Award Winner in the 2012 Ct Floral Association Competition!!!

This past Sat. and Sunday the Northeast Regional Floral Expo- hosted by the CT Floral Association took place in Sturbridge Mass.   After taking the past 2 years off to chair the Decoration Committee, I tried my hand once more at competing…. and ended up with second place in the Masters category…. Not too bad!

Our challenge this year (the theme changes every year) was to create an accessory to go with a particular dress. See the photo below:

Here are the entries for the Masters Category…

The first thing I thought of when I saw the dress was a bolero jacket, or an overlay.  What I ended up designing was both!

After determining the right technique I set about doing some top-secret experiments….

I decided to attempt making the jacket out of hot glue. It is a technique that I saw someone from Japan use in a boutonniere once a few years ago at an AIFD symposium in Palm Desert. I asked him what it was and he told me.  Six years later, I found a perfect excuse to use it. I learned that my idea would work, as well as how best to go about it. This post will be about the competition and my piece, but the next post will be a how-to 🙂 so stay tuned!

Here are some shots taken of some last-minute placements  just before the judging…

Working on the final details

As you can see, the “glace overlay” is rather transparent, decorated with String of Pearl plant, variegated lily grass, Helleborus blooms and a few Italian ranunculus.

"Glace Overlay" Detail shot-

Glace Overlay, 2012 NEFE competition

Fully functional with a magnetic closure, base made of Hot Glue- (how-to post coming next!)

This is such an exciting technique, as it takes paint so well. I am excited to see what else I can think of to make. I loved this piece and had a great time making it.  Couple shots of the “back”- which could also be a “front” as photographed here-

Glace Overlay on dress, 2012 NEFE competition entry

this photo taken the next day.....

Moving on to phase 2.

The top 3 finalists (yes, my glace overlay did score the highest in this round, it really was exquisite, I am very pleased with how it came out) move onto the 2nd round, the Face Off.

In the Face Off round, the designers are all given the same flowers and the same theme. We are given an allotted amount of time (45 min in this case) to create a design that will then be judged.  The 2 scores are added together and the highest one wins all.  First Place wins a check for $500, the trophy to keep in their shop for the year, and a chance to move onto the National Competitions held in the fall.

Some shots from Phase II:

My little elephant friend (who I sadly misplaced afterword 😦 😦 is happily watching)

tip: keep your glue upright in some sort of container (jelly jars work great:)

simple callas and intricate grass weaving, bridal cascade from phase II

my finished pieces, NEFE competition, 2012

Unfortunately I was unable to claim the trophy, but I did obtain a new Second Place plaque to display in my shop…

I do think that one learns more from a close call, rest assured I have thought of about 6 million things I “could have made” for my Phase II, but I feel that my work was solid, my mechanics are good and I am proud of what I made.

Look out 2013….. I’m coming for you!!!

Here is a link to the “trailer” for next years convention, to be held in Mystic, CT it looks like a ton of fun!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3271293817083

Stay tuned for the “how-to” post coming soon….

Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a comment!

860.346.0000