This wasn’t just a treat for them, it was also a major one for me too! Is that selfish?! I’ve been a fan of Emma’s work for awhile now, ever since deciding to become a florist myself, so the chance to meet and learn from her was too much, it was like all my christmases had come at once, I was that excited!
I also couldn’t wait to see my Mum and Monika have fun crafting. They are both very creative women but with one thing and another, being crafty and creative hasn’t been a priority.
We arrived at Emma’s studio in Dartington after taking a few wrong turns, jeez you leave Devon for a few years and you forget your sense of direction! Fortunately we weren’t the last to arrive, phew!
Immediately I was draw to her overflowing shelves packed full of crystal, glass, vintage & swan vases. I was like a magpie, I couldn’t take my eyes off all the beautiful shinny things. I didn’t however steal anything, my magpie instincts stopped there.
With mugs of hot tea and coffee in hands, Emma took us through a quick demonstration of how to put together your wreath. She wanted to encourage us to go wild and organic with our designs. Go with the flow of your foliage, don’t try and be too structured – this was music to my ears!
She was so unbelievably funny with her demo, I could have listened to her for hours, such a warm and friendly lady. If I’m honest, I may now have a bit of a girl crush on her, she was just so lovely and oozing with effortless talent!
One day I hope to have a career like hers and, listening to her at the workshop just confirmed that this is precisely the right path for me! Exciting!
After she finished her demo, with slight trepidation, we got to work and went ‘foraging’ for our wreath materials.Look at the spread we were fortunate to have at our fingers tips, stunning!
The base of our wreaths were wire frames that we wrapped with this amazing moss which is incredibly moist, if you squeezed it hard water comes pouring out, meaning that the foliage we were attaching would be kept feed and watered, hopefully making it last longer.
Moss done and with armfuls of my chosen foliage, it was time to get creative!
Not before mulled wine and mince pies were handed round to help feed our creative juices!
I found it much easier to do the final tweaks to my wreath with it hanging up rather than on the table, you got a better view, so two of us from the workshop found some easels up against a wall to hang our work from, it also made for a good photo opportunity!