Fig. [498].—At each end of the wire make a loop.
Flower Lifter
which holds the flowers above the water while allowing nearly the whole of their short stems to be immersed.
Fig. [499].—Bend the loops over.
With an old pair of shears, or a wire-cutter, snip off a dozen or more pieces of copper wire of varying lengths between ten inches for the longest and five for the shortest piece. At each end of every wire make a loop like [Fig. 498]; bend the loops over ([Fig. 499]), then fasten all the pieces to a brass curtain-ring by twisting each piece once around the ring at the centre of the wire ([Fig. 500]). Bunch the wires together and stand the lifter in a bowl of water; put your flower-stems through the wire loops, as in [Fig. 501], and the wires under water will look like the flower-stems, the loops being hidden by the blossoms.
Symmetry
is pleasing and necessary in many things, but not in the grouping of flowers. You must strive for apparent carelessness in effect while taking the utmost care, and for irregularity and naturalness rather than stiff, formal arrangement. A bowl of flowers need not look, as it sometimes does, like a dish for the table, served with the confectioner's symmetrical decorations; it should rather seem as if the sweet blossoms were growing in a bed of their own.
If you can take
Wild Flowers