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After the celebration of All Hallows Eve, the first day of November is one for remembering the dearly departed with the festivals of the Mexican Day of the Dead and All Souls’ Day and with this in mind, I designed a unique teardrop tribute of flowers for display inside the design room of one of my favourite flower shops.

However, given that my photographic skills appeared to have deserted me when I set about capturing some more images of this floral spray perched on a table – I was relieved to discover that the results of the outdoor shoot were something of a compensation!

And if you would like to discover the tale behind the creation of this teardrop floral spray then please read on!

Using a combination of off-white silk roses, snippets of Conifer and some other bits of fauna that I snaffled from my garden, I also assembled a piece of DRY Floral Foam, a handful of fine silver wire, my trusty pair of scissors and a mug of tea…

I might add that the choice of beverage is optional!

With the snippets of Conifer, I begin to design a ‘Floral Bed’ in the design of a teardrop.

For those of you familiar with my floral creations, you’ll know that I love to use ‘real’ foliage when I can and that I am also an enthusiastic ‘harvester’ who loves to take advantage of the free pickings from the hedgerows and bridleways around me!

As I continue with the snippets of Conifer, my design begins to take shape.

Conifer remains one of my favourites to work with for reasons that include a gorgeous colour, the appearance of being ‘freshly picked’ for many weeks and its heady scent which j’adore!

Now that the basic teardrop design has been completed, it’s time to add the silk roses which are a lovely off-white colour.

With the roses in place, I now add the other pieces of interesting foliage that I have harvested.

I use the silver wire to hold the pieces of foliage intact within the spray.

The silver wires are also useful for creating ‘circles’ of foliage which adds nicely to the design.

As the design is nearly complete; it’s time to add the finishing touch with some tiny pieces of fresh moss.

I use the moss to fill in any of the small gaps that remain until I am happy with my design.

With my floral spray completed, it’s now time to enjoy a well-deserved mug of tea.

Although I have used ‘real’ foliage for the creation of this teardrop floral spray; alternative snippets of plastic, silk or even paper leaves would also happily work with this design and I have found some wonderful pieces of ‘foliage’ while browsing the aquarium department of my local pet store.

And even though I have been creating and teaching floral design for many years now, I believe that everyone has the ability to make some sort of an arrangement with the use of fauna and flora and once you have mastered the basics – there really is no right nor wrong way!

I hope that my tutorial will inspire you to create your own little floral masterpiece?