Module 9
Module 9

Your practice plan & capstone

Skill in floristry is almost entirely repetition. A professional has built a thousand compotes; you need to have built about fifteen before the fifteen that count. This module is a month-by-month calendar generated from today and your event date, with one session a month and a dress rehearsal at the end.

Principles

  • One session a month minimum, two to three hours, with real stems. Grocery flowers in winter; the garden in season.
  • Every session includes the processing drill. Conditioning becomes automatic only through repetition.
  • Photograph everything from a seated eye line and from above, in the light it will be seen in. Keep a dated folder. In June you will look back and see how far you have come, and you will see which pieces to stop improving.
  • Time every build. Your times, not a tutorial's, set the production schedule.
  • Practice the real vessels, the real mechanics, the real candles. Not a jam jar.

The calendar

The capstone

Professional courses end with a showcase and a critique. Yours is the full build in the last month before the event. Treat it as the capstone:

  1. Build one full table (or an 8-foot section) from the real recipe, with the real vessels, candles and place settings, in the light the event will be seen in.
  2. Invite a critic: a florist, a friend with an eye, or the hosts. Ask three questions: what would you remove, what is the weakest piece, what would you not change.
  3. Photograph it properly, seated eye line, standing, above, and by candlelight. These photos are the setup crew's map.
  4. Record the numbers: heads per bowl, stems per vase, minutes per piece, buckets used. These overwrite every estimate on this site.
  5. Write the one-page lessons note and read it at the start of flower week.