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CHAPTER 2: TOOLS AND MATERIALS

Before you can start crafting with faux florals, there are some essential tools you’ll need. You can make a simple arrangement using just a pair of wire cutters and a vase, but there are a variety of tools, materials, and supplies that are helpful in making beautiful, long-lasting floral arrangements and projects.

Basic Tools

Wire Cutters

You can find wire cutters made especially for working with faux florals at any craft store, but I use a heavy-duty pair of diagonal wire snips I got from a local hardware store. They are a bit more ergonomic and have more cutting power when working with thick wire and stems.

Dry Floral Foam

There are two types of floral foam: wet foam, which is used with fresh flowers, and dry foam, which is made for working with faux and dried florals. Floral foam can be cut and shaped to fit any vessel. You can use this foam as a foundation to push your stems into when creating floral arrangements.

Floral Foam Tools

Floral foam can be cut with any serrated knife you might find in your kitchen, but I found this plastic knife worked especially well. It comes in a pack with a shaping tool, which essentially acts like sandpaper to smooth and shape your foam, and a scribe tool, which is helpful for marking foam and tucking.

A heavy-duty pair of diagonal wire cutters is essential.

Though messy to cut and trim, dry floral foam is an important material to use for unusual vessels.

Faux floral tools: (A) floral sticky clay roll; (B) safety glasses; (C) ruler; (D) floral foam tools; (E) greening pins; (F) floral scissors; (G) floral wire; (H) floral tape; (I) safety gloves; (J) wire cutters.

Faux floral tools: (K) traditional floral frog; (L) twine; (M) hairpin frog; (N) chicken wire; (O) floral tape; (P) dry floral foam.

Floral Tape

There are two main types of floral tape: clear floral tape and floral stem tape. Clear floral tape can be used on its own to create a grid across the mouth of your vase for arranging flowers within. It is also useful for stabilizing your mechanics (dry floral foam, chicken wire, etc.) in your vessel. Clear floral tape is essentially the same as scotch tape, but it’s packaged in a narrower roll that is versatile for floral arranging. Floral stem tape is used for holding florals together for designs that don’t include a vase or for attaching shorter stems to floral wire to lengthen them. It’s unlike most other types of tape because it needs to be stretched for the adhesive to activate. This ensures the floral tape sticks to itself but not your fingers. Floral stem tape comes in a variety of colors: green, brown, black, and white.

Clear floral tape can be used to create a stabilizing grid on the opening of your vessel.

Floral Wire

Floral wire comes in sizes ranging from the thicker 16-gauge (or ¹/₁₆" [1.3 mm]) wire to the very thin 30-gauge (or ¹/₃₀" [0.25 mm]) wire. Heavier wires that range from 16 to 20 gauges can be used to support heavy flowers and replace or lengthen stems. Floral wire from 22 to 26 gauges is considered “all purpose” and is used for attaching florals to wreaths, garlands, and other types of arrangements. Very fine wire ranging from 28 to 30 gauges is mostly used for attaching ribbons, bows, or other decorative accessories.

Floral wire is an important tool for making items like wreaths and garlands.

Greening Pins

Greening pins are also known as mossing pins, U-pins, or simply floral pins. They are used for attaching foliage such as moss, leaves, bark, or other greenery to floral foam. They are made of wire that’s similar to a paperclip, so they’re lightweight and easy to use.

Chicken Wire

Chicken wire is a type of light wire netting that can be shaped and fit into a vessel to hold the stems of a floral arrangement in place. Specialty floral mesh is coated with rubber, so the wire will not rust when it comes into contact with water. For working with faux flowers and greenery, regular chicken wire from the hardware store will work just fine.

Chicken wire easily shapes to containers to keep your florals in place.

Floral Frog

Floral frogs are made from a variety of materials like plastic, glass, or metal and are used for holding floral arrangements in place. The two types I have pictured on here are a traditional pin frog and a hairpin frog. The traditional pin frog is made of a metal base with sharp pointy wires coming up from the base. The hairpin frog is made of coated metal with looped wire (similar to a hairpin) for holding floral stems.

This is a traditional pin frog, and they add a nice vintage design element, so don’t feel like you have to cover them up.

Hot Glue Gun

A hot glue gun comes in handy when working with faux florals. You can also use it to reattach a flower head that might pop off the stem, secure florals to a wreath form, attach a piece of moss to disguise a greening pin, and much more.

Safety Glasses

When cutting floral wire, it’s a good idea to protect your eyes from any flying pieces of metal. Safety first!

I love these safety glasses! They have clear protective lenses on the sides that help keep my eyes protected from every angle.

Protective Gloves

It’s important to wear gloves when you’re handling chemicals like acrylic water. I also recommend using gloves when working with chicken wire so you can shape it without stabbing your fingers on cut ends.

Gloves are very handy when using chemicals and cutting chicken wire.

Lazy Susan

Although you can certainly craft faux floral arrangements without one, I found a simple lazy Susan made it easy to turn my arrangements as I worked on them and viewed them from all angles. Any lazy Susan will do; it doesn’t have to be fancy. To make the projects in this book, I used an inexpensive one I already had in my kitchen pantry.

Other Items

Depending on your project, you may want to have some other supplies on hand. Examples of these supplies are a sturdy pair of scissors for cutting tape or string, jute twine as a base if you’re making a garland, rulers to quickly measure your stems before cutting if precision is necessary, etc.

“Inspiration can strike in any little moment and be picked up from the smallest details.”

—Stephanie Kirby of The Blue Daisy Floral Designs, Pittsburgh, PA

Wreath Forms

If a wreath is on your project list, there are several types of wreath forms to choose from: wire, grapevine, foam, straw, or simple metal hoops.

Wire

Wire wreath forms are used as a foundation for attaching bundles of florals with floral wire. Wire wreath forms are an affordable option and are lightweight and easy to hang. Because the structure of the wreath form is so simple, it may take more florals to get a full look than with some of the other options.

Grapevine

Grapevine wreaths are made from dried branches wrapped tightly into a circular shape. Floral stems can be dipped into hot glue and then pushed in between the branches to secure. Grapevine wreaths are beautiful on their own. This makes them great for asymmetrical wreaths that leave part of the vines exposed. They are inexpensive and sturdy, which makes them a popular choice for wreath making. Grapevine wreaths can be a bit limiting in terms of style and are best for more rustic, casual designs.

Foam

Foam wreath forms are a great lightweight option for creating wreaths. Florals can be attached to the wreath with greening pins and hot glue. Foam forms can also be easily covered in moss or wrapped in ribbon as a part of your design. The downside to foam forms is that they can be a bit delicate and can break if they are dropped.

Straw

Straw wreaths are not used as often as other wreath forms, but they are inexpensive and easy to work with. Florals can be attached with floral pins or hot glue and the straw helps with holding stems in place, similar to a grapevine wreath. Straw wreath forms are great for country or fall wreaths, but they aren’t as versatile in style as other forms. Straw can also be a bit messy to work with.

Metal Hoop

Recently, simple metal hoops have become a popular base for modern, asymmetrical wreath designs. They come in a variety of sizes and metal finishes, most commonly silver or brass. They are perfect for a fresh, minimal look. Florals can be attached with floral wire or floral stem tape, although it can be a little tricky to secure them without sliding.

Other Options

These are the most commonly used wreath forms, but there is a wide array of non-traditional wreath forms if you want to get creative. I’ve seen giant wreaths made using a painted hula-hoop as a base, wreaths made with embroidery hoops, picture frames, baskets, wood slices, and bicycle wheels. The options are truly endless!

Use floral wire to attach your faux flowers and greenery to wire wreath forms.

Types of wreath forms, clockwise from top: foam, wire, straw, metal hoop, and grapevine.