My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Fall Treasures

Fall Treasures floral art design

Oh! treasures to discover

Dried hydrangea blossoms

to gather

Autumn leaves just starting to colour

to nurture

Sisal, Hazel and Hydrangea fall armature

to respect

Hydrangeas

treasures to treasure

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

Tutorials

9 September 2015 Layered sisal and twig armature

small sisal fibers create a mat like armature

30 May 2012 Drying Hydrangeas: Fast, Flat or Natural

Use all three methods to dry hydrangeas to get three very different textures to use in design work.

22 May 2012 Bite and snap a sturdy twig

Break the sturdy twig on the scribe line.

28 August 2013 Unravel Sisal string to get Sisal Fibers

I purchase a huge roll of sisal string to use... sometimes as string, but mostly I unravel it for the fibers

4 January 2011 Drinking straw "test tubes"

When you need to keep a tiny stem hydrated this is just what you need.

19 June 2013 Sisal Disk

Create a inflexible circle armature to hang flowers from

18 January 2012 Butterfly feeler hooks for swinging test tubes

I don't always want to wire my test tubes into the design. I like to create a bit of movement by simply hooking the tubes to gently swing.

10 July 2012 Smooth dried hydrangea flowers in the palm of your hand

Hold a dried hydrangea flower in the palm of your hand to smooth out the folds

Favourite Flowers

Hydrangea

Hydrangea, when cultivated as a cut flower rather as a plant it is often revered to as Hortensia

Related Designs

9 December 2015 On a Grand Scale

My article and a floral panel design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

23 November 2016 All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate): Another perspective

This was the third design I did in my "All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate)" floral art demonstration

22 March 2017 Biomimicry

A design demonstration and workshop at the Floral Trends Design group in South Africa exploring how we emulate nature’s best biological ideas to solve our modern day design...

22 March 2017 Biomimicry Demonstration and Workshop at the Floral Trends Design Group, South African Flower Union

Looking at how we emulate nature’s best biological ideas to solve our modern day design problems.

22 March 2017 Biomimicry Demonstration and Workshop video

Looking back at the preparations and my Biomimicry design demonstration and workshop at the Floral Trends Design Group in South Africa

29 November 2017 Marcescent

Glue a delicate autumn room devider

25 March 2020 How to lay a little bit low

A flat-lay to celebrate finally finding the perfect way to dry passion fruit flowers... and my book's first birthday but mostly the drying of passion fruit flowers thing.

8 September 2021 A good September Soaking

Exploring two soaking techniques for a subtle early autumn design

27 April 2022 Shine Shade

Glue snippets of grass into a double layer sphere to create a sheltered floral globe.

21 September 2022 Balanced Attitude

Getting the balance just so... so that you lean into the first sights of Autumn.

21 June 2023 Floral Hurricane

My Floral Hurricane design entry for the BC Floral Art Society mini show competition

7 August 2024 Bring in some of the magic of summer rain

Design drops of grass to dangle down a hydrangea flower for an effortless summer floral display.

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...

28 August 2013 Losing some of that Muchness

A barely there sisal Mad Hatter's floral hat

19 June 2013 This Moment

Create an armature design outside the vase

8 May 2013 So happy together

Glue a sisal bubble for a few delicate flowers to rest in

26 June 2012 Diamond Jubilee Waterfall

To commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee and the 20th Anniversary of Friends of Government House Gardens Society a Horticultural event was hosted in the gardens and...