So I made it through the process of trial and error with the brooch bouquet. I decided to go with the foam for support and to keep the shape. Only downside is that the 7 ¾ inch half circle only comes in soft floral foam, which disintegrates extremely easy.
I separated my brooches by color (pink and white) and favorites. There were a few that I really wanted to stand out in the bouquet. Then I took my pink hydrangea and cut each stem and added them around the foam and kept them in place with a dab of hot glue, just stuck the stem in the glue gun. Then I started sticking in my lower priority brooches. I found myself working on one particular area and trying to get the layers right.
Lesson learned Although I like the overall look of the bouquet and Im still waiting on my flowers to come in so I can add them to the bottom, I am going to take a second stab at it. This time Ill put down all of the secondary brooches first, then layer my favorites on top. Im also going to pay more attention to the size of the brooches. Right now there are several overlapping and Im not quite happy with some of them being hidden and uneven. I also have a few rings that needed to be embedded deeper inside the foam so they dont stick out. I also noted that I could have used way less floral wire, especially since I covered the finished product with floral tape. The hook I created on the craft wire should be no more than an inch to lessen the bulk on the brooch stem.
Second try may take place some time with week. Not sure when. I may wait for the flowers to come in on Wednesday. But Ive got to dismantle everything first. I know the foam ball is going to fall apart when I take it apart. I got another one already and will be prepared for the mess. It was shedding when I put it together so I can only imagine the mess it will make when I take it apart.
