty of clear pictures, so settle down for a good read and be inspired!
|
Step 1: Get your materials together. You will need:
Florists 'shovels' - the green plastic holders
Florists foam (Oasis brand or similar)
Scissors and a sharp knife - a breadknife or carver works fine.
Pot tape
Florists ribbon or curling ribbon
Flowers and foliage
Optional - you may choose to use stem tape and stub wires
|
 |
|
Step 2: The instructions here are given for fresh flowers, so we're using wet (green) Oasis. It needs to be well soaked before you start work, so immerse it in plenty of clean cold water at least an hour before. Add some flower food to the water before you put the foam in, dissolve well and your flowers will get some extra nutrients to help them last longer.
If you want to work with silk or dried flowers instead, just follow the same instructions but switch to the dry (brown) foam, also known as Oasis Sec
|
|
Step 3: Start by preparing your holder. Depending on where you are decorating, you may be able to tie or hook the holders on. If you can't, don't worry. In the next step, we show how to make a safe wire hanger that won't upset the vicar and will work on pretty much any pew end!
If you can use a ribbon loop, start by taking a length of florists ribbon about 18" long. Tear it in half lengthways, and using just the one half feed it through the hole at the top of the shovel. Leave a short end at the hole and take the long end all the way down the handle towards the holder. |
 |
| Cut a small piece of pot tape. This is really sticky, strong tape that works even in wet conditions. We've used 5mm green / brown tape here. |
 |
| Use the pot tape to secure both ends of the ribbon, taping right around the handle and leaving the long end to trail down the back of the handle |
 |
| Start 'winding' the long end of the ribbon back up the handle, like the way tape is wrapped around the handle of a tennis racquet, overlapping slightly on each turn. |
 |
| When you've reached the top, use another piece of pot tape to secure the loose end and the turns down the back of the handle. This won't be seen when the hanger is up. You now have a ribbon loop to hang it by, if you are using this method go to step 5 now. |
 |
|
Step 4: If you can't hang your pew decorations from a loop, you will need to make a wire hanger instead. You need a piece of stub wire (we're using 18 swg 12" stubs) and some stem tape. If you are hanging onto wood, use brown stem tape to cover the wires and they will work like a dream! |
 |
| Wrap the stem tape around the wire. This helps it to blend in and makes it safe so that you won't scratch any wooden surface when you hang your decorations. Stem tape is the paper-like tape sold under the brand name 'Stemtex' and others, it stretches in use and seals to itself without leaving a sticky residue on the surface. For more details on how to wrap wires, see our guide on 'How to make a corsage'. |
 |
| Bend the covered stub wire into a U shape, keeping both legs roughly equal. Make the U shape about 1.5 - 2" wide to give stability. |
 |
| Feed both 'legs' of the wire into the hole in the handle, feeding from the back and leaving about an inch poking through to the front. |
 |
| Wrap the ends around the top and twist together around the legs of the U |
 |
| Using your fingers as a guide, gently bend the U shaped wire over into a hanger shape. This is surprisingly strong and will be enough to hang your arrangement over the top of a pew or a door, honest! It also looks really smart and 'disappears' behind the flowers and ribbons. If your flowers will be hung on a light coloured surface, simply swap the brown tape for white. |
|
| Step 5: Add the foam to your hanger. You can see in this picture that the hanger is perfectly sized to take a standard foam block, end on. Push the hanger onto the block, and use your sharp knife to slice off the foam leaving one or two cm of foam standing proud of the hanger. Tip: don't make the foam too proud or your arrangment will be bulky, but don't slice off too level or you will have trouble getting all the materials in at the right angle. |
 |
| Use pot tape to secure the foam. Although the hangers have spikes to help it stay in place, two pieces of tape near the top and bottom will give greater security and no last minute jitters! |
 |
| Step 6: Prepare some ribbons for the top of the arrangement. Take a long longth of florists ribbon, tear it in half and starting from the bottom of the handle, tie on and wrap upwards to the top. Knot the two ends and just leave them loose for now, we'll finish them off later. |
 |
| Step 7: Start adding your flowers and foliage. For this picture series we're using spray roses for the main colour, and some fresh lavender and tiny geranium flowers for the mauve accents. For foliage we're using a mixture of honeysuckle, ivy, ceanothus and the foliage from the spray roses. The honeysuckle and ivy are great for 'trailing', so it makes our job easier when creating an elegant trailing pew hanger. Our ribbons are in ivory and gold, to pick up on the honey and gold tones in the honeysuckle, although pink and lilac ribbons would also work well in this piece. Start by outlining the main shape of your arrangement, here we're using 3 pieces of honeysuckle as shown. |
 |
| Keep adding foliage to describe the basic shape. Here we've added some ivy at the side and at the top, using shorter pieces around the top angles and long trailing pieces at the side. Tip: there are few hard & fast rules about working with fresh flowers, but try to get nature to help as much as possible! Look at the natural shape of the material and work with it, rather than forcing it to do something it doesn't want to do. |
 |
| Add some 'body' foliage now. Don't worry about covering all the foam by any means, just flesh out the body of the arrangement a little. Don't be afraid to cut foliage short and just use the tips to get the look you need. . |
 |
| Step 8: Now move on to your main material, we're using the spray roses as the main body of our arrangement. Cut plenty of short material, including some foliage to intersperse, and start filling the main area. |
 |
| Keep adding material until you feel you have a nice 'spread' of the main colour. Don't feel you have to fill all the gaps at this stage, and do work around the foliage you have already put in place. Recessing some flower heads gives a nice feeling of depth, so don't worry about getting everything to face the front and be at the same height - your arrangement will look far better if the flowers are more naturally placed. |
 |
| Step 9: Start adding some accent colours. Here we're adding some small geranium heads, just interweaving them with the roses. |
 |
| Pick your arrangement up from time to time and check that the overall shape and form is right. Look at the balance of colours, and decide if you want to adjust anything. |
 |
| We're now adding the lavender spikes. As well as giving the arrangement a fantastic scent, these are a perfect accent flower as the form is so different to the roses. We're adding a series of spikes to the 'tail' of the arrangement, stepping the lengths to achieve the shape we want. |
 |
| Add some short spikes to the sides and middle to distribute the colour and texture through the whole piece. Don't worry how short you have to cut these pieces, they will still be doing a great job for you. |
 |
|
Tip: If you're using something 'spiky' like lavender or bear grass, take 3 or 5 pieces (an odd number always looks better), and treat them as a bunch. Place the heads where you would like, trim the stems level and push them in as one piece. Adding them as small bunches always looks better than adding them individually |
 |
| Nearly there! Check and adjust your plant material for the last time now. Once you are happy, carry on to make the ribbon loops. |
 |
| Step 10: Take the long lengths of ribbon left at the top of the handle and turn them into ringlets now. Tear them into quarters or thirds along the length, trim the ends on a slant and curl them gently over the back of the scissors. You are aiming for a series of gentle ringlets that fall and cascade over the handle and into the flowers |
 |
| Tip: If you're a bit too enthusiastic with the curling and you find you've made a curly perm instead of pre-raphaelite ringlets (!), don't panic. Gently run the scissors over the back of the curl (doing the opposite action) and you will find it relaxes nicely. |
 |
| Step 11: If you want them, add some ribbon loops now. We like them for celebration flowers, as they make the whole thing look a lot more special. They are also a great way to help fill out and can cut down on flowers if you're on a tight budget. Cut some lengths of florists ribbon anything up to 24" long, but vary the length. Tear it down into thirds or quarters. We're using a mix of both ivory and gold. |
 |
| Take a short piece of stub wire, 5" will be enough. Bend the wire in half, and tuck the ribbon into the bend. Twist the wire over to secure the ribbon, then curl the ribbon over your scissors. You can vary the length of ribbon, width of ribbon and degree of curl, so make a selection of ringlets and push them into your arrangement. |
 |
| As you insert the ribbons, pull and weave them in between the flowers and foliage. Done well, this can lift the whole arrangement into something really special, so keep playing with the ribbons until you are 100% satisfied |
 |
| The finished arrangement - note how the ivory and gold ribbons don't appear as a block of colour but are woven through and around the flowers. |
 |
| The hanger is shown hanging by its wire loop over the top of a door. The wire U shape is holding it very securely and is completely invisible behind the ribbon loops at the top. |
|
| We hope you have enjoyed this guide and feel inspired to make your own arrangements. If you want to shop for supplies now, please visit our Ebay shop or click on any of the pictures below to search products. |
|
Plastic shovels
 |
Florists Foam  |
Pot Tape  |
|
Stub wires  |
Stem tape  |
Florists ribbon  |
Why not add us to your favourite shops now and get notified in our newsletter when we add more great guides.
Sign up for my email newsletters by adding my eBay Shop to your Favourites
Flower Hour
All text and images copyright FlowerHour 2007. You are welcome to print this for your own use and link to our content from other sites, but please do not copy, link to or otherwise distribute any of this article for commercial purposes without the express permission of Flower Hour. If you would like to use any part of this article, please email us at admin@flowerhour.co.uk |
|
|
) 
