A floral display of color
Baby’s Breath flowers are a common feature in florists and event decor around the world. Weddings, parties, and even flower bouquets often feature this simple gem of a flower in all its beauty. The botanical name of Baby’s Breath is Gypsophila and has its origins in Eastern Europe. Nowadays, it is available all over the world and is mostly available all year round making it perfect for an allspraypainted project wherever you are. So grab your cans, gloves, and materials, and let’s make a Baby’s Breath Garland.
Materials used
- Baby’s Breath Flowers
- Montana GOLD colors of your choice (we used Shock Pink, Shock Pink Light, Shrimp Pastel, Shock Orange Light, Yellow Cab, Malachite Light, Baby Blue, Blue Magic, and Light Lilac)
- Chicken wire
- Buckets
- Zip ties (cable ties)
- Command hooks (or some sort of fastening hook)
- Scissors
- Gloves
- Mask
- Drop sheet
How it was done
Until now, a connection between Montana GOLD and Baby’s Breath has never been established. Or at least not that we are aware of. But things were about to change. This beautiful flower presents itself as a natural white object that easily takes on color. Baby’s Breath + Montana GOLD = Colored Baby’s Breath. To start the process, take your Baby’s Breath flowers and put them into buckets with water so that the flower can absorb water while being worked with.
Make sure there is enough space around each bouquet so that you can spray evenly around its whole diameter. Cut the stems a little at the ends so they have better water absorption abilities, but make sure the stems are still long enough to be inserted into the chicken wire garland. We will trim them to a more exact size later depending on the tubular size of your garland.
Shake your Montana GOLD cans for 2-3 minutes so you can hear the mixing ball moving freely. Remove the nozzle and turn each can upside down, allowing the black safety ring from under the nozzle to fall out. Then reapply the nozzle and test spray away from any objects.
Taking one color at a time, lightly spray each bouquet with the colors you have chosen. Not too much! A little here, and a little there so that natural variations in color occur on each bouquet. We chose to spray each bouquet in a single color and assort them in color combinations later. Leave the bouquets to dry for 24 hours with the stems in fresh clean water so that the smell of the paint can dissipate.
While this process was happening, it was time to make the garland base. This consisted of a piece of rolled-up chicken wire in tube size that would house the flower stems, and hide them at the same time. If you are using more than one piece of wire, connect the pieces easily using your zip ties. And if you need to secure them to a surface (in our case a fireplace mantel), use something like a command strip or double-sided tape with a hook that can stick to most surfaces. Then attach the wire to the hook to prevent the rolls from moving.
Taking your now-dried and colored flowers, give the stems one last rim so that they are no longer than the size of your chicken wire tube. If they are long enough to also sit in the below-lying wire hole, then you have a more stable flower. Insert portions of each bouquet by hand, filling the wire holes and creating the color combinations you want. As the holes get filled, the stems will be hidden. Once the garland is done, you are finished. And boy does it look great!
Please note: Once you load your garland with Baby’s Breath, after 24 hours or so of no water the flowers will start to die out. They will not lose their color but they will get smaller and spots in the garland may begin to show. There are a couple of options to resolve this if you are setting up for an event and want the look of your garland to stay full. Either, set up the garland prior and then add the flowers to it fresh from their water buckets on the day of the event. This way they will be full and colorful long after the guests themselves have become full and colorful.
Or, load the garland with wet floral foam and add the flowers with the stems in the wet foam the night before. If required, on the day of the event fill any holes that may have occurred by shrinking of surrounding flowers and fill them with fresh, colored flowers straight from their water buckets.
This project is probably about an hour of actual work. The skill level required to paint the Baby’s Breath is for beginners and onwards, and it is only the preparation of the wire garland that may need some extra time or a little assistance from someone who is familiar with working with wire. But don’t be scared to give it a go if you are entering some new creative territory. That’s why you are reading this article and part of the allspraypainted family. You can do it.
Congratulations and Happy Crafting!
