centerpiece vent- nothing is working! Edit- It worked!!!! Update on pg 2

Are you using real flowers? If so I heard the best way to keep them down is using pin frogs (pictured below) or by attaching fishing weights to the bottom.

I'm doing submerged flowers but since I'm using the real touch from Hobby Lobby they stay under by themselves

Oh btw the pin frogs are kinda expensive (about $3 each, last I checked) so it might be better to go with the fishing weights.

Are they artificial flowers? what about weighting them with clear marbles or the water beads that disappear.

When we did the trail run with ours FH hot glued the roses to the rocks so they would stay and they did for over a week, but thats probably not the best idea

Ya, we are using real ones, I noticed that the fake ones didn't float, but those are more $$$. sigh.

Those frog things look like they would work, but our vases are clear all the way through.

I have heard of weights. May have to try them out. My dad was already looking at drilling holes in the bottom to put weights in. We where thinking maybe getting heavy screws and drilling them up into the flowers so you can't see them.

We tried the clear water beads on the bottom, I think we would have to fill the entire vase up for that to work. And that would cost around $10 a vase, even buying the dehydrated ones.

Trying to do this for as little $$$ as possible. gah!

How about tying a little fish line around them and tying it to a metal washer..thats what i do with balloons to keep them down on a table..it should work fine.

One of the biggest problems we are having is whatever we do can't show. The vases are all the way clear, we weren't planning rocks on the bottom (that would be an extra $35 we don't have) or anything.

here is my inspiration picture.

Do you have $7 to spare? I would go to a pet store and get a Giant bag of aquarium rocks. Then do everyone's suggestion of fishing wire and fishing weights or washes and a handful of rocks to just cover the bottom.

good luck

Your pet store must be cheaper then ours, we looked at Petco here and the big bags where $17. Not as bad as $35 like from JoAnns, but still.

Maybe I'm just being stubborn, but there has to be a way to make it work- someone else somehow made it work in my inspiration pic.

http://www.ehow.com/how_8188508_submerge-calla-lilies.html

I found this, but I'll keep looking.

Step 2 of this link tells about using aquarium glue

http://www.ehow.com/how_7827028_submerge-flowers-vases.html

I found something that suggests using aquarium glue and says flowers can be submerged for several days if you are worried about drying time.

Step 5: Fill the vases with distilled water, which does not contain additives or chemicals that may be found in tap water. The flowers can be submerged for several days in distilled water. But if your arrangement includes unsubmerged flowers as well, create the arrangements either the day before or the day of the wedding to avoid wilting flowers. Watch the flowers as you fill the vases with water. If they begin to droop, consider only partially filling the vases.

If you dont mind the flowers being stuck for a little while then 1 drop of superglue on the bottom shiuld hold them

Yellow and gray right? ay other colors?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Stoney-River-Epoxy-Coated-Aquarium-Gravel-5-lb/10813456

10lbs $8

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3266440&utm_source=googleproduct&utm_campaign=1833412&utm_medium=cse&mr:trackingCode=60F058F1-B2BE-E011-8116-001517B1882A&mr:referralID=NA

What did they use at the bottom of your inspiration picture? it looks a lot darker at the bottom, was it some kind of rocks or gravel or just a tinted cylinder?

Another idea bights the dust- we just went to buy little weights and they are too big to fit inside the stem to hide them.

I really didn't want rocks, i like the minimalist look. But it looks like we might be SOL and have to use rocks.

I thought the darkness in the inspiration pic was just the curvature of the glass, but maybe it is rocks.

Thanks for the link though Hayley, i didn't think there would be that much of a difference between petco and petsmart but apparently there is.

Oo, just tried hot glue, that doesn't work either.

Oh, it does look like black rocks. You can see the bottom of the stem peeking out on the side.

I thought that was the reflection. Sigh. It looks like rocks it is. now to just figure out how to do rocks without breaking the budget, seeing as we have already gone over it. FML.

Walmart has the vase filler for 2.99, one packet filled my whole vase, so if you just did the bottom of yours it would do several of them, they have clear too, so you could barely even tell there is anything in there, it just hides the weight

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VASE-FILLER-JELLY-DECOR-WATER-CENTERPIECE-CRYSTALS-USA-/290584918067?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item43a835f833

or ebay also has them

Hey, i'm a florist and the only way to get live flowers to stay submerged is the pin frogs that Tach said, and yes, you'd have to use some sort of rocks/marbles to cover them (i know they're expensive).

the only other suggestion i'd have, and i don't even know if this would work or not since it's not typically used under water, is if you're really adamant about not using the pin frogs/rocks, there is floral glue that we use to glue flowers to corsages. what it does, is seal the end of the flower to help keep what moisture it has inside, with out drying it out. it takes a few minutes to dry, and it's bright gold in color, but it won't kill the flowers with chemicals or heat. if you try this, make sure the bottom of the cylinder is dry, other wise the glue won't stick in the first place.

but like i said, i don't know if it'd work, just offering up suggests. the only real way to do it is with the pin frogs.

What type of flower are you using? If you're using a tuber type flower (the stem is a hollow tube) can you find some pebbles in your yard and shove them up the tube to give it some weight?

Another idea - sand - do you have a friend w/ kids that have a sandbox? 2" of sand in the bottom would look cute as well and would hide the weights needed for the flowers?

If you are doing 2 or 3 flowers in the vase - how about tying a ribbon around them and putting the weight either in the knot part of the bow or nestled between the flower stems