Today I’m sharing with you my experience of a Frog Flower School Workshop, held in their studio in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
This post is photo heavy so you might want to make a cuppa before you start reading!
If you have read my most recent newsletter you’ll see that I’ve been trying to be more creative lately. Doing something other than type at my laptop or scroll on my phone, which are typically the most active my hands get.
I think in order to stay creative, or even get your lost creative juices flowing, actually making something with your hands is key. As is learning a new creative skill. As you may already know I’m not very green-fingered. It’s something I’m slowly working on, very slowly.
So I recently took it upon myself to arrange a floral workshop for a few blogging buddies for all the reasons mentioned. Frog is ran by David Jayet-Laraffe and is a mainly an event florist, working on fashion shows, weddings, awards evenings and art installations, as well as hosting these workshops which are hopefully passing on some of the skills and confidence to the everyday flower lover.
We learnt how to spiral stems in our own hand tied bouquets, tricky at first, and my oh my, florists must have really strong hands!!
The Frog Flower School is located in the basement studio of the building and Susie was our tutor for the afternoon. She made it look incredibly easy, turns out she’s been a florist for ten years and her job has taken her all over the world. It’s fair to say she knew the answer to any questions we had.
We had a huge choice of blooms and greenery to choose from.
What we all found really interesting is that despite having the same choice of flowers, all of our bouquets looked so different! After the demonstration Susie worked her way around, giving guidance and help when needed. The workshop was 1-4pm and we also got time to make an evergreen garland using the greenery and foliage.
We built the garlands using aluminium wire which is really flexible. Then hid the wire with a sticky tape similar to masking tape, but it became more sticky as you worked with it. It is the same way that the flower crowns are made- there is a huge trend for these at the moment- perfect for summer festivals.
The garland making was really rather therapeutic, especially after the adrenalin rush of creating my first hand tied bouquet. Literally a white knuckle affair as I was so scared about all the flowers slipping out of my hand!
It was a great way to spend an afternoon and it was lovely being able to learn as part of a group, especially one of other bloggers, as blogging can be rather isolating at times. Although the chattering did completely stop at certain points in the day- as we were concentrating so hard!
It was a really inspiring day too. David and the team at Frog are so passionate about what they do and their enthusiasm is contagious- I now totally NEED to buy myself some proper florists scissors instead of grabbing the ones out of the kitchen drawer whenever I have flowers at home.
Some of David and the Frog Flower team’s work can be seen on the studio walls, lots of beautiful images as you can see below.
I feel much more confident about what to do with flowers after this workshop, so I shall test out my new floral skills and report back with how I’m getting on. I might even do a top tips post about it all.
The Frog Flower School workshop details can be found here do let me know if you go on one.
Here’s my bouquet!
susan earlam ~ horror author 
I adore this!! We’re getting married this year and I’ll be attempting (!) to arrange all our own flowers. Have walked past Frog a lot but never had a nosy, looks amazing! Lisa
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Oh Lisa thanks! You should defo check them out xx
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I think you’re super creative!! Flower-arranging is so much fun isn’t it, I recently tried it with HomeSense although I’m still not entirely sure I got the hang of the twisting thing and have since resorted to my “let’s bung it in the vase” approach. Glad you had fun X
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The twisting thing IS TRICKY!! I kept forgetting to twist!! Haha- thanks for stopping by xx
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That looks like my idea of heaven! Gorgeous flowers and I love the images for inspiration on the walls. I’d love to know more about floristry, if I was in Manchester I’d definitely have booked onto one of those workshops!
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Well you could make a weekend of it! Hint hint… x
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This looks so great and I LOVED your floral bouquet in the pictures! So gutted I couldn’t make it but will definitely be checking out Frog when I’m ready to try my own hands at this – looks like a fantastic afternoon 🙂 xxx
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Aw you’d love it- catch up with you very soon xx
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Really love your pictures Susie and thanks again for organising 🙂
I’ve gone flower mad since the event but the bouquet is holding up so well so I’ve got no excuse to buy any more just yet haha Hopefully my garden will start blooming and I can go bonkers on foliage 😉
xx
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Aw thanks! Yes my garden looks a bit sad tbh – work in progress!
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I bet this was really interesting! I am terrible when it comes to flower arranging, I always make such a mess.
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Omg I did NOT realise there was a flower school there! The bouquets look stunning! x
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Sarah you should so go on one of the courses!
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Oh my, those flowers! Looks like such a great event, wish I was closer to you.
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Wouldn’t that be ace! Thanks love x
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I’m so sad to have missed it. It looks like the coolest place and the most amazing of days. I might have to book myself in, anyway!!
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Oh you should, theres some great ones coming up!
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Posts like this make me realise how much of Manchester I’m still yet to discover, especially in NQ!
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It looks and sounds great! Well done on unleashing your creative side, your flowers look gorgeous.
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What a lovely workshop to attend. I’m rubbish with flowers and plants but I’m sure doing a workshop like this would give me more confidence. Glad you found a fun outlet for your creativity.
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Thanks so much for organising this Susie, I had such a lovely time, and what a fabulous hidden gem Frog is! Your photos and bouquet look amazing, and I hope yours are still going strong…I’ve got the odd wilting tulip but the rest are fine. Thanks again and it was so lovely to finally meet you x
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Hi Rebecca! Yes mine are still going strong, and I wish we’d had a bit more time to chat too. Thanks for coming xx
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Loved this workshop so much – even more than I thought I would! I wanted to keep my black apron and buy a flower shop immediately, lol! Beautiful bouquet of yours, by the way 🙂 xx
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I could so see you doing that Antonia!
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Oh my!!! I’ve always wanted to do something like this, I may have to book in. Your bouquet looks stunning 🙂
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What a gorgeous day! I think I’m going to have to investigate courses there. Your bouquet looks beautiful.
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I loved it- I bet you would too- let me know if you go on one x
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I love this! I started a photography course after Christmas because I wanted something a little different from writing too. I’m making slow progress but I’m really loving it so far. Good for you, this sounds lovely xx
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It is so good to use your hands and brain in a way that’s different to the usual isn’t it. Best of luck on the course x
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What fun – your bouquet looks amazing! x
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You’d love it I bet! Hope your weekend was fun x
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