The first wedding I ever did as a florist was for my sister-in-law.
And the first corsage I ever made was the one I made for myself.
Because it was mine, I took the liberty of making it exactly how I wanted.
Around that same time, my husband surprised me with an airbrush machine. He had watched me work with flowers for a while and knew how much I loved experimenting with color and texture. He saw how much I was enjoying the process and thought an airbrush might open up another creative possibility for me.
I had never used one before, and this corsage was my first chance to experiment with it.
I started with sola wood flowers and wanted to create an ombré effect with the airbrush, allowing the color to gradually move from deeper blue-gray tones into softer shades. I didn’t want the flowers to look like they had simply been painted one solid color. I wanted the color to have movement and variation across the petals.
I was going for something ethereal.
Soft blue-gray flowers. Delicate botanical textures. Wispy greenery. Pale, almost dried-looking elements. And just a few touches of gold.
Since this was my corsage, I didn’t have to make it fit anyone else’s vision. I could follow my own instincts and see where they took me.
And that freedom is one of my favorite parts of creating flowers.
There were no rules about what a corsage was supposed to look like. I could play with the shape, the color, the textures, and the way everything came together.
Every sola wood flower was individually airbrushed by hand, and the entire corsage was designed and assembled by me.
Because each flower is hand-painted and each arrangement is created individually, this particular piece is truly one of a kind. Even if I made another corsage inspired by this one, it wouldn’t be exactly the same.
And I think that’s part of what makes handmade flowers special.
You can start with the same materials and the same general idea, but the finished piece will always have its own personality.
This little corsage represents a beginning for me. It was my first corsage, my first wedding as a florist, and my first time using the airbrush my husband surprised me with.
I’ll be sharing more from this wedding in future posts, including some of the other floral pieces I created for the day. There is something special about looking back at the wedding as a whole and seeing how all of those individual pieces came together.
I didn’t know exactly what I was doing yet.
I just knew what I wanted it to feel like.
Ethereal.
Sometimes, having a feeling in mind is all you need. The rest is simply following it and seeing where your creativity takes you.
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