Balloons

Mylar balloons that are broken can be made into balloon weights when filled with gravel and tied with a pretty curling ribbon
Use a heated curling iron to seal Mylar balloons.
A regular iron, set on the highest setting, will repair broken Mylar or with pin-hole leaks at the seams
You can send another balloon up to get an escaped balloon. A long string with double sided tape attached to the balloon adheres to the escaped balloon.
Use broken or discarded molars for gift bags as an alternative to gift wrap.

Floral Tape & Rings

Use empty tape rings to make a wristlet for a corsages by gluing fresh or dried flowers onto the empty ring.
Use empty tape rings to tip carnations with paint. Bring the empty ring tightly around the flower, compressing the petals from underneath, than spray with the desired color.
The plastic floral tape ring can be made into a coordinating pew marker for weddings to designate reserved seating. Glue flowers to the floral tape ring, cut the bottom of the ring and slip over the top of the pew.
Use empty rings as handles for balloons for children who are giving a balloon as a gift.
Wrap floral tape by itself, no wires, to give a free flowing look to flowers in bridal work or to add movement to any cascade style of arrangement.
Use floral tape by itself, no wire, to create a string tie that will adhere to itself, for securing bear grass or other fresh items; works especially well when the tie will be exposed.

Fresh Flower Tips - Part 1

Gerbera stems can be wired and wrapped with light green tape for greater stability and line movement.
Insert wire directly inside pompon stems from the bottom for greater stability when inserting into firm foam bases or styrofoam for set pieces.
Insert a wire directly inside the bachelor button stem from the bottom to create stability.
Cut small 1/4"slit on tulips stem right below the petals in a horizontal fashion to straighten them up and close them.
Dip the ends of cut wedding flowers and foliages in Oasis glue before placing in bouquet holders for extra security.
Cut drumstick allium under mouthwash to prevent them smelling like onions.
Dip the ends of cut wedding flowers and foliages in Oasis glue before placing in bouquet holders for extra security.
Glue a chenille stem into the throat of a butterfly orchid for a better hold in bouquet or corsage work.
Tear all the outer petals off damaged or wilted gerberas to create fantasy flowers.
Save broken flower heads in plastic ice trays. The cubed sections filled with water will keep the blossoms from becoming water logged.
Toothpicks can be placed directly through carnations or pompons for quick coverage on set pieces.
To cover water spots where a white cattalaya orchids has gone transparent, carefully dust the areas with white talcum powder.

Fresh Flower Tips - Part 2

Wet scissors before trimming a plants brown edges to help prevent re-browning f the edges.
Use-1 part Johnson's Wax with two parts water for dipping foliage. Allow to dry. This prevents leather leaf and other foliages from wilting. Do not use a wax containing ammonia.
The same can be done for evergreen wreaths, swags and cuts to make them keep longer.
Get out ground-in pollen with a Wisk and Biz paste. Apply to the area then toss in with the regular wash.
Save the nets off your mums to place over tulips to help keep them from blowing open too fast.
Always removes the sleeves on roses when processing and hydrating. Leaving the sleeve on causes betritice.
Open lilies by holding them from water for two to three hours, then process normally. This will cause the buds to open far quicker than normal processing.
To get foliage stains out of washable fabrics, try blotting or sponging the stain with one part alcohol to two parts water and rinse. If the stain persists, try applying hydrogen peroxide.
Use a potato masher for stripping rose leaves when processing
Spray the back of a cymbidium orchid with flat white paint to eliminate the transparent look. The white will also intensify the color of the purple, yellow or green orchids.
Phalaenopsis orchids can "blush" with color when you spray their back side with tint sprays, pink, blue or yellow.
To open calla, make a circle of white chenille about the size of a quarter, or a little larger. Hand-open the calla, push the chenille circle almost to the base, keep it straight.

Fresh Flower Tips - Part 3

Remember to store evergreen in a cold, dark room, not your cooler, as evergreen gives off ethylene gases that promote the death of cut flowers.
Cut stephanotis individually and place in a thin sheet of wet foam. Cover the blossoms with tissue and mist until the tissue adheres to the stephanotis. Seal the whole set up in a plastic bag. They will keep for at least a week and the florets will stay crisp and fresh.
Leave cellophane wrappers on tulips when hydrating to retain the straight stem.
Hold peonies by wrapping in wet newspaper and holding dry in the cooler.
Open peonies by wrapping in wet newspaper and placing in a bucket in the cooler. This causes them to open slowly and with more uniformity.
Pixie sparkle makes greens last longer, makes sprengeri soft and less thorny, makes cut ivy last longer, and makes flat fern have a vase life of one week.
Submerge dendrobium and cymbidium orchids in cool water for 30 minutes for processing. Do this to revive them too.
Check cooler humidity as well as cooler temperature regularly.

Ribbons and Bows

Use a curling iron to crisp up wrinkled bows
Braid old wrinkled ribbon into pretty cording.
Use a bow as a gluing base for wrist corsages, pan melt it on to the wrist corsage base, then attach tulle, beads, gems etc.
Use wired ribbons as an adjustable wristlet.
Use wired ribbon as a base for a shoulder corsage.

Dried & Permanent Flowers

Prepared baby breath or angelace can be stored in the cooler to keep it softer and more pliable.
Steam dried flowers to get them to open and fluff more and make them more pliable to use. Ad a handful of salt to the water before steaming.
Take leftover roses at the end of the week ad hang them upside down to create our own dried.
To unwind paper ribbon, soak in water for 10 or 15 minutes. It will retain its color and wrinkles. Drape over a door or cabinet and let dry.
Fabric softener, diluted half and half with water, sprayed on dried with a muster bottle, make them softer and more pliable.
When drying red roses that have opened too far, dry them upside down. Before hanging them up, spray the roses with Floralife's Shocking Pink. When they dry, they will not look black but even more red.
Clean up your edges. Run a butane lighter quickly over the edges of frayed silks, careful not to hold the lighter in one place too long.
For a latex look on foliage, spray glossy wood tone and while it is still wet, put baby powder on it and shake off.
Dried roses can be opened by holding them over steam and blowing them open. This works also for peonies.
When you want to bend a dried leaf or stem ,hold it over steam and bend.
Use a fabric steamer to put life back into fabric flowers by steaming them lightly before removing them from bags.
To achieve a very shredded look, use a kensan to shred the raffia by combing it between your thumb and the pins.
To freshen older preserved product, mist with a glycerin and water solution and refrigerate.

Glue, Tape and Adhesives

WD-40 cleans up Oasis glue. It can be used to clean tables, containers and your hands.
.WD-40 on glue guns prevents strings from forming.
Spray water on hot glue to make it dry faster.
When you burn yourself with hot glue, take a piece of an aloe plant, split it open and place directly on the burn. Hold in place with a Band Aid for 24 hours.
Put a disposable plate under your glue pan or glue gun to make clean-up easy.
Combine Oasis glue and pan melt for better holding quality. Coat the surface to be glued with Oasis and allow to dry, then pan melt as usual. This will increase the holding strength of the glues.
Use Lomey Floral Lock Stem Adhesive as a part of your daily routine to securely hold flowers in place in fresh or dry foam.
Terra cotta pots and saucers can be water-proofed quickly by using boat resin.
Use rubber cement thinner from an office supply store to thin Oasis glue.
Use WD-40 to remove spray adhesive, pine tar and eucalyptus residue from your hands without taking off your fingernail polish.
To remove hot glue from clothing, including silk, place a brown paper bag over the exposed area, press with a hot iron on the brown bag. The glue will transfer to the bag. Repeat as many times as necessary. Do this before cleaning.

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Paint Tips

When opening a new can of spray paint, point the nozzle opening to the black dot on the can rim. This increases the volume of paint you are able to get out of each can.
When paint a basket or dried materials, spray the first coat with silver, then your next coat with the color of your choice. This will seal material and save you several coat of paint.
Mist a container with water, spray with a desired color of paint, then wipe off the container. This provides a simulated marbling effect.
Whitewash over any color makes it softer.
Place a plastic bag over your hand when spray-tinting items. Saves the hands and manicure.
Yellow tint on pink carnations results in a wonderful talisman color.
Spraying yellow tint on lavender cymbidium orchids results in lovely bronze colors.
To revive the natural color in mosses, mix yellow and green food coloring together in a water mister and spray on mosses.
Silk flower colors can be enhanced using spray tints or paint spray color on the underside of the flowers, thus avoiding a "painted" look. Tints are even better as you are using a transparent color.
Black tint from Design Master darken a color gently and subtlety.
To make Spanish moss lock fresh and alive, spray with bright yellow tint. This turns the moss into a nice shade of green.
If spray paint will not stick to plastic, spray on one coat of silver and paint on top of the silver.
Blue bri-tint sprayed on purple statics gives a rich, royal blue accent.
When using spray paints or dried materials, use a heavy coat of Vaseline Intensive Care on your hands. Not only will your hands hold up better, but also paint and dirt will come off a lot easier.

Wedding

To make a wedding bouquet stand up in the cooler or delivery, flue empty nylon tulle net rolls into the bottom of a box.
Use pint size Ziploc bags to store silk corsages leaves.
Instead of leaf polish, use Clear Glaze on ivy and preens in wedding work. Leaf polish can stain dresses, as it is oil based.
When working with gardenias and stephenotis, wet your hands, because it's the oil on your hands that turns the flower brown.
Recycle spray paint caps for use as a fresh flower holder on cake tops.
For weddings, have the ushers reserve the pew immediately behind the family for special guests, or other VIP's who are not seated in the family section.
Mix real lemon and water equal parts, and spray on gardenias or white roses to prevent browning.
Ribbon streamer ends will not fray if ends are sprayed with Super Surface Sealer.
When using tulips in an arrangement or bridal bouquet let the tulips sit outside the cooler until the desired opening up of the flower has reached the stage you are wanting. At that point, dip the head of the tulip in egg white and this will prevent the flower from opening any more.

Flower Care

Use Clorox in baby breath buckets. Add one tablespoon per gallon along with your regular preservative to prevent bacteria from closing the blossoms.
Use a drop of dish soap on water when processing baby breath, and keep covered with plastic at all times, after process and in the cooler.
Use proper amount of preservative recommended on the preservative container. If you are using too much or to little, you are shortening the flower life.
Fresh cut daffodils can cause other flowers to expire when combined in the same vase
Place snapdragons in straight antifreeze for two hours then in regular preservative water to keep them from dropping blossoms.
When misting roses, moisture that is trapped inside the blossom will promote rotting in the cooler
Cutting stems underwater when hydrating flowers and processing guarantees longer vase life.
Keeping tropical flowers out of the cooler will retain the color and prolong lasting quality.
If phalaenopsis orchids are limp, prepare basin of very hot water. Place single orchids in the basin upside down and leave until the water cools. The orchids will become hard again. This will not work on old phalaenopsis that have become transparent, only on fresh orchids that have lost their water resource.
To keep leather leaf crisp and fresh, submerge it in cold water for 20 minutes. Re-cut your stems about 1/2 inch and place in a bucket of warm water. Immediately cover the bucket with plastic bag and place in the cooler. This allows the heated water to create condensation in the plastic and will keep the leather fresh and crisp for weeks.
Dry bunn moss can be reawakened by pouring boiling water over it.
Use floral preservatives daily to prolong shelf life of flowers and ensure proper bud opening
Crowning Glory will enhance the shelf life of your fresh floral products. Simply spray on fresh flowers and foliage to retard deterioration and browning, and retain moisture of fresh materials.
To conditioning hollow-stemmed flowers, turn the stem upside down, fill with preservative water, put soaked cotton in the end of the stem to keep the solution inside, then place in bucket of more preservative solution.
Place one capful of white vinegar in warm water and re cut the stem of gerberas. Place in solution for several hours. Stems will become very turgid. Re-cut and place in preservative solution and refrigerate.
To condition woody flowering branches, re cut with good pruners at an angle, then make a vertical cut into the center of the stem about one inch. This helps in water absorption.
Do not refrigerate tuberoses.
Use full strength lemon juice misted on gardenia blossoms to prevent them from browning.
When processing fresh iris, fill buckets with ice or ice water mixture, this allows them to harden faster and promotes longevity.

Miscellaneous Tips

Petroleum jelly is great for removing pine tar from hands.
Never remove all the foliage on chrysanthemums - the leaves are beneficial in drawing water to the head.
Treat cut apples with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.
When combining dried materials with fresh flowers in wet foam, place dried material stems in plastic drinking straws to keep the stems from becoming damp and moldy.
To crystallize fresh flowers, have a syrup made of one cup water and two cups sugar. Stir, allowing to simmer for about five minutes. Place flowers in syrup, carefully. Remove and allow to dry.
To crystallize grapes and strawberries, dip in slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with fine granulated sugar.
Brittle dried foliage can be softened with Vaseline Intensive Care lotion.
Cutting tin foil with scissors will sharpen it.
Press leaves and flowers and create book markers or greeting cards.
Keep kitty our of plants by putting lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit juice on the planter.
Dig your fingernails into a bar of soap and build up a heavy amount under your nails before starting to plant a planter, it makes for easy clean up and your nails won't get dirt embedded under them.
To keep fresh tulips closed, paint with unbeaten egg whites.

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Last Updated on Thursday, 05. October 2006 07:23:57 PM +0800

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