My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Almost... all over!

12 June 2019
click to send Christine a smile
and more

From end to end...

… far and wide

… high and low

at full length

from the beginning to end

Well… almost, almost all over!

… once a new book is published it takes a little while for it to “spread through the network” and become widely available to buy from retailers. I am so happy to share with you that it is now even easier to order your copy of my book! You can find The Effortless Floral Craftsman from online book sellers such as Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Booktopia, Foyles, Waterstones, Hive, OpenTrolley Bookstore, of course Amazon and even Ebay!

... to name just a few.

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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.

Tutorials

12 June 2019

Loop-over grass veil for a cool summer design

A cool and minimal floral design for summer.

7 January 2015

So many ways to use a Kenzan to hold floral materials

How to place various sizes of plant material in a Kenzan

2 January 2011

Lilies

How to keep Lilies in bud for longer. Removing the pollen. Stringing a Lily Garland.

30 March 2012

Keep pod shaped flowers in bud for longer

Sometimes you want to keep flowers in tight bud for as long as possible to suit your design

2 August 2017

Two vase, two level Phormium snippets

Design in two levels by using two vases, the smaller slipped into a bigger one.

12 March 2014

Grass tunnel that stays just so

Snip, roll and glue a few blades of grass to create a design feature

27 August 2014

Loosely woven grass on Driftwood

Loosely weave grass on a piece of driftwood for an informal armature

8 June 2011

Foliage Weaving

For this tutorial I focus on a simple weave pattern that does not require you to soften or prepare the leaves to be more durable or flexible. This is the starting point in weaving techniques. You can build on this technique to make floral handbags, gift boxes, and baskets, sew it into a curve or wrap it around a vase or cover a test tube.

19 March 2025

Suspend flowers above water on two wires covered with ringlet "happy birthday streamers" made from grass

Create a wire platform to rest the fresh flowers on so that they are hydrated but not submerged in the water below the grass dome.

21 August 2024

Light as air puffy grass and elegantly curved gladiolus summer display that hints at all things pumpkin

Create two separate containers to minimize clutter in a light and airy floral display.

21 August 2024

Curve fountain grass... a bit... or a lot... and how to choose grass that is straight for more height

Curving long and elegantly sweeping purple fountain grass

20 August 2024

Figure eight willow spacer for a water tube in a double vase display

Create a bit of a buffer to keep a water tube upright in a light and airy suspended display.

31 July 2024

A cluster bunch of just enough floral ingredients to spike into a Kenzan for a larger display

A larger summer display in a Kenzan

19 June 2024

Stand bark on pointe to display the sweetest sweet peas

Create a natural armature for a summer display

27 September 2023

Turn some gladiolus leaves into a pumpkin vase collar

A collar for a vase that you can use throughout the season... simply replace the water and the flowers inside the vase.

6 September 2023

Peg Sunflowers and Quaking Grass in a Kenzan

An old trick... but still a great one to support thin stems in the needles of a Kenzan.

26 July 2023

A woven grass grid cage for flying Column and Augmented petal Phalaenopsis orchids

Pick away the petals from a few Phalaenopsis orchids to display in a summer grass tunnel design.

10 May 2023

Craft a padded wooden Dowel to position a leaf cone into the sharp teeth of a Kenzan

Prevent a leaf from ripping or bruising when positioning it in your design.

24 August 2022

Balloon out grass to craft a framed armature

Carefully bubble out a tied bunch of grass to make a cavity to display gorgeous flowers.

20 July 2022

Breezy lily grass ripple

A radiating design that has the freedom of movement to add a bit of a cooling effect on the warmer days of summer.

15 June 2022

Swing ripped foliage over a mop-head of hydrangeas to follow the natural curve

Gently curve ripped foliage over flowers to add a cooling movement to a minimal summer design.

8 June 2022

Eucalyptus leaf and twig blossoms in a radiating puddle of stems

Just look at that puddle! This design is all about the fresh eucalyptus... but in a cooling down for summer kind of way.

25 May 2022

Give a single upright bleeding heart flower a view through a leafy hole

Flair open a leathery leaf to craft a frame a single bleeding heart flower on its long stem.

2 March 2022

Weave a lily grass shelter for a suspended flower stem

Hide the prettiest of flowers in the entire bunch in plain sight by framing it with elegant grass.

16 June 2021

Shelter grass veil for a round container

A single lily flower design dressed up with a grass veil.

14 April 2021

Fuzzy Willow Caterpillar in a buttercup and jasmine vine swirl

As in… Pussy willow catkins caterpillar… that is super fuzzy.

1 July 2020

Crafting a Hornet of Tranquility (you know… the one with the sparkle butt)

Let me explain myself: it’s got a blue sparkle stinger… or you wouldn’t have noticed the little wasp.

10 June 2020

Overgrown vine tangle to suspend flowers in a clear vase

A zero waste and sustainable floral design solution to keep your flowers exactly where you want them without using floral foam.

10 June 2020

Overgrown vine tangle to suspend flowers in a clear vase

A zero waste and sustainable floral design solution to keep your flowers exactly where you want them without using floral foam.

Related Designs

6 June 2018

Hi-Lo

Perfect stems, perfect flowers. Needs nothing more.

10 June 2015

Gotcha!

Hana Kubari lily stems

19 September 2018

Before I show you my book- let me show you my book

… and why we call this the special craftsmanship edition

14 February 2018

Two Are

Equisetum Valentine's hearts

1 June 2016

The ties that Bind

Bind a lily to create a trumpet shape as it opens

3 April 2011

One Singular Sensation

Three Lilies plaited to create a sensational, singular flower "growing" out of a Equisetum dome filled with Rainbow Oasis pebbles.

15 November 2017

Alchemy

Gently stand leaves upright in a Kenzan

2 August 2017

Grace

Use snips and snippets and leftovers to create a design of it's own

18 February 2015

Snail Away

Spiral roll a snail to add to this sunny design

17 September 2014

Still

My bark bowl design and tutorial featured in the Centrepiece Wedding Magazine

27 August 2014

Brought Together

Loosely weave blades of grass together

12 March 2014

Petrichor

A minimalist design in a shallow tray

11 April 2011

Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society at the Cape Town Convention Centre.

Bright and sunny cymbidium orchids and roses, lilies, lisianthus and pincushions

19 March 2025

Let’s

... take a moment of reflection as we celebrate 5 years! Happy 5th birthday to my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman

21 August 2024

And what are you supposed to be?

... a hint of a pumpkin late summer floral display to show off the elegant curve of a gladiolus flower stem.

31 July 2024

Have a floral adventure, really

Creating a larger sustainable floral design by clustering the floral details into bunches.

19 June 2024

Do you know what the point is?

A bark armature standing on pointe for some gorgeous blue King Tut sweet peas

27 September 2023

this NEEDS to be at the top of my (our?) to-do list

Autumn bud vase collar made from gladiolus foliage.

6 September 2023

Mother Nature’s little magic to let us know Autumn is near

It's the little sun-washed coloured hints that makes you look again to see if you really saw what you thought you saw... yes! There really are signs of autumn everywhere!