Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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My Favorite Florist Tools

Florists often ask for recommendations on the best tools and for me, these ARS clippers are my favorite. I bought them in 4 colors AND saved the packaging because I didn’t want to forget which clippers I had when it’s time to replace them.

I got these at Jamali Garden in NYC several years ago and they’re still going strong. What I like best about them is that the locking and unlocking is more intuitive than other clippers. Makes using them safe and easy.

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After a few scrubs with a Brillo pad they’re clean and ready to go! Plus they come in fun colors. I have red, lavender, teal and yellow. So if you’re looking for a great clipper, this is my pick!

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What’s the Holly Chapple Pillow for Florists?

What’s the “pillow” that floral designers are talking about lately?

It’s become almost second nature for florists to say, “I used a pillow to make this arrangement”, but if you don’t know yet, it’s the Holly Chapple Pillow from Syndicate Sales.

Click below to watch a short IGTV video I made when I used the pillow for a wedding compote!

 

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This is how I used the pillow for my wedding today! ❤️

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The possibilities for this product are quite possibly endless. From elevated centerpiece designs to cascading bouquets to arbor installations…your imagination is the only limitation to what you can do with this design mechanic.

The real benefits as I see them:

  • You don’t need to cut chicken wire for 20 centerpieces anymore, which saves time and, let’s face it, a lot of cutting!
  • Pillows are reusable.
  • It’s an alternative to floral foam. (And yes, I know, it’s still made of plastic. There’s plastic in much of what florists create….from plastic liners to plastic sleeves on flowers to plastic straws on scabiosa! It’s an alternative to foam; a different design mechanic with a different ecological footprint.)
  • They’re perfectly sized for 6″, 8″, and 10″ containers.
  • They don’t rust like wire.

And they’re so easy to use, that even a novice floral designer could use this as a design tool at home. And the more people who design flowers, the more people who buy flowers! It’s good for the industry to have more people arranging flowers….not to mention, arranging flowers is good for the soul, too.

So if you don’t know, now ya know!…that’s the Holly Chapple pillow that florists are talking about. Try it, you’ll like it.

Keep doing beautiful work, Floralpreneur®!

xo. -Alison

P.S. Debra Prinzing of SlowFlower.com wrote about this “new design mechanic” in October 2017 when it was first released and you can find that article in the Slow Flowers Journal right here!

Learn more about Alison here and find a full list of courses for florists here!