My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Flying Lessons

Flying lessons floral art design by Christine de Beer

“The thing about witchcraft, said Mistress Weatherwax

Which witch left her broom here floral art design by Christine de Beer

… is that it’s not like school at all.

Dried and permanent floral material to make a witches broom

First you get the test,

How to dry hydrangeas for floral designs

And then afterwards

Crafting a pretty besom for Halloween decorations

You spend

How to make a Harry Potter style besom broom DIY Tutorial.

Years

Step by step broom tutorial for making a flying broom

Findin’ out how you passed it.

A magic broom Tutorial

It’s a bit like life in that respect”

from "The Wee Free Men" Book by Terry Pratchett, 2003

Minimal Halloween styling a broom in an entry way

From the entryway of our home...

Witches broom for the entryway with minimal décor

... to yours- Happy decorating for Halloween

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

Tutorials

20 October 2021 Upright standing besom for the modern witch on the go

Craft a wire tripod to fit into the bristles of a handcrafted broom so that it can stand freely in your display.

28 October 2015 Besom Broom

The word ‘Besom’ derives from the old English ‘besma’ meaning ‘bundle of twigs’.

28 March 2011 Spinning a Hot Glue Spider Web or silk for a Floral Cocoon

How to spin (and remove) hot glue spider web or floral cocoon

24 July 2012 Blow away hot glue strands

When you glue a structure with hot glue there are always a few stray strands of glue stuck all over the design. Blow it away with a hairdryer.

22 May 2012 Bite and snap a sturdy twig

Break the sturdy twig on the scribe line.

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.

26 July 2011 Wire Tendrils

Curl the wire at irregular intervals to create a natural wire tendril similar to that of a passion fruit plant

3 October 2018 Inside Pod Designing

Snip open a Physalis pod to create a cavity for delicate floral details.

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.

30 October 2019 Bat Skeleton crafted from twigs

Eerie! Because you use what is there already in the twigs this skeleton looks rather... realistic!

16 October 2012 Taco-shaped twig armature

Make a half-moon shaped armature to fill with flowers

3 July 2012 Twig mushroom

Stack and wire a twig mushroom armature

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.

Favourite Flowers

Hydrangea

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

Related Designs

26 October 2022 Arachnis Phobicus

A fun woven spider for Halloween decorating

30 August 2023 Courage, now

A bit of a rethink as the season is getting ready to change. How can I give my design idea a fresh twist?

1 November 2023 That day after Halloween feeling

Time to cut down vines... and enjoy them a bit longer in a Halloween display.

3 October 2018 But what’s inside?

This week we are looking at the contents pages of my book... but more specifically at the sweet little pod design on the content page of my book.

28 October 2015 On Pumpkin Coloured Days

Create a besom broom to sweep up those Autumn leaves

30 October 2019 There once was a bat called Tequila, a Halloween story

An all plant zero waste, levitating, twig (with just a splatter of autumn leaves, a breath of spiderweb and float of roots) Halloween decoration with an eerie bat skeleton made...

16 October 2012 Bright, brighter… brightest!

Celebrate the bright colours of autumn with lilies and Chinese lanterns

3 July 2012 Twig-a-tude

Stack and wire twigs to create a twig mushroom with attitude for summer

29 September 2011 Pick-Up Sticks

A twig and stick design with sweet dumpling pumpkins and rosary vine (Ceropegia woodii). I also made a cherry twig and skeleton leaf Stick Insect

2 October 2013 Prickly

Build a twig porcupine armature for fall flowers

29 January 2014 Glued to stay just so

Wire and glue a twig armature

2 October 2019 Cross-hatch a Shadow Bright Autumn

A clever trick borrowed from art techniques to add dimension to a bright and colourful Autumn floral design.