Roses Are Red...

I work in a flower shop. I have had the same job there for over a year now delivering flowers. I like the freedom of this job title. I get to route out my deliveries and when I'm on the road I can listen to whatever I want. About six months ago I was given the opportunity to make my first arrangement and it came out beautifully. Ever since then my boss has been talking about training me to be a designer. Not much has happened since then...until last week. Last friday she had me build a heart wreath for a funeral. It was a long, arduous process. You wouldn't believe how complicated those are to make. Then Saturday as she was out shopping for a new delivery van, she put me in charge of the shop as designer! Woah! Grab hold of the reigns and hang on for dear life!!! The day wasn't incredibly busy but when you have to build the arrangements AND deliver them...that gets a little intense. A LOT INTENSE!!! During that day I made four arrangements and two corsages, delivered four, and picked up flowers from a greenhouse.

The hardest part of it all wasn't even that I've never made a corsage for an order before (I've made some just for fun with extra flowers lying around), or that we were supposed to close at 2, or that I had to go all the way to Horseshoe Bend for one order. The hardest part was trying to build a two dozen rose arrangement. I've made a dozen roses before and they are pretty easy...but when you've got 24 roses to place in a vase and none of them want to go where you want them to it gets tricky. You put another rose in and other roses shift, you try to fix the shifting and they all scrunch in, you spread them out and things fall over. I did the very best I could with no one there to supervise me but I have to admit I wanted to give up and wash my hands of the whole thing. I could have cried I was so frustrated!!! But I stuck with it, and got to a point eventually that I thought was decent enough. People who have never worked in the industry might be a little surprised to find out that designing flower arrangements is much easier said than done. Just because you are a creative person, or have taken art classes or know what colors go well together, does not mean you can jump right in and make something beautiful. Because I can do all those things...but floral design is a three-dimensional art and therefore 5 times as difficult, and you are working with a living medium which makes it 10 times more difficult. My boss says she can make 14 arrangements in an hour. That is fast. But she's been at it for over twenty years so I guess it comes with practice. She says, as an amateur I should be able to make 5 in an hour. I don't think I passed with flying colors this time...but maybe I'll get some practice in for making two dozen roses look like a piece of art and do better next time.