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Floral Foam...The Thing A Florist Can't Live Without
Before there were floral foams, imagine how florists would arrange their flowers. They even had to use newspapers.
When floral foam started coming into the picture, florists all over the world were overwhelmed. It made their work easier and the arrangements they produced were better and lasted longer.
There are many kinds of floral foam in the market, but what do we really want in a floral foam?
Below are some the key characteristics of the floral foam that we want, that will make flower arranging easier.
What We Need In A Floral Foam
- A floral foam needs to absorb water quickly. We can't afford to wait half an hour for a floral foam to fully absorb water. It has to quickly absorb water and efficiently, that means no dry spots inside the foam.
Then, we can straight away use it for our flower arranging.
- A floral foam must not crumble. When handling a floral foam, the fine particles that make up the foam must not fall out. If so, the shape of the floral foam will be gone before we even start to use it. The shape must maintain.
- Once a floral foam has absorbed water, it must be able to retain the water absorbed. No point of having to absorb all the water and then to easily lose it in a short time. It must retain the water for a long time so that the flowers can last longer.
- A good floral foam should have a strong flower holding power. When inserting flowers, it must be able to hold the weight of the flowers.
Now that you know what a good floral foam is, next, let's look at tips on how to handle floral foam.
Tips For Handling Floral Foam
- When soaking the floral foam, do not press into the water as this will create dry spots inside the foam.
- Use clean water. If the water condition is not good, the flowers will absorb it and cause the flowers to wilt easily.
- When inserting the soaked floral foam into a container, do not press too hard to make it fit. Don't force the foam into te container. Cut accordingly using a cutting knife. If you press the foam too hard, it will cause moisture to exit the foam.
- Try to use one single piece of foam block ina an arrangement. If you want to save and use multiple pieces of foam, it will not hold the flowers as strong as a single piece can.
- Avoid inserting the same flowers many times. This will unnecessary holes in the foam and thus loss of water.
Types Of Floral Foam
- Wet foam
Wet foam is used for fresh flowers. Highly water absorbent and very fine and compact.
- Dry foam
This is used for artificial flower arrangements. Non-porous and coarse.
- Color foam
Goes under the brand name of Rainbow Foam, only available from Smithers Oasis, a reknowned manufacturer of floral foam. It comes in block form, powder form, cube form and sphere form.
You can choose from the 15 colors available : baby pink, cherry, charcoal, violet, pumpkin, ivory, lime green, sunny yellow, fuchsia, blue, hunter green, royal blue, rusty red, prairie grass and plum.
Here are some arrangement ideas using color foam...
- An arrangement of cherry pink anthuriums, dark pink spray carnations and green pompoms using yellow color foam and green spheres.
Click here to find out more...
- An attractive centerpiece of pink roses and green block color foam. You can use it wedding centerpieces. Click here to see it...
Return From Floral Foam To Become A Florist
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