Using floral techniques you too can learn how to make Sympathy Flower Arrangements. With time, patience and practice in learning the techniques you can keep your sympathy sprays from falling apart. It would cost you business if half way through a service the flowers started falling out of a spray you had put together. A basket or standing sprays are the two styles of sympathy arrangements. The basket style can be set on a shelf or on the floor at a service. The standing spray stands near the casket or memorial. It is placed on a stand with three legs. Both designs are done with only a front side as no one sees the back. Place a block of oasis on a stand to start making the spray. Oasis holds water and keeps the flowers fresh. Next you can add the greens then place the flowers or do the opposite. I tend to add the greens first, and then I am less likely to break the flowers when I add them. Palm greens would be added at this time also. The next step would be to add flowers starting at the back and moving forward. Gladiolas are tall flowers and are quite popular as the back flowers for these arrangements. Using a sharp knife cut your stems on an angle. Make sure not to use scissors as they will crimp the stem and the flower will be unable to drink. Decide on the placement of each stem before you stick it into the oasis. Too many holes in the oasis will cause it to fall apart and then you will have to start over. Though the oasis is a rectangle in shape, a good designer can make these sprays to be round or oval. sympathy flowers These designs are all made by how the designer cuts and places each stem. To make the spray look larger, you leave as much of the stem on as you can. Your customer will think they got more for their money, even though you did not use any more flowers. Placing the taller stems in the back, start moving forward with shorter and shorter stems. Made like a staircase, a floral arrangement has various heights within its design. After you have all your flowers placed, check for any holes where you may need to add one more stem. The flowers are arranged in much the same way in a basket arrangement as they are in a spray but the oasis is handled differently. These basket designs are quite tall and can tip if not made properly. The oasis must be tight within the container so it cannot rock. If it rocks the arrangement will fall out. Learning the mechanics of floral design is time consuming, but sitting under the wings of a designer is a good way to do it. You will have a lot of fun once you have the mechanics under your belt. Use fresh flowers at all times and always remember to add water.