Levitating Luminary Centerpiece

Add sparkling candles to really make this floral design shine

By Leah McCall and H. Camille Smith
Filed under: Centerpieces, Candles, Flowers, Roses, How To, Decorating

Combine the beauty of fresh flowers with the romance of candlelight to create a bewitching and elegant centerpiece that you can make yourself very inexpensively.

Floral Arrangement
Materials and Tools:

urn style container
block of fresh flower foam (oasis)
scissors
10 large purple hydrangeas
15 Black Magic or burgundy roses
six Levitating Luminaries (see steps below)

1. Soak a block of oasis overnight.

2. Place the wet oasis into your container vertically, leaving several inches of foam above the container's top.

3. Cut the hydrangeas leaving approximately three to six inches of stem length.

4. Fill in with hydrangeas, leaving small openings for the placement of roses. 5. Cut the stems of the roses leaving three to 6 inches of stem length. Place the roses throughout the arrangement, making sure they are spaced evenly and fill any gaps between the hydrangeas. During this step the hydrangeas might need to be repositioned to make space for the roses.

6. Your arrangement is now ready for the luminaries. See the steps to create luminaries below.

Tips:

When cutting fresh flower stems it is best to cut them at a 45 degree angle under water. This will allow flowers to stay hydrated and fresh longer.

When creating any arrangement with silk instead of live flowers, use floral foam instead of fresh floral foam. It is not necessary to soak it. Also, it is best to dab a bit of hot glue onto the ends of the silk flower stems prior to placing them into the floral foam to secure them and keep them from shifting over time.

Levitating Luminaries
Materials and Tools:

glass votive holder
2" circular wooden plaques, available from most craft stores
hot glue gun
glue sticks
gold spray paint
wooden dowels, cut to various lengths
scissors
votives or small pillar candles

Steps:

1. Hot glue dowel to center of plaque's bottom.

2. Spray dowel and wooden plaque with gold paint and allow to thoroughly dry.

3. Attach glass votive to wooden plaque with hot glue.

4. Place a candle in the votive for illumination.

5. Insert completed luminaries into centerpiece at varying heights. Nestle luminaries into flowers so they appear to float within arrangement. To achieve this effect, you will need to cut your dowels depending on the height of your arrangement and how visible you want the dowels to be.

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