Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
It's High Time for Tea: from craft to art, taking a delicious floral journey with wire techniques
- 30 January 2013
- click to send Christine a smile
This was my last two designs for my It's High Time for Tea Floral Craft and Art Demonstration at The Capilano Flower Arranging Club meeting
I demonstrated three floral craft cake designs and three matching floral art designs using the same design techniques and I incorporated my three techniques, where possible, in the other designs just to show how versatile they are.
Wire can give a design mechanical support, adds length to stems, support weak or delicate stems and adds decorative and structural details to a design. It is also used for tying, cross knotting, wrapping, bending hooks, binding and so much more!
My Floral Craft design: Twig Cupcakes
I chose bind wire to attach the twigs to metal rings for my wire twig cupcakes and funnel shaped pick-up-sticks design
The bind wire (a paper covered wire) creates a strong and stable armature without stealing any of the attention away from the plant material
and weave a ribbon through the twigs
My Floral Art Design: Funnel shaped pick-up-sticks armature
For my floral art funnel shaped pick-up-sticks design I demonstrated the value of a stable wired construction...
... by finishing the design with twigs and lilies that are just loosely laid over the design, or hanged from twigs with forks in cut like a natural hook, or suspended with a wire hook
None of the twigs were fixed to the original armature.
As I build up the design it becomes more and more stable...
... until all the loosely suspended twigs form a supportive unit resting on the wired funnel foundation.
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Tutorials
A great way to dress up baskets or other twig structures
Wire a few twigs around wire spirals to cover the test tubes for tiny floral cups
By making a very secure armature, it is possible to stack and suspend loose twigs on top of it building on the stable foundation
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.
How to keep Lilies in bud for longer. Removing the pollen. Stringing a Lily Garland.
Side stems of branches can be used as hooks to hang floral material in a design.
Sometimes you want to keep flowers in tight bud for as long as possible to suit your design
Every Autumn we see the beautiful Physalis pods everywhere but they are easy to dry and preserve to use year round.
Use all three methods to dry hydrangeas to get three very different textures to use in design work.
A t-wire create a stem to insert grass or twigs to shadow a design without laying flat
Sometimes you want to keep flowers in tight bud for as long as possible to suit your design
Include a single floret (such as an orchid) or bundle a few weaker stems (such as lily of the valley) into an arrangement or hand tie by wiring a test tube to a stick.
Related Designs
This is an overview of the Floral Art and Craft Demonstration at The Capilano Flower Arranging Club. I demonstrated three floral craft cake designs and three matching floral art...
A clever trick borrowed from art techniques to add dimension to a bright and colourful Autumn floral design.
A bundle of twigs armature to create a pretend Spring design for a snowy morning.
A quick-to-do-but-looks-impressive way to display a beautiful cut garden vine for an effortless summer design.
