| One issue that is not often addressed is how French | | | | look rich and luxurious. |
| bead flowers can be made to look as lifelike as | | | | Now that you have the flower built, allow yourself to |
| possible. Even with the finest construction techniques, | | | | use some imagination. Take a look at living flowers. |
| the straightest basic rows and the most invisible lacing, | | | | Compare several roses to each other, or several |
| bead flowers can look stiff and artificial and not like the | | | | daisies. You will see variations among the individual |
| exquisite natural objects they are imitating. | | | | blooms. Examine the way the stems may bend. |
| Here are a few ideas that will help your flowers to be | | | | Do the flower heads tip forward? Do some petals |
| their loveliest and most natural-looking. You can use | | | | curve or curl more than others? Does a leaf twist |
| these tips even if you are making a "fantasy" flower. | | | | rather than unfurl straight? |
| A flower is a flower, after all, and even if the one you | | | | To copy nature's variations, you have a few tools at |
| have created doesn't yet grow in nature, odds are that | | | | your disposal. The common pencil can help you |
| someday some botanist will develop it. | | | | make your roses breathtaking. Push the tip of your |
| When making the petals and leaves, reduce the | | | | thumb into the bottom third of your rose petal, then curl |
| bottom basic wires to two instead of three. It may | | | | the top backwards around a pencil. This will give the |
| seem insignificant, but this one improvement will make | | | | petal the shape that many varieties of rose possess. |
| a big difference in each flower. The flower stems | | | | To make a twisted leaf, use two pliers (one at the top |
| should be as narrow as possible, so reducing these | | | | and one at the bottom) and twist in opposite |
| wires is important. | | | | directions. This effect can also be achieved by |
| Tape the stemwires of each petal, sepal, leaf and | | | | holding the leaf in a hemostat and using one plier to |
| center before constructing the finished flower. Tape | | | | make the twist. For more shape, curl the top of the |
| tightly and use as little tape as possible. This will | | | | leaf backward a bit. For a different shape, "crease" |
| reduce "wobble" in your finished flower. Living | | | | the petal or leaf inward along its basic row and then |
| flowers' parts don't move and neither should the parts | | | | roll the outer rows back to a more curved shape. |
| of bead flowers. Be sure you have used enough | | | | You can combine these techniques to make infinite |
| wire for the stems of petals and leaves; leaving these | | | | variations in the look of your flowers. |
| wires too short can cause the flower to fall apart. | | | | When the flowers are arranged in sprays, be sure to |
| During construction, wrap the construction wire and | | | | bend the tallest stem once to the left and once to the |
| tape as tightly as possible. If you are adding many | | | | right. The top of the tallest stem should usually take |
| layers of petals, stop after each layer and cover the | | | | another small bend so that it points straight up. |
| construction wire wraps with green tape. I have | | | | Secondary stems can have one bend in them. This |
| found that, on large flowers that require many rows of | | | | will give the spray motion and flow. Use one or two |
| flowers, construction wires for early rows tend to | | | | pliers to get this effect. |
| show through later rows. If green tape is all that is | | | | Most importantly, relax and enjoy the process. As |
| visible, the eye will ignore it; messy wire will pull the eye | | | | you work with the flowers more and more, you will |
| and ruin the flower's beauty. Push sepals right up | | | | develop a "feel" for how they should look. With |
| under the base of the flower. Think of sepals as | | | | patience and practice, your flower-arranging skills will |
| being a warm muffler in the winter: you plump that up | | | | improve and give you great satisfaction with your |
| right under your chin. A sepal that seems to spring | | | | arrangements. |
| right from the base of the flower will make the flower | | | | |