My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

In the Bag

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.

Floral Art Handbag Design "In the bag"

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.

Floral Art Bag design:In 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.

For another example of a Design featuring growing plants look at my Mud!!! Demonstration

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

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...

Favourite Flowers

Passiflora

Granadilla, passionflower, passion vines

Physalis

Chinese lantern, cape gooseberry, Peruvian cherry, Inca berry

Lathyrus

Sweet pea

Phalaenopsis

Phalaenopsis, Moth orchid

Related Designs

29 April 2011 Copper wire Spiral pot scrubber becomes a Tiara

Design 3:Wedding Tiara. This is a real Cinderella design, one moment scrubbing pots and the next getting ready for the ball.

18 November 2015 Autumn is a mosaic of them all

Easy to assemble fall leaf and tissue paper gift bag

29 June 2016 Make the design

Weave a reed cradle to suspend orchids from

3 May 2017 Oh just...

Braid a few twigs to dance around your flowers

12 September 2018 Hole-ding it’s breath

Craft an almost Autumn armature from dried sweet pea vines

15 July 2020 Pass it on

A cascade of orchids growing over a slice of wood. Easy to design... and even easier to maintain!

22 September 2021 Kinda Corny

Crafting with corn to make... well... corn, really.

7 September 2022 Of the shades to come

This design requires a bit of prep-time so it is perfect to make while waiting for the first autumn leaf to appear…

28 September 2022 Inside my world

Cut open a Chinese Lantern to show off that shiny berry inside.

5 October 2022 Tail End Of The Season

A display armature for a delicate autumn display.

29 May 2024 Fascinating!

Trendy fascinator design using long lasting (read can be designed ahead of time) floral details.

10 July 2024 Still wrapping my head around this one

Craft a haze of green around a log for a sweet pea swirl effect.

30 March 2011 Mud!!!

When I started researching mud as a possible enhancement to contemporary floral art I was thoroughly inspired by the possibilities.