We’re thrilled to introduce you to the work of Bird & Bumble today! If you’ve been thinking of creating wearable florals — floral tattoos or flower rings, for example — we believe today’s feature will give you the confidence to dive in and give it a try. In addition to the design tips, we love the underlying story of floral designers helping one another expand and elevate the services offered to clients. As you’ll see, one designer shared the wearable techniques of another designer with Rebecca at Bird & Bumble, leading to the gorgeous wearable designs you’ll see in today’s post. We’re inspired by their collaborative spirit!

The Celebration

The color story for this intimate dinner party was influenced by the gorgeous soft hues in the St. James’ Dutchess suite. The creams and subtle peachy-pink hues stole the show while being accompanied by the warm wood tones of the table itself. Zeus wore a satin gown which made the perfect backdrop to display a hand-crafted floral tattoo made by Bird & Bumble. Owner Rebecca chose softer neutral hues mixed with pops of deeper tones that perfectly accented Zeus’ skin tone and dark hair.

Tony & Zeus wanted to host an intimate party with their closest friends to celebrate their upcoming wedding anniversary. They had one request — to create an inviting tablescape and atmosphere which would welcome conversation. With soft seating and plenty of candlelight, guests were able to relax and enjoy each other’s company. Rosé was sipped along with some light hors d’oeuvres while guests celebrated Tony & Zeus’ anniversary along with a surprise — Zeus recently becoming a US citizen!

The Love Story

“I was on vacation visiting my brother in Milwaukee. He suggested that I try a yoga class to meet some people, so I joined a studio on the Eastside. I met Tony there; our first interaction was him asking me to fill out a March madness bracket. I had no idea what that meant, but thought he was cute so I gave it a try. Soon, friendly competition started and we began watching all of the games together. Naturally, I beat him and picked the winning team!

Once summer began, Tony took me to all of the fun activities in Milwaukee like Summerfest, hiking, paddleboarding, and many many festivals. I extended my stay as long as I could, but at the end of summer, it was time for me to head back home to Jordan. Thankfully, Tony did not want me to leave; he proposed and we have been together ever since!” – Zeus

Bird & Bumble: How We Did It

This past winter at the recommendation of Sweet Root Village we picked up a copy of Susan McLeary’s newest book titled The Art of Wearable Flowers: Floral Rings, Bracelets, Earrings, Necklaces, and More. Winter in Wisconsin is cold and dreary, so we wanted to continue practicing new mechanics and techniques for selling unique wearable flower looks to our clients for our upcoming wedding season.

Zeus planned to wear a simple, off the shoulder silk dress made by a One Mile, a sustainable beach brand in Australia, for her party. With the soft V neck and her deep skin tone in mind, we wanted to highlight her clavicle with a cascading floral tattoo that would wrap over her shoulder.

For this application we first used a flexible Nexcare Absolute Waterproof First Aid Tape to mark out the area and shape directly on her skin. Then moving from back to front we started to adhere our bigger blooms to create our basic design with Cold Glue directly on the tape.

For our focal blooms we incorporated white ranunculus, red-mauve hellebore, and domestic spray roses from Eufloria in California. Then we started to fill in the smaller spaces to cover our tape work with delicate and fragrant China Pink Hyacinth Hips, before finally adding our extensions of ‘Inspiration’ Clematis Buds and Bleached Pepperberry trailing out of the design.

We absolutely loved how the dried and bleached Pepperberry with just a hint of pink, perfectly tied together the contrasting palette, and emulated the look of pearls on her skin. These buds were carefully applied directly to the skin with Eyelash Glue. After the party we carefully peeled back the tape and the wearable piece was easily removed in one piece.

Our second wearable look, worn by a model, was a partial flower crown consisting of flowering branches, white ranunculus, and white spray roses. The mechanics were the same as the floral tattoo except we applied the waterproof tape directly to the model’s face right at the hair line.

To compliment this more avant-garde Japanese-inspired hair piece we added two easy-to-wear floral rings. These designs were made on Band-Aid bases. Just like the tape, we simply wrapped the model’s fingers and directly cold glued the flowering branch blossoms to the Band-Aid. We love how the small satellite wearables contrasted with the gown and larger wearable headpiece. These rings are so easy, fun and quick. We did them right onsite before the event.

With proper hydration of blooms, a bit of time on site, and a daring model or bride the sky is truly the limit with wearable flower designs. Both ladies loved how bold, easy and fun these pieces were to wear.

The Floral Designer

Rebecca Hawkins | Owner of Bird & Bumble

Vendor Credits:
Photography: @autumnsilvaphotography
Floral Design: @bird_and_bumble
Coordination & Styling: @elevate.events & @mrs.tantillo
Beauty: @jecoramoniqueartistry
Earrings: @pollenfloralwi
Cream Dress: @onemile
Black Dress: @asos
Engagement Ring: @craighusardesigns
Styling Board: @heirloombindery
Backdrop: @jrd_artshop
Candles: @thefloralsociety
Blush Runner: @nativeribbon_co
Film Scans: @thefindlab
Model in Black: @alyssakrawze
Venue: @stjames1868

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out 17 Wearable Floral Designs here.