The 101 On Our Favorite Flower Clippers

Hey there,

If there’s one thing we know all too well here at Farmgirl, it’s how to process, trim, and prep flowers straight from the farm and into a flower arrangement. The tool that by far gets the most use and is needed for every single stem we use in one of our bouquets are flower shears or clippers. Whether you’re a casual floral designer or a seasoned pro, having the right tools can make all the difference in your efficiency of processing flowers (aka giving the ends a good chip and removing excess foliage) and overall flower arranging game, so today, we’re diving into the world of floral shears and clippers and giving you the lowdown on our favorites here at Farmgirl.

For the casual floral designer

The first pair of clippers are great for beginners and ones that we often keep at our farm for new designers to use – the Clauss 33503 Spring-Action Clippers. They have lots of different great beginner styles but this is a great model to start with. These flower clippers have this little tab at the top that allows you to unlock or re-lock the blades, which is particularly helpful if you’re putting them in your apron pocket while going between different arrangements or flower stem types. Plus, the tip of these shears are designed with a blunted point at the edge so you don’t have to worry about them poking you if it turns upside down in your apron or bag, which is super convenient. Aside from beginners, these are ideal for those who may occasionally receive flowers and don’t often seek out D.I.Y florals but still want to keep something on hand to help trim your flower arrangements upon arrival. For those who are frequently processing flower arrangements, need to use something more frequently, or for more detailed arrangement work, these might be a bit chunky for your needs, so keep that in mind.

For designs that call for those woodier, thicker stems

The second pair we often have on hand is by Fiskars, which is a brand that totally makes us think of the little scissors we had in kindergarten. This is another great brand that makes a bunch of great clippers. Our favorite here is the Fiskars Bypass Pruning Shears, which are great to use for processing or trimming woodier stems like protea, branches or even a thicker eucalyptus stem. Using this style of clippers with that almost half-moon shape to them are great to get around those thicker stems and give you the leverage to cut it much easier than a traditional straight clipper. We also love the safety feature of these shears, which is a super easy on/off switch that lets you open the shears by pushing the switch forward and locking them into a closed state by pushing that switch back down. These have a bit pointier of a tip than the Klaus clippers but are somewhat guarded by a top blunted piece, so you aren’t really exposed to the knife until you open them up (aka no worries of getting poked if you stick them in your apron pocket!).

For all stem types, detailed work, and well, just about anything... enter our holy grail.

For anyone who’s watched any of our design tutorials, Instagram lives, or read a blog post or two, you’ll have seen these clippers on camera or mentioned somewhere along the way. These Chikamasa Clippers are a Farmgirl fave in every sense of the word. These clippers just feel better. The open/closing mechanism on these are more of a lever between the two handles instead of a spring, which really makes the action of clipping super smooth and easier on the hands. They’re also a little bit lighter and thinner than the other models which is really nice when processing or cutting a bunch of flowers at a time and come to a needle-nose point, which is great for doing detail work into bouquets when you don’t want to disturb the flowers around the one you’re targeting. The Chikamasa Clippers give you that dexterity compared to a bit chunkier of a clipper like one of the first two options, so for us, they’re ideal!

And finally, don’t forget to take care of your clippers!

Take care of your clippers and your clippers will take care of your arrangement! Over time, you may find your clippers get some sap buildup along the blades and possibly even the handles. A lot of saps aren’t water based and in those cases we’ve found it’s best to fight like with like, so using something oil based on a paper towel along with some elbow grease works really well to degunk your shears. You can also use an oil (plus some sugar or salt!) to help remove any stickiness from your hands too. If you don’t have an oil around, we’ve also found that antibacterial wipes work really well (although we can’t explain the mechanics behind that one!).

Another clipper care tip, that will go a long way when processing and designing flowers frequently, is to keep the blades sharpened to help make things as easy as possible. If you find they’re getting dull, cut a few pieces of tin foil and you’ll notice a difference. The sharper the clipper, the less effort you’ll have to use to cut through the stems you’re designing with, which is a win in our book!

So there you have it. The 4-1-1 on our favorite flower clippers and why we love them. Planning to try one of these for yourself? Follow us on Instagram and tell us which is your favorite.

xx,

Team Farmgirl