Wedding Candelabra Flowers
Wedding candelabra flowers can be made by twining florist foam cages down around the candelabra base. There are some other tutorial pages that discuss in detail how to create flower garlands. For the table top candelabra tutorial, continue down this page.
The foam cylinders have to be supported. Without some type of cage or netting, the cylinders would begin to crumble and degrade with this many rose stems inserted into the foam.
Florist foam garland can be made in several different ways. Some are cheaper versions, but obviously takes a lot more time.
The first type is making it yourself by using chicken wire and a brick of Oasis Max-Life florist foam. The foam brick needs to be cut into four pieces as shown below with a long, smooth knife.
Craft chicken wire is 4 inches wide. You need to create a round cylinder cage that the florist foam pieces can be fitted inside. Cut the chicken wire into approximately 9" lengths with heavy wire cutters. The chicken wire is needed to support the wet foam, as it can begin to crumble if it doesn't have some type of support with so many flower insertions.
After cutting the Oasis brick into 4 pieces, trim the corners off each corner. This makes the shapes into rough cylinders. These don't have to be perfectly smoothed, as they won't show after the foam has been covered with flowers. They just have to fit inside a wire cage.
After the florist foam is trimmed into a rough rounded cylinder, cut and wrap that 9" piece of chicken wire around the cut florist foam. Secure the chicken wire with twists of green chenille stems, closing the cage around the florist foam.
Take care, as the cut chicken wire can be really sharp. I strongly suggest you bend the cut ends inward by twisting the cut ends with needle nose pliers.
The separate links of foam cages can be attached to each other with chenille stems. This is the cheapest way to make a garland cage. You can make the exact lengths you need and the exact number you need.
