This was my first content shoot, and I have to say that I am super stoked with the outcome! As a foam free florist, I really wanted to knock this challenge out of the park.

Photographer Jessica Maddela contacted me looking for someone to flower for her Vintage Car Content Shoot! I was absolutely honored to be considered for the opportunity. She sent me several vintage cars that had been flowered as inspiration. I noticed that all of the photos she had sent were of blooms in foam! Immediately, I knew that I had to do this car with my own foam free design. Thankfully, Jessica was open to my creativity and let me design to my heart's content.

I feel that as a foam free florist, it's important to take on challenging projects that maybe other florists might feel are impossible. Does anyone else have a resident motivational hater living in their heads? My hater was telling me that I couldn't create a good design using foam free methods. I told that voice to watch me slay!

The Design Concepts

Considering the fact that there would be around 10 different people taking photos of this vintage car, I wanted to utilize two spaces on the car. I chose to flower the top left corner of the windshield (passenger side) and the back left tail light/ trunk area.

I wanted to give each photographer the opportunity to shoot from all different angles of the car. Jessica had initially contacted me about doing a "flower fall" where the flowers cascade out of the car's open door. I wasn't sure how I'd build that foam free, but I figured that flowering the front and back of the car would open the shoot up for more photo opportunities. If we had done the flower fall out of the door, there would really only be a handful of ways to shoot the car. Since the car is the main character here, I made the executive decision to flower in two locations.

I wasn't sure what the make or model or year of the car before coming up with a design. I only had a partial photo. I estimated that the car was of the 1970s. At this time in floral design, line-mass arrangements were popular. Another style of floral design prominent during the 1970s was geometric mass. I wanted the blooms to be styled in  a way that was "vintage" by pulling ideas from those types of styles. That is why you see strong lines from the Gladioulus in both arrangements.

Here's some examples of Line-Mass and Geometric Mass Arrangements:

I really wanted there to be a feeling of freedom within the design. A car represents freedom for me personally. One of my favorite designers, Hitomi Gilliam talked of how she uses Midollino Extenders in her design to represent freedom in nature. It really rang a bell for me. I created a few midollino extenders to help add that feeling of movement and freedom into the floral design.

The Mechanics

I knew that I needed to create a mechanic that could hold the weight of the flowers and their water sources. I wanted to be mindful to the vehicle, and not scratch it as well. The overall mechanic needed to be easily removed at the end of the shoot. That is how I came up with the idea to use suction cups and coated chicken wire.

I ordered a strong suction cup from Amazon that normally is used to pull dents out of your car as the main anchor for the chicken wire.  From Lowe's I was able to find two types of shower suction cups. Two of which are able to hold 8lbs each, and the other 5 were small clear suction cups for glass.

This set up allows me to have at least 3 points of attachment.

Here is the initial test run of my mechanic. The water jars are not filled at this point, but I wanted to see if the suction cups would even hold that weight! They key was to make sure my surface was clean, and I misted the suction cup with water prior to attaching it to the car. The Midollino Extenders provide extra support for the chicken wire structure and water jars. I ran one extender through the main suction cup to add even more stability.

A mini dent puller came with the larger one to my surprise! I used it in addition to the smaller, clear suction cups. I was concerned that you would be able to see the mechanic through the underside of the windshield, however, it was something I was determined to live with.

I attached all structures to the suction cups with bind wire. If the structures were any heavier, I would have had to use a different material to attach.

The Results

All photos by @jessicamaddelaphoto