A Simple, DIY, Hudson Valley Wedding - Picking The Flowers

Whew! It’s been awhile. I got caught up with actually planning and having my wedding! Now I’m back to tell you how it went and what I learned, starting with the flowers. :)

There are an incredible number of options when choosing wedding flowers (or you can choose not to have any). Do you want some for every table? Every person? Or just the bouquet for you? Which florist? What types of flowers? Colors? Are you going to preserve them? The questions go on and on!

If you have decided you want to have someone else design your flowers, you might want to skip the florists and go straight to a flower farm. There are several in the area with many options and some of them will design the flowers for you or know someone who will. This way, you also know your flowers grew locally, seasonally, and even organically depending on the farm. Shoving Leopard Farm even has an option where they grow a bed of flowers just for your wedding if you let them know by December.

For me, I went straight to the DIY approach to save money, and because I wanted a simple, casual feeling that is sometimes hard to find with florists, and in-season flowers were also important to me. I also turned out to be pretty good at it, if I do say so myself!

on the way to the venue! flowers are very distracting while driving, by the way. (photo by Thomm Quackenbush)

If you choose this approach, you still need to figure out where to get the flowers. You can look at flower farms like I mentioned before or look into bulk flower sellers online - this can be a bit pricey but you do end up having the largest number of flower options so you can be pickier about colors or if there’s a specific variety you just have to have.

photo by Daniel Evans

You can also try and grow your own flowers. I tried this and got mixed results, due to the weather and some fencing complications that pushed back when I planted my seedlings. I ended up not having nearly enough flowers by the wedding (I've got a ton now, though!) so I had to get some flowers from elsewhere. However, I did get a ton of pansies that I made ice cubes with that gave the water a slight cucumber taste while looking great, too! So that was a success, and having a few flowers I grew myself making a showing in my bouquet and the other arrangements meant a lot to me, so I’m super glad I tried - plus one of my dahlias finally blooming greeted me when I got back from our honeymoon.

photo by Daniel Evans

Another way you could go is to stop by a pick-your-own farm to pick some flowers. You could even make a day of it with your bridal party! This is the way I went when it turned out I didn't have enough flowers. Most places only charge around $10 for a bucket full of flowers and I only ended up spending around $40 in total. If you go this route, pick them as close to your event as possible and do your picking in the early morning or evening on a cloudy day for the best results. If you have access to a cooler, you might want to pop the flowers in there once you get them home. If not, a dark cool place would be fine. I only ended up putting my bouquet in the fridge once I made it to keep it fresh.

bottles actually used to be for clam juice!

Finally, you can just buy flowers from the grocery store. Some places like Sam’s Club will even have discounts on old flowers that might have a few bad stems, but are generally good. This way is probably the riskiest if you want specific flowers or colors, as they might only have a small selection - but if you’re just looking for roses and carnations or have a seasonal color palate (think oranges and reds around fall and pinks and yellows for spring) this might work out great for you

Now that you've got your flowers, how will you arrange them? There are a ton of great resources online for flower arranging, but, if you’re doing them all yourself, time will be a huge factor, so the simpler the better. For me, I started with my bouquet by simply working in a circle until I had about what I wanted and then taped it up with green floral tape and trimmed the stems. After that, you might want to use ribbons around the base, but I think it looks great even without that.

Next, I designed the table flowers. I used pasta sauce jars and other bottles that I had been saving up, and a few actual vases as well. These, I filled with flowers, generally keeping to a color scheme or feeling for each one. Finally, I used the flowers that were too short for anything else to make the boutonnieres. Those I did like the bouquet, just smaller. And you know what you can do with the extra flowers that just weren't quite good enough or got bent? Save them for the flower girl to throw!

photo by Daniel Evans

As for preserving your flowers, I don’t know much - I just took pictures then added them to my compost pile. Still you can look into drying the normal way ( hanging them upside down) or look into something more interesting, like freeze-drying. You might just want to keep a few flowers pressed in a book, too, especially if you do scrap-booking - all you have to do for that is place the flower in a book and then weigh it down until completely flat, and then wait.

Thanks for reading!

Amber

Photo by Jun Ogata dress by Holly Mccabe

Fooling Around with Fiber - An Adventure in the Wet Felting Process

Today we have a guest post from team member Kathryn Luciana of Huzzah Handmade sharing with us her recent visit to White Barn Farm and Fiber.

White Barn Farm Shop

Spring was barely in the air when I returned to White Barn Sheep and Wool near New Paltz, N.Y.  I'd visited this lovely shop and farm last year and signed up for a couple of lectures, but this time, I was there to immerse myself in a process called Wet Felting. I have always been intrigued by this process, and although I've been knitting and felting my work for years, Wet Felting is very different, and I wanted to learn more about it.

Paula Kucera, owner of the farm, welcomed us to her studio and shop, which is housed in part of the white barn for which the farm is named. The shop is cozy, very well stocked with a wonderful variety of fiber, books, tools, and a nice selection of local handmade items. Featured is a good selection of locally sourced fibers in addition to her own luscious yarns from her herd of mostly Cormo sheep. She recently remodeled the "knit lounge" and the workshop area of the barn, so we had lots of light and space to work. She described the process, showed us various examples of finished pieces, books about wet felting, and described the materials that we would  be using.

Merino wool batts, and coils of roving

Very simply stated, Wet Felting is a process by which various fibers are arranged on a fiber background creating a design. Then the substrate and fibers are covered, and warm, soapy water is gradually poured over the piece. By rubbing gently with your hands, and adding water as necessary, gradually the fibers start to meld, but that's just the beginning! Several more steps and several more hours later, you have your finished piece.

In preparation for the day, Paula suggested that we find something to inspire our project, like a photograph, scrap of fabric, an image or anything we might find helpful as a jumping off point. I decided to choose one of my photographs. I found several that I thought might work, and manipulated them in Photoshop to make them more abstract. I took four or five with me, but finally ended up with one from part of my garden.

My batt and my inspiration photos

Paula was kind to us. She chose 100% Merino 19 micron wool, because of it's ability to felt more easily then other fibers. A great choice for newbies. The "canvas" on which we worked is called a batt. We had chosen our batt colors in advance, and Paula had a nice variety available when we arrived. The batts are basically soft, rectangular sheets of wool, and since we were going to be making purses or tablet carriers, the color of the batt would become the inside of the bag. I chose gray/brown, but more adventurous students chose lime green or turquoise. Other than that, our tools were humble: a towel, plastic bubble wrap, synthetic organza fabric, a plastic sheet, rubber stair tread material, a scrap of non-slip rug material, and a piece of a foam "noodle" like kids use in the pool.

Our tools

The "paint" we used on our "canvas" was Merino wool roving in an amazing variety of colors,  yarn, and various other fibers. We set about pulling off sections from the roving coils to create our designs. With my photograph nearby, I started creating my scene. As well as the wisps of roving, I also used a couple of colors of merino yarn for texture. Once our bag front was complete, we flipped the whole piece over and repeated the process for the back and flap. (Notice the piece of plastic inside the bag to keep the back and front from felting together). With step one, the bag front and back completed, we moved on to step two. Time to get wet! If you like getting messy, you'll love this process.

Step One, complete

Step Two is where the magic starts to happen. The front of the bag is covered with a scrap of organza fabric. Then, warm, soapy water is dribbled over the fabric gradually. It needs to get really wet. Squishy wet. As you add water, you start to gently rub the fibers with your hands, eventually covering the entire piece. This abrasion will start the felting process. Rub, add water, rub, check your progress by lifting the fabric. Finally, the fibers will be adhered to themselves and to the batt, so that you can lift the organza and flip the piece over to repeat the process on the back. I wanted to make a messenger style bag with a cross body strap, so I had an additional step. I selected a length of roving, allowing for shrinking, and using the rubber stair tread, I rolled the wet roving back and forth on it until it felted into a solid tube. As I worked on the bag back, I attached the strap to the inside, felting it as I rubbed the outside of the bag. The side seams are turned under and felted closed securely. After that, time for a quick lunch and a trip to see the sheep down at the barn.

Recently sheared Cormo Sheep

Organza fabric layer

Back to work, we now started the labor-intensive part of the process. Our pieces were sandwiched between two sheets of plastic, and one piece still remained inside. We placed our work on the bubble wrap, rolled them around our foam noodle, and tied the ends tightly. On top of our towels, we started rolling the package back and forth on the table, 50 times one way, then flip the package around and 50 times the other way. There is a stance one must assume to do this, and you quickly learn the meaning of the phrase "put your back into it." Using our forearms, we rolled and flipped and rolled and flipped. Paula assured us that it would only take and hour or so! I soon realized that I didn't have to worry about working off the calories I ate at lunch.
Every couple of hundred rolls, we had the chance to peek at the progress of our work. They were getting smaller and denser, little by little. Finally, we were ready to move on, but we were not done yet! 

Checking the progress

Rolling, rolling, rolling!

After deciding that our pieces were sufficiently felted, Paula led us to the sink, where we scrubbed them vigorously in a basin of hot water. After wringing out most of the water, we then got to use our rubber mats. Now, at this point, if you have any aggression to release, go for it. We grabbed our bags and threw them down on the mats repeatedly to finish the process. Wham! We were done!! Our bags were felted, but there was still opportunity for further experimentation. I took my bag home and threw it in the dryer on hot, so that it felted even more, and the strap was then the perfect length. My bag ended up being about and inch or two larger than an iPad, all around. I will add a lining and a closure. Other students were considering adding needle felted decorations, beads, leather handles or other adornments.

Hot water "shock"

Throwing down!

So, after 5 hours, lots of elbow grease, and three cups of Yogi Energy Tea, I have a small insight into the ancient process of Wet Felting. It was a great day, in good company with a patient teacher. A very satisfying experience.  White Barn Farm and Fiber Shop is located at 815 Albany Post Road, New Paltz, N.Y. You can visit Paula on the web at: whitebarnsheepandwool.com

My bag, with felting completed

Story and Photos by Kathryn Luciana of Huzzah Handmade