For Friday field trip this week, we are stepping back in time to honor an old tradition that celebrates the start of spring. Up until the end of the 20th century, part of the May Day tradition included leaving flowers anonymously on neighbor’s doorsteps on May 1st as a signal to the start of spring.
Last year I had some fun making hanging flower containers with driftwood, shells, and repurposed glass tubes. This year, I am creating some gifts of floral spheres that are easy to create using flower oasis and grocery store flowers.
I am starting by cutting a block of oasis material into a four inch square. (Oasis is available at any dollar store, craft store, or flower shop.)
The material is very easy to cut with a serrated knife, but can be messy – be sure to cover your work surface with newspaper before starting this process.
After cutting a square cube, sculpt the material into a sphere shape using your knife.
Once the shape is created, let the material soak up water by submerging it in a container of room temperature tap water.
Next, add flowers. Pins or fasteners will not be required to attach the flowers if flowers with stiff stems are chosen – like the ones I have used here. Just leave some length on the stems so they can be poked into the material.
Place the flower heads in close enough to each other to prevent seeing glimpses of the surface (to avoid needing any additional filler flowers).
A 4″ cube can easily be filled with a small bouquet from the grocery store florist…or flowers from your garden – if you are lucky enough to be in a part of the country that makes this possible!
Now you have created a beautiful sphere shaped flower arrangement that can be displayed in any small container that accommodates the size of the sphere. I have used a sugar bowl and a small flower pot.
No fear, if you want to continue the May Day tradition of hanging your arrangement, this is easy to accomplish. Before adding the flowers, attach some twine around the sphere and you can easily hang your May Day arrangement.
Take note that hanging is possible because of the small size of the sphere. Because the added water adds weight to the sphere, this would not work with a larger size sphere – the twine would cut through the material. And be sure to use twine – moisture from the water would stain a ribbon.
I much prefer the sphere displayed in a container, but if you need to follow the tradition to the letter, your arrangement can be hung on a nearby doorknob. ;)
Happy May Day!
Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!
Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
