Open Studio Session at Local Color Flowers

By Carling A. W. Elder
Learning a new skill can be intimidating, time-consuming, and expensive – all things we don’t want floral design to be! We love local flowers (all the flowers at Local Color Flowers are sourced within 100 miles of Baltimore), and want everyone to have access to them! A few months ago, as our team at LoCoFlo was brainstorming about new ways to give more people more access to local flowers, and we came up with the idea of Open Studio.

The concept/dream/ end goal of Open Studio is to facilitate a space where people can come together and experiment with floral design at their own pace. As a supplement to our formal design classes, which are perfect for the beginner student , Open Studio is aimed at the intermediate floral designer who wants to hone their skills and practice ‘til they make perfect.

We will instruct you individually as needed. It’s kind of like a yoga class where you can either ask the teacher to adjust your poses, or tell them to keep their hands off! Chose out your favorite flowers from our selection of locally grown flowers and your favorite vase from our collection. Make a floral design you actually like (instead of buying a premade one from the grocery store) and take it home or give as a gift!

We know you like to kick back at the end of a long day. We do too! However, we can only go to the bar so many nights a week… That’s why it’s great to try an activity like Open Studio! It’s laidback, educational and FUN! Bring a friend, bring vino, bring snacks – we’ll pump up the jams and maybe even show you a few dance moves. Since there’s no formal instruction at Open Studio, it’s the perfect place to chat, chill, or just zone out while designing. It’s a happy place. You make it what you want.

Fun With Local Color Flowers at Butterbee Farm this Season

We’re so excited to be partnering with our friends at Butterbee Farm again this season to offer some really cool, unique classes for families, farmers and designers alike.

Our first class at the farm will be a Family Floral Crown Class on Monday, June 29th from 11-12:30. This class is perfect for teams of one adult and one child working together.  Adults and kids will have an opportunity to tour the farm, cut their own flowers, make beautiful floral crowns with their cuttings and have their photos taken in their creations.  How fun to spend the morning with your favorite young person at a beautiful flower farm just minutes from the city.

Our next class is going to be a highlight of our summer for sure! Butterbee Farm and Local Color Flowers are teaming up to offer Blooms and Bouquets on Monday, July 13th.  This is a perfect, one-day class for farmer florists and folks that are interested learning more about flower farming and design. Students will start the day at Butterbee Farm learning all about cultivation, favorite varieties and harvesting. The amazing Dave Dowling will be on hand for a Q and A about all things flowers! After lunch, students will travel to Local Color Flowers studio to learn to make a hand tied bridal bouquet as well as see demonstrations by Team LoCoFlo making boutonnieres, corsages, head crowns and more. The day will end with a discussion of marketing and sales of locally grown flowers.

On Saturday, July 25th we’ll be offering an Adult version of our floral head crown class at the farm. Last year’s class was so much fun we can’t wait to do it again!

Our final class of the season at the farm will be our hugely popular Pressed Flower class on Saturday, September 19th. Students will tour the farm, pick flowers for pressing, make their own flower press and learn how to use their pressed flowers for arts and crafts projects.

Space in all of these classes are limited, so if you’re interested in joining, please sign up soon. We can’t wait to see you!

For questions about any of our classes, please email Ellen at ellen@locoflo.com

A Perfect Day for Head Wreaths at Butterbee Farm

By Carling A. W. Elder

On Saturday, July 26th, I began my day at Butterbee Farm. While the dew still lingered on the earth at my feet, I prepared to guide some ladies through the fun of designing a Midsummer Head Wreath. With the help of my talented and cheerful partners; Laura Beth Resnick, Farmer and Owner of Butterbee Farm, Krystal Masson, Owner of Esther&Harper - Vintage Rentals and Interiors, and Stacy Bauer, Owner of Stacy Bauer Photography and Local Color Flowers Designer, we set up for the class and got ready to begin!

           

Our class guests were a delightful mix of excited, adventurous, kind, and flower-loving women. As they sipped Basil Lemonade out of Esther&Harper’s delicate crystal cups, and snacked on Sweet William Shortbread, I had the pleasure of meeting each one of them. Their enthusiasm for the farm and the class was infectious, and made me feel extremely lucky that meeting new people is a central part of life at Local Color Flowers.

After sharing a brief history of Head Wreaths and Floral Crowns (did you know Head Wreaths started being worn at weddings in Ancient China?), I turned the floor over to the owner of our gorgeous venue, Laura Beth. Laura Beth then led us all on an informative and interactive tour of her farm. Stopping at different flower beds, Laura Beth let us touch, smell, even taste, and harvest flowers for our Head Wreaths. She also told us about her farming practices and plans for the future of Butterbee. After the tour, traipsing back to the work tables with handfuls of just-harvested flowers to use in our designs, I thought you really can’t get more farm-to-vase than this!

Once we went through the basics of making a Head Wreath, my “students” dove into making their own designs. Some ladies chose bold, bright colors, while others opted for more subtle, muted tones. One of the best things about making a Head Wreath, especially when it’s for yourself, is that there really is no wrong or right way to do it. At it’s core, all you really have to do to make an awesome Head Wreath is to have a blast playing with flowers, and to make something that you love, which I believe all of our guests did!

By the end of the class, each guest wore a stunning Head Wreath atop their head. Posing while Stacy took their portrait, each guest looked happy and beautiful wearing their creation. The variation among the Head Wreaths perfectly reflected the designer’s personality and style. I loved seeing the different details each person chose, from ribbon color to how they positioned the wreath on their head. All were perfect.

     

     

This design class was Local Color Flowers’ first ever design class at one of our grower’s farms, a dream of Ellen’s for many years. As I admired the Head Wreaths of our guests and looked out over this vibrant flower farm, I felt the joy of a dream fulfilled settle over me. I couldn’t believe that just a few months ago, I had stood in this exact same spot and looked out this same field, resting empty and barren. Now, just like the Head Wreaths we had made, this farm and this dream had come to full circle, brimming with flowers and life.

I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful morning.

To see all the gorgeous photos from our Head Wreath Class taken by the amazing Stacy Bauer of Stacy Bauer Photography, check out our Flickr page.

Design Classes at Butterbee Farm!

We are beyond excited to announce an upcoming collaboration with our friends at Butterbee Farm! This summer, Local Color Flowers will be offering two design classes AT Butterbee Farm in Pikesville. What could be more fun…visiting a flower farm, meeting the farmer, cutting and choosing your own flower  and learning to create beautiful designs with those flowers!

Our first class will be our Mid-Summer Head Wreath Class on Saturday, July 26 at 11am. Attendees will choose blooms and foliage and learn to create whimsical, natural head wreaths and other floral hair pieces. Everyone will get to take their head wreath home! (thanks to Readyluck for the gorgeous head wreath photo)

Our second class will be our Down on the Farm Summer Centerpiece Class. The farm will be in full swing in August and all our attendees will choose blooms, herbs, and foliage to create a beautiful centerpiece to take home.

Sign up today! Happy Summer!

Mother’s Day Week At Local Color Flowers

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and there are SO many great options for gifts involving locally grown flowers this year!

Moms love flowers (doesn’t everyone??)! Order your Mother’s Day bouquet or arrangement today! All bouquets and arrangements are made with locally grown cut flowers from farms within 100 miles of Baltimore! Delivery is available in Baltimore City on Friday May 9. You can also pick your order up at our Charles Village Studio Friday from 9-5pm and Saturday from 8am –noon.

While a single arrangement is awesome, maybe your mom would like the gift that keeps on giving! A subscription to our 2014 Local Flower CSA! The CSA begins in June. Members receive 10 bouquets over 5 months. It’s an amazing way to experience the changing of seasons with flowers!

If your mom really loves flowers, how about signing her up for one of our design classes! Attendees get to learn more about locally grown flowers along with designing an arrangement to take home and enjoy.

If you’re out and about and want to pick some flowers up on the go this week, Carling will be out at the Union Memorial Farmer’s Market this Wednesday from 11am-1:30pm. This is a great opportunity to pick up a wrapped bouquet, a locally grown plant and much more.

Our friends at Chesapeake Wine Company in Canton will also be selling wrapped bouquets starting Thursday afternoon. These babies go fast so be sure to get over there early!

Beginning Friday, Green Spring Station Celebrates Mother's Day with complimentary local flowers from Local Color Flowers.  Stop in any boutique and receive one beautiful stem – shop many stores and make a collection or, enjoy just one. One per customer at each store and available while supplies last Friday and Saturday (May 9 and 10).

Like I said…lots of great options! Happy Spring!

Making Holiday Centerpieces Easy and Fun!

Our last design class of 2013 was a Holiday Centerpiece class just a few days before Christmas! The class was filled with both beginners who were designing with flowers for the first time and some more experienced students who had come to our classes in the past. We were also thrilled to have Balance Photography at the class taking pictures of all of our student’s work!

Everyone was excited about the amazing local flowers and foliage we had to use for the class. I know a lot of folks think that there aren’t flowers available in the winter in our region. Not so! We had tulips, calla lilies, lilies, snap dragons and ageratum.

We also had lots evergreen foliage, berries, branches and pinecones.

Each student’s arrangement was unique and reflected their style and personalities!

 

Thanks to all our growers for such a wonderful selection of goodies to work with! Farmhouse Flowers, Flowers by Bauers, Locust Point Flowers, LynnVale Studios and Seaberry Farm!

Thanks to Balance Photography for all the amazing photos! to see all the photos from our class, click HERE! You can also check out some of our student photos on Instagram  and twitter using #locofloclass

Thanks to everyone who came out to our class! Hope you had wonderful holiday!

Our 2014 class schedule will be out soon! Be sure to follow us on Facebook for an update!

Farmer’s Market Design Class at Local Color Flowers

Our first Farmer’s Market Design class was a huge hit! What could be better than a design class focused on locally grown flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables…with local snack…and visits from farmers?

As folks arrived, they were greeted with snacks and coffee from some of our favorite farmers market vendors including Zeke’s Coffee and Chez G. Once everyone got acquainted, the class started with a welcome from Laura Beth of Butterbee Farm.  We were super excited for folks to meet some of the growers who grew the flowers for our class.

After I demonstrated some of the design techniques we would be using, including using chicken wire instead of floral foam and how to use fruit and vegetables in arrangements, the students were ready to begin.

     

First they chose their vessels and they they chose their flowers.

   

Midway through the class, we were lucky enough to have a visit from John McKeown of Locust Point Flowers,  another one of our amazing farmers as well as Mr. Reid, of Reid’s Orchard, who grew the grapes we used in our designs. It was great to hear about flower and fruit farming in our region.

Toward the end of class, it was time for tweaking arrangements, gentle critique and final flowers before we took photos.

Finally, the finished products!

  

 

 

Thanks to everyone that came out to our class! Thanks to all the farmers that provided our flowers including Butterbee Farm, Hillen Homestead, Capital Flower Growers and Locust Point Flowers.

Special thanks to the AMAZING Ana Isabel Photography for these amazing photos.

To see more photos from the class, check out our flick page.

To sign up for our next Farmer’s Market Design class, check out our Class Page.

Summer Bouquet Class

Summer Bouquet Class: By Carling A.W. Elder

Friday morning, I got to do something really fun. I got to go to my work, and not work at all! Yesterday morning, I was lucky enough to attend a Summer Bouquet class at Local Color Flowers taught by my talented boss Ellen Frost where I got to sit back, play with some beautiful local flowers, and revel in being a student again.

I’m always quick to tell anyone who asks that one of the best things about designing with local flowers is the ever changing variety and availability of the flowers. Each week, there are different colors, textures, shapes, and scents to examine and explore, and it keeps floral design from ever becoming boring or static. I love the challenge of working with new materials each week, and I always feel it’s my responsibility to the growers to make their flowers shine in each design.

For the class this week, there was basil, celosia, mountain mint, lisianthus, gomphrena, zinnias, sunflowers, and marigolds to choose from. The mint and basil smelled fresh and sweet, and the multicolored zinnias lit up the studio table with their brilliance. We each got a silver or white, low footed bowl to use as a vase, and quickly filled it with a ball of chicken wire to create an eco friendly support structure for our arrangements.

As Ellen explained the basics of floral design, we passed a golden marigold around the design table and stuck our faces into it, delighting in its earthy scent. I watched the excitement on the faces of my classmates as they learned how to cut stems on an angle, the importance of foliage and texture, and the benefits of buying local flowers. As I choose green and orange flowers for my design, I watched others gravitate towards their favorite colors of purple, red, and yellow. Once we had chosen our flowers, we each grabbed a pair of clippers and, as Ellen likes to say,  “Dove in!”

 

My friend Julie accompanied me to the class. When we got home, she asked me “Was it useful for you?” wondering if I found the class helpful since I’ve been doing floral design for a few years. I answered with a resounding “YES!” At yesterday’s class, Ellen’s teaching, summer’s  fresh flowers, and the basic elements of floral design, gave me a deliciously strong shot of inspiration. While creating our summer bouquets, I saw my classmates awaken to the joys of floral design, and I thought about the many reasons I love floral design so much.

At yesterday’s design class, I realized that no matter how good a designer I ever become, my goal is to always approach floral design with a beginners eyes:  with enthusiasm, with curiosity, and with a desire to learn. 

In other words, I will forever strive to be a student of my favorite artform, floral design.