Let’s say you want to use one silk flower, a few feathers, and a seed pod to create a pick for a potted plant or a decoration for a wreath, how would you do that? Or, what happens when you don’t want to use all of the stems in silk bouquet, or you want to combine parts of several bouquets into one? One solution is to use floral tape. If you’ve ever purchased a corsage, this is what the florist used to piece those elements together.

I’m reworking my burlap wreath for autumn. I have several elements I’d like to include, but I want to use only parts of the stems I picked up at the craft store. Also, some of the elements are too long for my purpose. I’m going to take these decorations apart and make my own little arrangements.

Materials:

Wire Cutters
Scissors/craft knife
Floral Tape
Floral Wire
Flowers, Feathers, and Decorations of your choice.

If you look closely you’ll notice the original items are formed by taping several stems together. I’m simply going to take them apart, and create new decorations following the same principle. To take the stems apart you can use a craft knife to pierce the tape and then pull the stems in a downward motion to separate.

Next, decide what elements you want to include in your new decorative stems. Play with the lengths of the pieces. Hold them all together and see how they fit. Trim anything that is too long. Since my decorations will be wired onto a wreath I will need all the stems trimmed and the flowers and feathers taped onto flexible wire.

Once you’ve decided on the arrangement, it’s time to build each component. The tape needs to be touching each stem; if you simply hold the bundle together and wrap tape around it you’ll have items in the middle falling out.

Start with any items that now need wire stems such as flower heads or feathers. Cut a piece of florist wire, hold the flower head or feathers against the wire, and wrap the floral tape around the stem for one full turn, then continue to twirl your new stem around while spiraling the tape down the length of the stem until it feels secure. Repeat this for each small section of your new decoration.

When each small section is ready, take your center flower and one other section and wrap them together with the tape. Add a third section and graft that onto the stem. Continue until all elements are combined. You only need one main stem, so trim away some of the wires and continue wrapping so that the sharp edges are covered.

You now have your own unique decorations to use in wreaths, over doorways, wrapped around candle holders, etc…