Due to a supply problem at Smithers Oasis the white (clear) submersible lights have been out of stock for approximately three weeks. We’re pleased to say that they are now back in stock and we have plenty!

Clear diamond lights available to buy as single submersible lights or in boxes of 10 diamond lights.

Again, we would like to show you how you can buy funeral flowers online and compare the stock picture we have on our website to the finished article. We made this one yesterday for a funeral and we’re very pleased with the result, in fact this particular tribute always comes up looking very special, but judge for your self!

The butterfly tribute uses approximately:

• 20 Stems white double chrysanthemums
• 4 Gerberas / Germini
• 2 Shamrock blooms
• 85 Pink carnations
• 10 Stems pink chrysanthemums
• 32 Pink ‘Aqua’ roses
• 25 Stems green chrysanthemums

Add sparkle to any design with these appealing pins. Round diamante heads with a variety of uses, generally in wedding work, as a focal point for a buttonhole and as a corsage accessory.

For a modern look bridal bouquet these pins are pushed directly into the rose head to enhance the bridal bouquet. 2 sizes available: 5mm head size (3.5cm length) 10mm head size (5cm length).
Both sizes are sold in a pack of 100 diamante pins.

Pretty topical funeral tribute we made yesterday, especially as it’s England versus Germany tomorrow in World Cup 2010. Come on England!

Made using a 2 foot x 1 foot designer sheet, box pleated with Snow white floristry ribbon, approximately 40 stems ‘Arctic Queen’ double white chrysanthemums, 1 red ‘Passion’ rose and the cross sprayed red with ‘Holiday Red’ colour Oasis spray paint.

We do have a few Oasis product PDF’s available on our site for free download,  factsheets that will help you use the Oasis floristry products more effectively and to give you design ideas. We also have the full Smithers Oasis product catalogue for 2009/2010.

Look out for the PDF icons on our Free downloads page.

It’s a question we get asked a lot – can we send out flowers in wholesale quantities through the postal network or by courier? The simple answer is no, it’s not something that we get involved in, for lots of different reasons, so I thought I would provide a few pointers.

We do sell flowers in wholesale quantities to customers who are local to us and who can collect the flowers from our premises. Typically we serve people who are making a few funeral tributes for friends and family or for customers who run a small floristry or wedding floristry business from home. We do find (quite a lot surprisingly) that most retail florists do not supply flowers to home florists at all. A retail florist may regard the home florist as ‘taking away business’ from their own florist shop.

That reasoning is flawed for several reasons:

1. There would be no guarantee that the florist shop would get the funeral / wedding order in the first place if they refused to supply flowers;
2. Why wouldn’t the florist want to make a small profit on supplying flowers if they’re buying anyway, provided they were in wholesale quantities? After all, 0% of nothing is….…..nothing.
3. There is also the opportunity to sell not only the flowers, but related sundry items: funeral frames, ribbons, bouquet holders etc.

As we have a broad product crossover in our business (we are a professional retail florist, wholesale florist and floristry supplies wholesaler) we therefore have a huge product range at our disposal, so going back to the original question, where do you buy flowers if you work from home?

Some florist shops will supply the ‘general public’ with wholesale flowers so it’s worth asking two or three florists in your local area if they are prepared to sell to you. Be advised that the price of flowers is extremely volatile, especially during peak periods, not only in this country, but all over the world. Mothers Day in Russia for example has a huge impact on Uk wholesale flower prices.

You can also research where your nearest wholesale flower market is, generally the firms in the market will sell to the ‘general public’, you shouldn’t need to be a trade customer, but check first. In our part of the country (the South – east) New Covent Garden and Western International are the largest.

Personally Rays Florist buy 90% of our flowers direct from Holland, from a supplier we’ve had a great relationship for years with. We can guarantee best prices and service, but above all, quality and freshness are the most important consideration. My old Dad said to me right at the start of my floristry career to ‘Buy with your eyes, not with your wallet’ meaning to always, always buy the best quality, not necessarily at the lowest price. We do buy English seasonal flowers from London wholesale markets too.

Hope it helps, do some research and make a few phone calls, and of course if you’re near to us, give us a call on 0800 0372025.

We thought it may be beneficial for you to see actual funeral flowers made by Rays Florist compared to the stock image shown on our website. The stock images we use are from the relay organisation Flowers Direct, of whom we are just one of 750 members. All the members work from the same design guide, which is why you can buy something from our website and have it delivered anywhere in the Uk and it will look as close to the stock image as possible. Obviously every florist works slightly differently (even the florists working in Rays florist work differently according to their training and experience).

I think you’ll agree that it’s a pretty close match, with ‘the real thing’ made by Rays Florist looking slightly better than the stock image – you decide!

Lastly, let’s see one of the bigger, more expensive tributes that we sell, the double XX. This measures 3ft wide and 2ft high and uses a lot of flowers!

We’ve made a few more unusual (and not so unusual) funeral flowers lately. Firstly, as part of a stock car / racing car theme we made a stock car, from an oasis frame, mounted on a stand, along with a chequered flag using a 2ft x 1ft Oasis designer sheet. The letters were silver aluminium letters sprayed white.

We’re always happy to quote for bespoke funeral tributes, however, not all florists in the country are as willing or able to make something out of the ordinary. As you can see from numerous posts on our blog, we enjoy doing something different!

We are now selling cellophane sleeves in smaller 50 sleeve packs as well as the normal pack size of 100 cellophane sleeves. As our main market is hobby florists, home florists and people who make funeral flowers for friends and family only, it may take a while to use up a whole pack of 100 sleeves! You can also buy the same product on eBay.

Just a little update on some different and bespoke funeral flowers we’ve produced lately. Firstly, a yellow Rave style smiley face and a yellow star (yes, the eye is supposed to be lop sided!) We used yellow ‘Sunny’ Euro (double yellow) chrysanthemums for the base colour, spraying the eyes and mouth with black paint.

Some based funeral letters with unusual colours for the ribbon and sprays pictured below. The nephew tribute had alternate royal blue and cerise pink ribbon edging with corresponding sprays to match, using cerise germini (Variety name: Whisper) and Blue ‘Vendella’ roses. The Grandson used green cymbidium orchids, purple veronica and baregrass in the sprays, whilst the Brother tribute used a combination of lime green ribbon and cerise pink ribbon edge incorporating green orchids and cerise pink germini sprays.