{Ask Nancy: Pomander}

Claudia asks...I love love love these tutorials! Here’s my question: what’s the trick to making a sturdy fresh pomander? I tried making one of my own and completely failed! (water was dripping from my foam, stems kept breaking as I pushed them into the foam, etc). Would you mind sharing your expert tips and advice?

I personally have a love/hate relationship with kissing balls(aka pomanders). I love making them but they aren't as easy as they appear. Even though we've made over a 200 kissing balls over the course of our business, it's still one of those pieces that we continue to finesse. For me, the trick with kissing balls is using the right flower. Many people don't realize that there aren't many flowers that work but yet they try to make a kissing ball with them. I once saw someone use a French Tulip. Sorry, but that's the absolutely worse thing you could do. First of all, the beauty of the French Tulip is its gorgeously long stem. What a shame to waste that stem on a kissing ball. Also out of water in oasis, tulips aren't very "happy".

Bottom line: choose a sturdy, flat, round, mass flower like my two favorites:

-Mini Carnations
- Pom Pom(button) mums

We use two different methods when making a kissing ball. For mums, we like to use a Styrofoam ball. For the carnations, we use an Oasis ball. It's a matter of personal preference and ease for us so you don't have to follow this. Most people use Oasis balls because it will hydrate the flowers. We have a professional cooler. We can keep kissing balls in our refrigerator for several days so we can use the Styrofoam method. For a non-professional, use the Oasis.

Pom Pom Kissing ball:

1 3 or 4 inch Styrofoam Ball
1 Bundle of Pom Pom Mums
1 box of pearl pins or straight pins
Assorted Ribbon
Several straight pins
Mister of Water
Large Freezer Zip Bag or Clear bag(no holes)
Bag ties
Floral Shears

Cut individual mums from their stem. Make sure that all stem are removed.
Fasten ribbon to the Styrofoam securely with straight pins.
Starting with one side, secure mums to Styrofoam using pearl or straight pins.
Poke the pin through the center of the mums.
Continue until the entire ball is covered with mums.
Mist with water
Taking a bag, blow hot air into the bag.
Place kissing ball into the bag.
Secure tightly.

With a mini carnation, You do the same thing but instead of Styrofoam, use an oasis ball. Make sure that you let the Oasis foam stand until water stops dripping. Secure your ribbon onto the ball with straight pins. Instead of cutting all the stems off the mini carnations, cut them to 2 inches. Insert stems into the ball. No need for the pins. You can also add some spray roses and little green buds into the balls like this pink kissing ball.

Please share your results!

Good luck!