Rocket Science Weddings and Events

I am not sure where the inspiration for this particular cylinder came from, but I love it all the same. Usually I am not one for fake things (flowers, or in this case, the bird) but sometimes it can be done right and actually enhance the look. I am going to just go straight in to the pictures this time, with how to make it at the end.

I wanted to recreate the feeling of a tree, like you were in a nature preserve and happened to spot a finch high in the branches. I chose a yellow bird because I like the sharp contrast, but they make all sorts of different birds, including super cute owls. As you can see, this is a very tall arrangement. A lot of impact from a little cylinder!

This shows the nest more clearly. I suppose you could put fake bird eggs in it if you wanted to.

If you think the plain sticks are a little bare, you could add some flowers to them. Wiring on orchids, roses or some other flower would be a great way to tie in to the other floral elements (like bouquets) and color scheme. In the fall, you could attach leaves to the sticks, to really give it a tree feel.

Here is how I made it:

1. Put the rocks in the cylinder. I apparently love white river rock, but you could use any kind of rocks, or sand. Or the gravely stuff they use in fish tanks. The key is to have enough to give the cylinder some weight. Because the sticks are so tall you don't want the cylinder tipping over.

2. Stick the branches through the nest. I used curly willow, but you could use actual sticks for this arrangement. The nest I bought at Michaels. The nest has some gaps in the center, perfect for putting the branches through. I liked the look of just two branches, but depending on what kind of sticks you used you could have more.

3. Put branch/nest combo in to the cylinder. Work the sticks down in to the rocks.

4. Attach bird to nest. I got the bird at Michaels as well. Move the nest down to form a cap on top of the cylinder. Adjust sticks and nest as needed.

5. Wire flowers/leaves to the branches (optional).

Enjoy!

This post today is in honor of Jen and Josh's wedding this past weekend. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Rutz! I will of course post a full blog post of their day when I get the amazing photos from 1012 photo. Until then, on to Cylinder Thursday!

This cylinder makes use of the abundant hosta plant. (If you don't have hosta overtaking your yard and you want to try this look, you can head to my house or my mom's house, we have plenty!) I love hosta leaves because of their deep veins. Even a solid green leaf is so pretty because the veins add texture. The hosta leaf makes a good, local substitute for an aspidistra leaf, reducing the carbon footprint (and cost if you cut them from your yard) of the arrangement. Go green with greens!

Here is how this easy arrangement comes together:

1. Pick your hosta leaves. For this wedding the sister of the bride had these large, variegated leaves that I loved. When I cut them I left a little stem so I could keep them in water overnight. For the arrangement though I cut the stem off using a sharp knife and then flipped the leaf over and "deveined" it, making the back of the leaf a little more pliable. You have have to be careful not to cut too much off or else you cut through the leaf.

2. Hold the leaf between your thumb and forefinger and wrap around to make a tight loop. Place in cylinder.

3. Fill with water to desired height.

4. Top with candle or other floral.

This leaf was not as long as some others, so it didn't wrap around the cylinder as well. However, I like this look too. The leaf takes up most of the cylinder and you get more of a "leaf feel" as opposed to just abstract green color in the cylinder.

Here are the cylinders as one of Jen and Josh's centerpiece. You can see how great they work for a long, skinny dinner table. They don't take up much room but have high impact. We used a variety of yellow flowers, but these are floating cushion mums. Other flowers that would work great as a floating top to the cylinder: roses, standard or Fiji mums, dahlias, gerbera daisies, and cymbidium orchids.