My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

A good September Soaking

8 September 2021
and more

If you listen carefully

You will even

hear

how our

September

is soaking up

the colours

of Autumn

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Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.

Gather what you'll need

This section contains affiliate links. If you choose to explore any of these tools, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Dew-Drop Crystals

I created the Tutorial for how I add these crystals to my floral designs 11 years ago! Since then I have tried, tested and searched for the perfect crystals that would go from studio‑table picture perfect to show‑day‑dependable and I always come back to these. They remain the absolute best. They’re inexpensive yet have a refined, high‑quality crystal brilliance; they don’t tarnish and their adhesive backing stays reliably tacky even after they were exposed to water.

Tutorials

8 September 2021

Glue soaked stems cheeky angled grid for those first autumn leaves (with a dye soak up tip)

A barely there delicate grid to keep your flowers in place.

8 July 2015

Using a pin to place tiny dew drop crystals

It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.

22 March 2017

Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures

Wrap thin, glue soaked sisal fibers around a balloon or ball to create a barely there armature

9 September 2015

Layered sisal and twig armature

small sisal fibers create a mat like armature

19 June 2013

Sisal Disk

Create a inflexible circle armature to hang flowers from

28 August 2013

Barely there Mad Hatter's Top Hat

Glue sisal fibers to create a floral top hat

19 February 2020

Twig snippet pillar armature

A great do-in-advance and reusable design solution for a winter, early spring floral display.

23 September 2020

All dried Autumn hemisphere design that will outlast even the falling leaves outside

Preserve some floral material to design with when it is but not quite Autumn outside.

17 July 2019

Twig Dome Armature

Crafted from a hand full of twigs to give you a large design... even though you add only two stems of sweet peas.

16 January 2019

Delicate Twig Hammock Armature to keep tulips upright in a shallow container

Craft a suspended armature to create a clear winter design.

29 November 2017

Autumn Screen

Craft a hanging twig and autumn leaf design

12 July 2017

Twig sparkler

Glue twigs to radiate out from a central point

2 October 2019

Cross hatch Twig Armature

Add a bit of shadow and dimension to a flat armature by using the sketch technique of cross hatching.

Related Designs

9 September 2015

Fall Treasures

A sisal mat armature for fall twigs flowers and leaves

19 June 2013

This Moment

Create an armature design outside the vase

27 May 2015

Limelight

My RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 Limelight Floral Art Design. My Limelight design was inspired by a slice of lime. But I wanted it to look like it was spun by a butterfly. I used Sisal, silk and loads of Lisianthus flowers and 9 grapevine plants. Each tiny stem was placed in a water filled glass seahorse or test tube to keep it hydrated.

28 August 2013

Losing some of that Muchness

A barely there sisal Mad Hatter's floral hat

19 February 2020

The Upside of being Inside

A creative design that has some height to it without blocking the view. This can easily be scaled up or down to match the environment you want to display it in.