October 14th is coming up quickly, and 50 ambitious floral artists have that date circled in red on their calendars! Those 50 artists will be attending the AIFD Floral Summit and taking the Professional Floral Design Evaluation (PFDE®) with the goal of achieving accreditation through the American Institute of Floral Designers®.
For those that have already been through the PFDE® process, you will, no doubt, remember the jitters and the nerves. You’ll remember practicing and preparing. Anxiety over the upcoming test is normal, but it can be reduced if you focus on a few important points in your preparations.
Several members of the AIFD® Membership committee have sent in their best advice to designers looking to test. And this sage advice will be helpful to those heading to test in Orlando in October, Las Vegas in July, or beyond!
From Loann Burke AIFD:
Know. Your. Principles. And. Elements!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Knowing your P&E’s helps diagnose all kinds of floral illnesses. You can run through them like a mental checklist and ask yourself, “Do I have a strong focal emphasis? Is the arrangement in balance? Do I have a contrast issue? Do I have strong lines?” Etc. etc. etc.
Do that with every arrangement that you design.
Half the time we stand there and stare at an arrangement and think, “This needs something… But I don’t know what!” If you know your principles and elements, you will know exactly what.
From Janet Black AIFD:
Try to stay calm, breathe and hydrate. Remember three basic things: Elements, Principles and clean mechanics.
From Dov Kupfer AIFD:
My advice to PFDE candidates is to make sure that whatever you design, the evaluators will be able to easily see your understanding of the Principles and Elements of Design, without having to guess. When the evaluator walks up to your table, even before scrutinizing your designs, they will see strong focal points, lines and balance within each piece. Keep your designs as simple as possible, with strong use of the P’s and E’s, mechanically sound, plus a bit of creative flair that will elevate the design from everyday normal to a design worthy of AIFD status.
From Terry Godfrey AIFD:
AIFD is looking for creativity; interesting techniques used purposefully to achieve your Elements and Principles, not just tossed in indiscriminately.
Use your materials (containers, botanicals, accessories, etc.) in unexpected ways.
You never know what you will be given, so practice a variety of leaf manipulation techniques using different types of foliage, techniques with different types of wire, armatures constructed with several different materials.
Test a variety of flowers to see how long they hold up without a water source or how much water they drink in a water tube overnight
Day of test:
Keep your linen and tent card labels clean by rolling the cards into the linen and taping or otherwise securing to the table leg.
Breathe If one of the designs gives you trouble, move on to the next one and go back to it later.
