I'm writing this post while my nieces are down for a nap, so it's going to be short and sweet with lots of pics. Hope that's ok. Getting anything done with a two and three year old around is pretty much impossible. Don't even get me started about the disaster that was "helping" Aunt Veggie plant the centerpieces yesterday. That's a whole 'nother post.
OK, so I've been knocking off wedding projects left and right this week and last night was boutonniere night. Supplies: 2 packages of feathers (pheasant and quail) for about $2.50 each. One bunch of dried yellow flowers about $5. One stem of fake pussy willow about $2.50. One role of floral tape and one spool of floral wire, which will both get used again for bouquet making.
I have no prior bout-making experience, so I kind of just went for it. Here was my first attempt:
I liked it, but it was a bit poufy at the bottom and the feather stem wasn't quite long enough to stay in well. So I made some adjustments including trimming the down off of the feathers a bit, and wrapping a piece of floral wire around the base of the feathers. I didn't get any pictures of these steps, but when trimming the down poufy bit at the bottom, I tried to just follow the natural line of the feather. You can kind of see what I mean in the left bout in this after photo.
I twisted about 2 inches of floral wire around the stem of the feathers and crimped it closed with a pair of pliers. This really helped me have more length to wrap the tape around and made them bendable, and easier to position at the end. I read about adding toothpicks or other hard bits in with the stems to make them stronger, but the dried flowers were sturdy enough, so I didn't need to add anything.
I made 10 total, for groomsmen, ringbearer, and dads and it took me about two hours. The only thing I have to do now is wrap some nice ribbon to cover the tape and find long pins. With each completed project I feel just a little more relieved.
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