Gathering in the bright, spacious Orangery, you will create your floral art piece from scratch, including the wreath base. Planning and feeling your way through the everlasting foliage, seedheads, and flowers provided by your tutor and West Dean Gardens, you will learn several techniques to create your wreath and think through the design principles involved in creating such a work.

Paying close attention to style, balance and shape, this wreath-making will stretch the idea of a wreath from a simple pastoral decoration to a sculptural, art-piece. The outcome will be an eye-catching and unique piece that promotes curiosity in the perceiver, inspired by a particular material, season, feeling, moment, or aspect of your personality.

Through this process you will also learn about the flower, foliage and fodder used in dried flower floristry. There will be a chance to understand these ingredients more deeply, ask questions on the process of growing, picking and drying flowers and witness the differences between fresh and dried flower floristry.

Familiarising yourself with a dried florists’ techniques, tools and materials, you will finish the course with a new range of approaches to crafting with flowers, as well as a beautiful piece or two if time allows, and hopefully, a feeling that you have gained a deeper connection to the beautiful natural world, in both knowledge and spirit.

Included

On this course Ramshackle Flowers and West Dean Gardens will supply the dried flowers and foliage used for the floral design and wreath structure making. Tools including floristry snips, string and wire will also be supplied.

What students need to bring

If you have any interesting dried material you would like to incorporate into your design, you are welcome to bring it along, also your own secateurs or floral snips if you have a pair you would prefer to use.

Additional information

Please wear appropriate clothing/aprons for the workshop or studio, this includes stout covered footwear (no sandals or open toes).

Student registration: 9.15am-9.30am  
Course teaching: 9.30am-5pm  
Morning session: 9.30am-1pm  
Lunch break: 1pm-2pm (lunch included)  
Afternoon session: 2pm-5pm  
Teaching finishes: 5pm  

Terms & Conditions