I have recently been doing more and more funeral flowers for a wonderful Funeral Directors in Northampton. Mark Elliott Funerals has to be one of the most friendly yet professional Directors I’ve ever come across – and with such delicate and private matters to be discussing daily, his joyous yet dignified manner is truly wonderful. I recommend his services any day – and of course his choice of florist! 
As you may know I recently collaborated with Jodie from Hattie Pom Pom to enter a competition at this year’s Chicheley Hall Flowers in Newport Pagnell. We were given the following brief:
Woodland Folk
• A competition to design and create a unique piece of woodland art which results in an
adventure for children.
• Each exhibit to be a woodland figure from natural plant materials alone or using natural
plant materials. The figure could be an elf, gnome, fairy or woodland creature.
We came up with The Woodland King, a larger than life figure comprising a range of flowers and woodland foliage. We used hydrangea, craspedia, echinops, chrysanthemum and aspidistra just to name a few. The result was a flamboyant and earthy creature with a cheeky smile and a confident stance – we loved him! And the public did also. We were ‘Highly Commended’ and named as one of Judith Blacklock’s favourite pieces of the event. He did cause some controversy with the judges due to our less than tidy placement of flowers and materials – but we assure you this was all in the plan! Our King was meant to look as though he was a part of the Woodland, organic, and not in any way too perfect or repetitive – naturalistic. Our main aim was to give him character; part of the design process was to establish a background story for the King, and also a personality. We began to talk about him as though he was a friend – in the end we decided he was most definitely a cheeky self assured fellow, quite aware of his own charm and beauty!
By Sunday the materials we had used had inevitably aged but this was also part of the plan – the hydrangea, slightly dried and browning, looked in fact more appropriate than when they were fresh. He became more a part of the Woodland the older he got. And we grew to love him more too! It was so sad dismantling him but we had had such a fun few weeks imagining our creation and developing his character. Thanks to all who came along to support us and those people who complimented our creation so highly!
We were so proud of our entry to the Chicheley Hall Flowers Competition this week! Will do a full write up asap Hope you like him!
