{DIY} tie bouquet

When Sam graduated from law school, I knew I wanted to get him something practical, that he would use, but that wasn't totally boring (ie: a fountain pen). I also knew that someone would likely get him a briefcase (and likely a much nicer brief case than I could afford). Also, I felt like it should relate somewhat to the business of law school, though on reflection this probably wasn't totally necessary because my favorite graduation gift (see below) had nothing to do with biology.

Me with my favorite graduation gift (and those two lovely parentals who gave her to me). 

So when I was thinking about what to give Sam, I simply thought to myself "What does a lawyer need that Sam does not have?" The answer was neckties. He had a couple, but when you wear a tie every single day, do you really want two or three ties to choose from? This is obviously something a female would think of...


I also knew that I didn't want to wrap up a bunch of neckties in a box and say "here ya go!". If you know me at all, you know that this is the last thing I'd be likely to do. So, about 6 months before Sam graduated from law school, I had the brilliant idea to make a tie bouquet. I'm not sure where this idea blossomed from, because I scoured the internet after I thought of it and only found a few different examples...and nothing telling you how to make one.

After I had my brainstorm, I had it in the back of my mind to look for ties on sale, so whenever I'd go to the mall, I'd keep my eye out to see if there were ties on sale anywhere. Luckily, I struck gold during Dillard's Semi-Annual Clearance Event. Everything in the store is an additional 40-65% off sale prices during this time, so I ended up getting 10 ties for a super decent price. I mean, we're talking such a good price that when my mom was helping me with this project, my dad walked by and said "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY CUTTING UP A $100 TIE?!?!"  Haha. Thanks dad. Also, no scissors were even in sight.


SO this is what my mom and I came up with. Mind you, I came up with these directions about 7:30 on a Friday night (Michael's closed at 8:00) and we just went for it.

This is what you need:

• neckties (the amount you need varies depending how big you want your "bouquet")
• a potting plant (similar here)
• a foam ball (similar here)
• garden stakes (pictured below)
• double sided tape

These garden stakes are a huge pain, but they were pretty essential to the whole process.


First, lay out your necktie folded in half (like in the picture). It doesn't really matter which way you roll the tie, but it worked better for us to end with the smaller side (the part that would go around the neck). Otherwise, it kept falling apart because it was too big on the outside.

Tie the garden stake with the wires it comes with to the part of the tie that you can slip the back part of the tie through to keep it in place (I don't know the technical tie terms). Place several strips of double sided tape along the tie.

. 

Start rolling the tie...

Then, forgive me, I forgot to take a picture before I stuck it on the bouquet, but make sure it's firmly attached together with double sided tape and then use the garden stake to stick it in the foam ball, then pop the whole thing in a planter. It admittedly does take some time to get them all positioned and the ties were pretty heavy so they kept falling off, but I did manage to get it to stay together...until I took it back to St. Louis. Then I had to basically redo the whole thing (without my mom's help, which meant the end product didn't look quite as great).

 I think it turned out pretty great! Sam said he was impressed, though he could have been just making me feel like I'm more creative than I really am.

In fact, here he is wearing the tie I demonstrated with :).

Just before we headed off to graduation!

Happy Necktie-Bouquet-Making!