Rittners School Of Floral Design
In Boston Presents....

How To Make A Running Shoe Design

You have to realize that here in Boston, we take our running seriously!!

We run to work. We run from work....We run to appointments........We run from cars!!! A recent survey indicated that Bostonians even walk faster here then in most American Cities. And when we have free time we run for recreation!!!

And of course our Boston Marathon is world reknowned. And as if we don't have enough runners here, we invite folks from all over the world to come to Boston to run with us!!! (Wow.....I'm getting tired just thinking about all this running!!!)

At any rate, one important aspect of floral art is the ability to incorporate the recipient's hobbies, sports and interests into the floral design....So in this case, we are showing a design definitely intended for someone who is interested in running, hiking, walking, etc......

Follow my instructions carefully, because they will be given quickly................I've got to run!!!! :->

What You Will Need

The base for this design is an actual pottery container. Pretty realistic, yes??? It looks very much like a sneaker or shoe. It even has laces interwoven for realism. This makes it very easy to stylize this design, as we simply place a bit of foam right into the container.

Alternatively if you wanted to use a real shoe it would be a far more expensive proposition. Furthermore you'd have to put a small plastic container into the shoe first before placing the foam. In that way the shoe would be protected, and water would not leak out all over the place.

The mechanics of the design are covered with foliage. In this particular case we are using ming fern. I especially like ming fern. It is a very delicate and soft foliage that gives a very gentle effect.

The first flowers used to create the overall form in this design are our yarrow. Yarrow, also known as Achillea Filipendulina, (How's that for a mouthful!!) is a great flower. It is available pretty much throughout the year. If you can't get it in its fresh form, you can always get it dried. Purchased fresh,it has a nice fragrance. It comes both in the golden color and also in reds as well. If you buy fresh yarrow, you will find that it dries quite easily. It is a great flower to use in mixed arrangements. I also especially enjoy also using it for fall, and also for Christmas designs as well.

Continue placing three more yarrow in the middle part of the design, gradually working down towards the base.

Sweet William is the next flower used in this design. It usually comes in reds, and pinks. It is placed into the focal area right at the baseline.

Extend the design out towards the left side with a few stems of alstroemeria. Alstroemeria has been enjoying a surge in popularity in the past few years. It is available year round, and comes in an enormous variety of colors, ranging from yellow, to reds, oranges, pinks etc. It is a very good keeping flower. The number of florets per stem provide great value.

We could stop the design at this point and it would be quite nice.............

However, I want you to see how we can provide additional value to this design, and make it even more impressive...

Let's add a spike flower to this design.

The addition of a spike flower fills up the arrangement. What appeared rather spartan and sparse a minute ago, now has much more content.

Spike materials also extend the size of the design. It is much bigger now then it was before.

The design is also visually more interesting as well. There is contrast both in color (the difference between the blue spikes and yellow yarrow) and form (yarrow as a face flower as opposed to the elongated, spike materials).

An interesting interplay is going on here. Different geometric shapes are playing off each other. This is but another benefit from the addition of spiked materials.

You notice that I have been deliberately vague in defining the spiked materials used. You can utilize a variety of possibilities

Consider any of the following: delphinium, larkspur, snapdragon, heather, and miniature gladiolus.

Run to make this one!!!!!

We hope that you really enjoyed this brief floral design lesson. At Rittners Floral School in Boston we provide floral design instruction that includes a wide range of different styles and techniques. Please come and take one of our hands-on workshop programs!!