Floral design is an art and for some it comes easy. If you have tried and failed or never tried at all, take heart, all is not lost. The beauty of learning at home is that if you make mistakes, it does not matter if it looks a bit funny. With some helpful tips and practice you can become proficient at it.

From my years as a designer, I have learned some helpful ideas that will make the journey easier.

1) The first thing I would do is to rent from the library or buy a floral design book. I used books liberally in the beginning to learn about the various floral supplies and get familiar with them. Also you get to see pictures of designs and in most books they will take you step by step on how to do it.

2) Start with the simplest of designs. Follow the step by step instructions and pat yourself on the back for each little step you do that works out. Do not fall in the trap of getting down on your-self if it does not look right.

3) Do the same beginners design over and over again until you really get proficient at it. Then take on a different design and do that over and over until you've got it down, and so on.

4) Now that you'll have practiced several designs and you are feeling comfortable doing it, I'm going to give you an important tip that can take you from becoming a good designer into a great designer. I consider this one of the most important learning tools. This is what changed my floral designs. Take your tips from nature. Once I had some basic skills from doing it over and over, I started to observe flowers, plants and shrubs as they grow in nature. Really, really look at how they grow naturally. If you mimic nature, you will not go wrong in your designs. Most people make the mistake of trying to make flowers perfectly symmetrical. This looks very fake and you will never see them grow that way. Some flowers are sticking out and some are tucked in and may be barely visible but still contribute to the overall look. I have even based some of my designs on how a particular tree grows. The more you observe nature and mimic that, the more successful you will be in your designs.

Some of the most successful designers in the world mimic nature and its that organized haphazard look that makes it beautiful.

If all you want to do is have flowers that make your home beautiful and more inviting, then practicing floral design can be an extremely rewarding activity. If you want to take it a step farther and learn to become a designer and make an income from it, you really can learn at home and it is a very fun activity.

Enjoy!

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Willie Jones

Willie is a freelance writer, researcher, floral designer, and artist. Thanks very much for reading this far. Please come and visit us at: http://www.artinspires.com/for an inspirational poster or two

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