Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
SHAPE
- 18 March 2011
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Wax Design 4:
Chrysanthemum Hourglass
This is my "Chrysanthemums in a new light" arrangement for our Floral Trends Design Group Meeting.
Maybe it is because Chrysanthemums are relatively inexpensive or because of their shape, we frequently see them arranged closely together for impact.
This completely dominates the design.
For my design I decided to go in the opposite direction.
The Mikado Reed hourglass is visually very strong and tricky- if not impossible to compete with. I decided to deliberately not compete with it. But I still needed my Chrysanthemums to be the central point of the design so rather than fighting for dominance I decided to use colour to distinguish it.
I used only two colours:
copper and blue green.
Blue Green:I aged copper strips and coins to show effects of time giving them the characteristic blue green “rust” (Patina). I then made the wax foundation to exactly match this blue green. I also painted the hourglass that blue green colour.
Copper:The aged strips of copper point up into the design to lead your eyes to the copper coloured florets that represent sand tumbling down the hourglass.
Weave a long length beaded flax string. Weave a grid at the top of the reed hourglass armature. Tie flowers (in drinking straw tubes) to the string to create a garland. Cut the garland into long sections. Suspend the garland from the grid to tumble into the bottom wax foundation.
The entire design rest, both structurally and visually, on the wax foundation.
Flax string and chrysanthemum
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Tutorials
For Floral Art the temperature of the wax rarely exceeds the minimum melting point.
Although the wax is strong it is also soft and can easily be damaged. I make carriers for my wax shapes so that it doesn't damage in transit.
The colour and the effect will vary due to application, temperature and humidity.
When you need to keep a tiny stem hydrated this is just what you need.
Favourite Flowers
Flax, New Zealand flax
Chrysanthemum or "mums"
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