HOW TO... Make your own floral delights! The Flower Crown

In our latest series, we show you 'How To'...

Make your mam think you're such a good boy by turning up to Sunday lunch all smart and buttonholed; 
Recycle a dress you wore to a wedding last year by accessorising with a fancy hair pin or wrist corsage;
Whack on 6 Music and pretend you're at a festi in the comfort of your living room wearing a floral head crown.

Last year, our absolute fave workshop was the Floral Delights evening where we taught you how to make all the above.  So, we thought we'd break it down for you here in black and white (with some coloured photos) so you can all have a go yourselves. 

This week..

HOW TO... Create a floral crown

Ingredients:

Wire of medium gauge (needs to be malleable but support your stems) 

Floral Tape - the sticky, crepe kind or the plasticky, 'guttering' kind - whichever you prefer

Stems of choice / Small foliage of choice (bear in mind weight and size - small and light is best.  You can go for big blooms for your floral crown - the same principals apply - but small hardy flowers are easier to work with and will last longer.) 
A length of ribbon / fabric / twine of your choice

*You can get any of these speciality floristry items at New Covent Garden flower market and at Amazon (boooooo Amazon, you're so evil and convenient)

Method:

Start off with your wires and work out how many you need to form a ring to go around the circumference of your head.  

Join your wires together in a line by wrapping two ends around each other securely.

NB. your headdress base does not need to be a full circle - if you would prefer to only cover 1/2 or 3/4 of your head with flowers, you can use ribbon to complete the ring.  We like to use ribbon, as you'll see, to tie on and ensure the crown is nice and snug.

At either end of your line of wires, you will need to make a loop.  Take your piece of wire and double one end back on itself to make a small loop.  Secure by twisting the wire around itself. 

This is where the ribbon will eventually be threaded through.  

Now, we tape down the entire length of the joined wires.  This is to secure the wires together and also to cover the ends which may be sharp.  No scalp pokes for us.

Stretch the tape and keep pulling it taut whilst wrapping it around the length of the wire. 

You can double up over sharp ends for maximum comfort when wearing the crown.

Cut down all of your flowers and foliage of choice leaving around half an inch of stem below the head.  

For more flexibility with a stem, and to allow you to move the head, say facing forward, you can wire it.  This is done in exactly the same way as we showed you when wiring stems for buttonholes.

One by one, take a flower or piece of foliage and lay along the wire.  Secure it by taping around the stem and the wire.  Each time, lay the stems on facing the same way, so you are not obstructed when taping the length of stem to the wire.  This also avoids gaps and creates a natural, flowing look.

Continue down the length of the wire, filling in any gaps along the way.  The wire will naturally curve into a circular shape as you add more flowers and foliage. You can keep popping it around your head to keep an eye on your progress...

Once you have added the desired amount of floral contents to your crown, slip your ribbon / fabric / twine through both loops on the ends of your wire to complete the circle.

And there you have it!  A floral crown all ready to go.

The weight of the crown and tying the ribbon / fabric / twine tightly should mean this sits on your head quite nicely.  

But, if your dancing tends to be more 'toddler on sugar' than 'ethereal goddess', stick in a couple of bobby pins behind your ears just for added safety!