In the Bag

14 April 2011
click to send Christine a smile

South African Flower Union Congress 2010 IN-NEW-VATIONS
In the Bag

My bag was entered into the craft section of our annual National Show in 2010.
This means that I could prepare the design ahead of time and stage it at the show.

It was an Environmentally Conscious Show with the focus on recycling.

My bag was woven from re-purposed wire and recycled fishing line which I found on the beach, between the rocks!

I wired tiny little pots filled with potting soil and a single Sweet Pea seed into the inside of the bag.

I pressed a short straw deep into the soil of each pot to insure proper hydration and covered the pots with Sisal to make it less noticeable (unless you look..."In the Bag"!).

Growing a Floral Art Handbag with tiny plants: In The Bag

The 12 weeks that followed I watered each little pot through the straw with a syringe

In the bag Floral Art design: tiny sweet pea plants growing to cover the bag

Each day I would gently guide the fragile stems until it covered the entire bag.

It was like knitting with Mother Nature- one centimeter at a time!
At the show I arranged a few Cape gooseberry pods and the most exquisite miniature Persian pink phalaenopsis orchids into the wire structure.

I won an Innovation Award for this design at the show.

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Tutorials

29 November 2011 Messy wire lace

I call this “lace” because I use pins to guide the wire sections together- almost like you do when making lace.

23 March 2012 Drying Physalis sepals

Every Autumn we see the beautiful Physalis pods everywhere but they are easy to dry and preserve to use year round.

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

25 August 2011 Placing orchids in test tubes

Cut the Phalaenopsis orchid with a bit of green stem attached. This will make them last longer.

3 January 2011 Syringe with tube

Easy way to fill test tubes and easiest way to remove water from a vase

16 August 2011 Fast way to fill a lot of test tubes in awkward places

I do not believe in arranging flowers without a water source of some kind. I want my flowers to remain as beautiful for as long as possible and I often get quite creative to...