A client of ours approached us when her "do-it-yourself" project wasn't going as well as she had hoped. She had a gorgeous collection of vintage brooches, but wasn't quite sure how to go about making them into a bouquet. We decided to document the process so any future bride, with a collection of vintage brooches, can do it herself!
Step 1. Collect a minimum of 50 vintage brooches.
Step 1. Collect a minimum of 50 vintage brooches.
Step 2: Using 4 pieces of 26 gauge floral wire, curl wire number one around the space between the pin and the clasp and curl wire number two around in the same way from the opposite direction like photos below:
Step 3: Using wire 3 and 4, run them through the center of the first two crossed wires. These wires are for strength. The brooches are heavy and need a strong wire base to assemble. If the pins are loose and floppy, it will make assembly difficult. Twist all wires together at the top.
Step 4: Neatly wrap the wire with corsage tape. Notice how the wire is strong enough to hold the pin without drooping and the pin is upward facing.
Step 5: Begin assembling your bouquet. Think of each brooch as a puzzle piece. Some brooches will nestle snuggly together for a perfect fit. You will have to move the brooches around until they nest neatly next to each other. Use larger brooches first and the smaller brooches to fill in where there may be empty spaces. Don't get frustrated as this takes time.
Step 6: When you're done assembling the bouquet, wrap the "stems" with floral tape to create a nice, even stem to wrap with ribbon. It should look like the photo below from the bottom.
Step 7: Using a ribbon of your choice (we used Linen dupioni silk ribbon from Midori Ribbon) cut the ribbon in small sections (approximately 6 inches) fold them in half and set them across the wires like photo below:
Step 8: Tape the ribbon ends at the top of the bouquet stem.
Step 9: Using two pieces of ribbon, in a criss-cross fashion, cover the end of the stem and then tape.
Step 10: Cover the stem with ribbon from top to bottom covering all the tape. Use pearl pins to secure.
Step 11: Add a band of ribbon and tie with a square knot at the top to finish.
Step 12: We frayed the ribbon to add to the vintage style of the bouquet
Now you have a gorgeous brooch bouquet!
