Flowers beyond the vase

arranging flowers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denovich/46601205/

Flowers are pleasurable and therapeutic.

As a left-handed designer with a vibrant floral business in Estill, South Carolina Jean DeLoach likens her craft of arranging flowers to the flight of a butterfly flitting through and landing on flower petals with great ease. “Floral design is the ultimate experience in buying and blending species, building positive and negative space, and for thinking outside the box,” says Jean DeLoach. In conversation it is evident that Ms. DeLoach loves to keep her hands in the soil or in a vase to allow her creativity to flourish. 

 

Ms. DeLoach brings her passion for creating floral arrangements and gardening to the Technical College of the Lowcountry’s (TCL) Life Enrichment Center this summer to offer three unique courses.  “My courses are open to individuals with all levels of experience,” says DeLoach. “One simply needs to walk into the classroom with a willingness to learn. My role is as a guide to bring forward the creativity of each participant, no matter their skill level.”

 

Ms. DeLoach offers Silk Flower Arranging Mondays and Wednesdays, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at TCL’s Beaufort Campus beginning on June 27th and continue through July 18th.   Silk flowers are a many splendored offering in today’s marketplace , from single stem varieties to lush green bushes.  Trees and plants are now also cast in silk.. Following basic floral design concepts, students in this course will learn how to arrange silks to appear realistic and to incorporate them with fresh flowers and plantings to enhance their natural surroundings.

 

Beginning August 1 and continuing through August 17th at TCL’s Beaufort Campus Ms. DeLoach will offer Flower Arranging-Straight from the Yard on Mondays and Wednesdays, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. This class is designed for the gardener or flower arranger alike with a strong local focus on bringing the full bloom of the natural environment indoors to a home or office.

 

This fall she will offer a Basic Floral Design class at TCL’s Beaufort Campus. Students will learn to tie bows with satin, cloth or velvet ribbon and discover the techniques to preserving those ribbons for re-use year after year. Students will learn how to use ribbon for dressing up baskets, potted plants and vases. As well, participants will learn how to arrange flowers in a round bouquet using fresh and silk flowers, how to wire roses and carnations,  and how to put together a bud vase. This course will be offered Mondays and Wednesdays beginning September 12 and ends on September 28. 

 

Each course costs $75 per person and includes a required materials list that students will bring with them to participate in the course.  A materials list can be obtained by calling the Life Enrichment Center or online at  http://www.tcl.edu/continuing-ed/classes-offered

Jean DeLoach has put her faith and talent in more than one service related business over the last twenty years. She’s managed a convenience store, developed a salon business from scratch and built a floral trade in two separate locations. Ms DeLoach trained at the former John Hall School of Floral Design in Savannah, Georgia and has attended courses in Oklahoma for designing Christmas and funeral arrangements with American Floral Services. She maintains her floral business and hair salon known as Southerners in downtown Estill. South Carolina.