Brooch Bouquet

So my sister is getting married....

Which in turns means that all the decorating and planning has been laid in my hands. About 3 months ago I suggested to her a brooch bouquet. I loved it when I saw it & since her taste is a little more eclectic than most, I thought she would love it too!

So of course from the picture I saw online I said I could make it for her. I mean how hard can it be to make a bouquet with pins right? You simply stick the pins in a round piece of foam and viola....

Yeah not so much. First you had to buy all the pins. This took months of my mother & I searching. We went to every thrift store, consignment shop, yard sales, antique stores...Everywhere.

So turns out it's a little more complicated than what I had thought.
This required tools & supplies, besides the pins & ribbons.
We needed
Needle nose pliers
Wire cutters
floral wire
floral tape

You have to take floral wire, wire it around the backs of the pins so that the pin stands up straight without drooping when you hold it by the "stem".(which depending on the pins weight has to be doubled for strength)
We did this with the needle nose pliers so that they were NOT coming off.
Then you have to wrap the wire with floral tape , this part sucked.
Then you have to arrange them, this part took forever.
Then when you have it in a way that it looks full & gorgeous, you wrap the whole lot of stems first with the floral wire for more support. ( We did it at the top, middle & bottom of the stem)
Then wrap the whole stem with floral tape.

So this took

120 brooches, earrings, pins, 14 hours, 4 people & a hell of a lot of patience.

But here it is, we still have to do the stem with the ribbon
 (my sister is out getting it now so it matches her shoes)

Isn't it gorgeous? My daughter who is 10 said she wants one when she gets married. My sister said she could use this one! Wouldn't be fantastic if this became a family heirloom?