My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Practice

Practice floral art design

Practice

Cattleya orchid

what

Cattleya orchid in a willow nest

you know,

Cattleya orchid and rosary vine

and it will

Cattleya orchid and rosary vine in a willow nest

help

Weave a willow nest armature

to clear

Ceropegia woodii flowers

what now

Ceropegia woodii flowers, Cattleya orchids and willow.

you

Willow nest armature

do not know

Quote by Rembrandt van Rijn

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

Tutorials

3 August 2016 Hanging Willow Nest

Bend and weave a nest shape from fresh willow stems

19 February 2013 Manipulating stems: Snapping at an angle, Bending, Spiraling, Curling and Straightening

Most stems, twigs and even sturdier branches can be bend into shapes. It takes practice and more than a bit of patience. The main idea is to slowly manipulate the branch without...

8 June 2011 Foliage Weaving

For this tutorial I focus on a simple weave pattern that does not require you to soften or prepare the leaves to be more durable or flexible. This is the starting point in...

4 January 2011 Drinking straw "test tubes"

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

1 November 2011 Weaving a twig wreath

For my design I wanted the wreath to look wind blown so I added a few loosely woven twigs into the weave. I also wanted to emphasize the autumn colours so I added a twirling...

27 January 2016 Sprouting willow armature

Carefully manipulate and bend green willow stems to place in water to sprout as an armature for tulips to mature and open

11 February 2015 Stripping foliage from weaving stems

Remove foliage from stems to weave with

11 February 2015 Willow Heart Wand

28 January 2015 The difference between detailing a sprouting stem for a floral design and pruning a stem

Give the stem a closer cut to detail for floral art

25 January 2012 Weaving Willow spheres

I build up the spheres by weaving willow wreaths and then use those to shape the ball

16 March 2016 Willow Parasol

Weave willow stems into a decorative parasol

Favourite Flowers

Cattleya

Cattleya orchids

Ceropegia woodii

Rosary vine, Chain of Hearts, Collar of hearts and String of hearts

Salix matsudana "Tortuosa"

Curly Willow, Chinese Willow, Tortured Willow, Globe Willow, Dragon's Claw, Hankow Willow

Related Designs

11 April 2017 Well… we did it again!

Blossoms and chocolates for Easter

25 October 2017 When the pretty eyeballs you back!

Barely there skeleton blossoms with Eucalyptus eyes for my Halloween design... Oh! and a Willow Paddle, which probably should have been the main Tutorial... but... well...

28 November 2018 Crafting

The second design I did for my book launch demonstration looking at aspects that influences my effortless style of designing.

8 January 2020 Rest a bit here

Gently curve a shallow area with a leaf to showcase a gorgeous flower with a short stem in a water filled vase

3 March 2021 Spring Tray-ning

A Spring basket design for catching falling blossom petals.

19 April 2023 Short Cut

A tiny carry basket to gather the shortest stems from your cutting garden... with a place for water and your cutters.

28 June 2023 Catch and Release

Ah... yes summer time designing. Anyone else seeing more insects hiding between the petals this year?

24 January 2024 I mean… really!?!

Using fresh twigs to bind a little twig platform to suspend the beautiful orchids from.

6 March 2024 A Stay Open

Grow a willow birdcage... with a bit of a Spring flower support to get it started.

27 March 2024 Twiners Gonna Twine

Twining jasmine vine twirl for Easter

3 April 2024 springy, Spring, spring

Gorgeous Aquilegia vulgaris spring flower... with it's own springy thing!

2 October 2024 Brewing some inspiration

Autumn harvest willow for a double the pretty plaited flower support

20 January 2011 The last Vine Wreath

Every designer knows how to stretch their supplies. We use and re-use our dried plant material until our fellow designers feel like hiding it from us. I formed such an...

8 April 2011 Large Open Weave Twig Basket

Easter Basket used in the Durbanville Flower Club Easter Parade Demonstration

16 March 2016 Creative Expectations

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

25 February 2015 Just So

Twirl a few willow twigs to create a balanced armature to display orchids

19 August 2015 Growth Medium

Design a bark and moss pod for a mushroom mini farm

11 February 2015 Love Spell

Weave willow to create a heart shaped wand design

8 April 2015 Just think!

Weave a nest for chocolate Easter eggs

16 May 2012 On the first warm day in May

A ripped flax, Ranunculus and Mikado Reed drop shaped nest