Creative Flower Arranging: Floral Design for Home and Flower Show [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Betty Blecher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 1993

This informative and encouraging book is written by an author with more than 35 years' experience. It explores flower arranging as an art form, with special emphasis on creativity and developing one's own style, while not neglecting functional uses such as table settings.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For an all-around guide to flower arrangements--for the home and for floral competitions--Belcher's book provides a good, basic course in design. Step-by-step instructions, line drawings, and many color photographs provide examples of successful arrangements. These are used to define essential qualities of shape, line, texture, negative space, color, and the rhythm created by the sum total of an arrangement's parts. Other elemental principles of design--dominance and contrast, proportion, and size and scale--are described in terms of how they pertain to flower arranging. Experience has prepared Belcher well for her role as an instructor. This handbook features fundamental information on the history of designing with flowers, technical information for working with floral supplies, interesting craft ideas for making containers, and both traditional and contemporary arrangements. Alice Joyce --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

This book will inspire. . . . Like all good teachers, the author makes the task look easy. Beginners and advanced arrangers will admire and study the colorful clear photos for new ideas. -- Joan Prince "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" (12/18/1993)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press (October 10, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881922471
• ISBN-13: 978-0881922479
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #704,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most valuable book on creativity in floral design., July 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Creative Flower Arranging: Floral Design for Home and Flower Show (Paperback)

This book is quite possibly the most valuable creative floral design book I have ever used. Not only does it trace the history of floral design in an interesting manner, it includes almost everything a beginner or an advanced designer needs to know about container, mechanics, and plant material conditioning. The elements and principles of design are clearly defined and illustrated. Color theory is explained and a color wheel is included.

Traditional line, line mass, and asymmetrical designs are illustrated and then the creative designs (abstract, assemblage, botanical, collage, construction, creative line, creative line-mass and creative line, framed spatial, hanging, kinetic, op art, parallel, reflective, miniature and small designs, still life, and underwater) are defined and described.

A separate section on Table Settings for flower shows clearly explains the difference between Type I and Type II Exhibition style tables and also defines the Functional table.

Perhaps the most exciting chapter discusses creativity-what it is and how to develop it within yourself. Even people who say "I'm not the creative type" may change their mind after reading this.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creataive Flower Arranging, September 8, 2003

By 

Judy and Andy "couple who cook" (Slidell, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Flower Arranging: Floral Design for Home and Flower Show (Paperback)

For a garden club member who wants the most concise and helpful guide to arranging for Flower Shows, this is the best text I have seen. Although I have been entering shows for over 25 years, I found it very educational. The detailed descriptions of each type of design, along with great color photographs, were able to provide a framework to try new types of creative arrangements.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The title of this book should read creative vases, November 20, 1999

By 

Sharon K. Chavez (Los Angeles, Ca.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Flower Arranging: Floral Design for Home and Flower Show (Paperback)

The entire book is devoted to most unusual vases which would be used by very few people. The actual floral designs used do not require a great deal of creativity.