When a good friend of mine that is a fabulous local photographer in Palm Beach, FL contacted me and asked me to build a flower swing for her Mothers day mini photo sessions, I was 100% in! I love building props and bringing my clients vision to life. The Hallmark Channel has a great tutorial for a circle flower swing. See the instructions HERE.
I made a few changes. I shortened the sides because it was too big. The tutorial called for 36-inch sides and I (or I should say my carpenter aka husband) used 18 inch piping instead. The seat wobbles a bit back and forth, if I were to make it again I would find a way to secure the seat a bit better so it doesn’t shift.
This swing does NOT cost $50 to make like the tutorial says. It costs $250 -$300. The piping and joints we bought from Home Depot for approx. $100. You need a lot of greenery and I mean a lot. Hobby Lobby has the best selection in my opinion. Another suggestion I have is to spray paint the pipe green. It will make it easier to camouflage the piping with the greenery. If you can, I always suggest using fresh flowers, but in this case she needed something she could use over and over again so I used fake flowers. I wrapped the greenery and secured the flowers with zip ties and hot glue. When in doubt use hot glue. For everything. Everyday. I also wrapped the seat with a moss sheet. It finished the swing off and made the seat comfy for the children.
The biggest thing I have learned in my years of building props is that it will probably cost double of what you originally estimate and take three times a long as you think. It’s kind of like building a house. You think how hard can it be? Well, it can be quite the challenge but so worth it in the end.
The swing came out great! My client loved it and booked several extra photo shoots with it. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have if you try building your own!
