Designing With African Violets

By Suzanne Ress

 Understanding the basics of using African violets in flower design will let people participate in several ways – it will deepen your appreciation of the creations of others and it might free you to try your hand at it yourself.

 1. Read the Show Schedule. The Schedule lets you know the theme for the designs, the image that you will interpret. It also tells you the restrictions for each design – size, allowable materials to use, type of accessory or color, all of which are important considerations. The Rules at the back of the Schedule must also be read, because they lay down the law regarding special circumstances; for example, can a design touch the sides of the niche, or who to contact to make your design reservation.

 2. Read the Design section of the AVSA Judges and Exhibitors Handbook. The Handbook is available from AVSA and the design section is a succinctly written guideline to design that can be a little overwhelming because it contains so much information. Reading it will give you an excellent base for understanding the components of a good design. Reading it will also give you an excellent understanding of what the judges are looking for and how they will score a design. The most creative interpretation will not do well if the designer does not incorporate the guidelines in the Schedule, the principles of design presented in the Handbook, and the scale of points used by the judges for that particular design class.

 3. The African violet must be the focal point of the design (except in Container Gardens). Step back from your creation and look at it. Your eye should naturally focus first on the African violet in the design. The accessories are there to support the African violet, add to the interpretation of the theme, and enhance the line and proportion of the overall design. You should not be distracted by the container, the other plant material used, the background, or by the proportions of the design not fitting the size of the niche used. Also, neatness really counts. The mechanics of your design should not show. This means the Oasis used to hold the flowers, or the plastic used to hold your root-ball, should not be seen. Blobs of glue, nails, tacks, tape, should all be invisible. Practice using these materials and take a hard look at your finished design to check for these faults.

 4. Once you have finished your design, go back and remove at least 1/3 of the material. When it comes to African violets and design, less is more. The delicate flowers and smaller leaves are easily overwhelmed by using masses of other plant material or get lost in elaborate containers (see Rule 3). Too much material obscures the line and flow of the design and makes it look heavy and blocky. It is important that you do at least one dry run before the show so you know what you’re going to do, what you’re going to use, and to give yourself a chance to evaluate and redo the design, if necessary. Because the proportion of the design to the niche size is extremely important, an invaluable aid is to use cardboard to build yourself a niche of the correct size. Then you can use it as you work to ensure that the design “fills the space”. Although this is not a hard-and-fast-rule, when I design, I try to place the violets in the middle third of the niche, so they are not too close to the base, and there will be material extending into the top 1/3 of the area.

 Other recommendations for improving your design skills include looking at pictures of Japanese flower design. Their use of space, line, and proportion will give you a good idea of what you should be looking for in your own designs. Buy a hot glue gun and practice with it. Hot glue is the designer’s friend, but takes getting used to. This next one will be very difficult for most of us – go to yard sales and craft stores and keep an eye out for stuff that could be put to good use in design.

 The people who came to the meeting and tried creating a 6-inch design all said they had a good time, were encouraged by their results, and were willing to do it again. What more can you ask for?