My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Stay Cool!

Have a cool bit of water.

Keep your feet in a puddle.

Stay out of the sun.

A bit of a breeze should perk your tendrils right up.

Wear your coolest summer leaves on the hottest days.

Make sure your petals are light.

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Tutorials
Balancing Sweet pea stems with an Ivy Leaf Stack
1 August 2018
Balancing Sweet pea stems with an Ivy Leaf Stack

This design is all about balance.
The Three legged trick for Upright Constructions
7 September 2012
The Three legged trick for Upright Constructions

When in doubt, always give your armature three legs. Two legs are simply not enough and four legs will wobble if it is even slightly off balance.
Standing flowering stems in shallow puddles
13 August 2014
Standing flowering stems in shallow puddles

Making a truss out of sunflower stems for a free standing design
Leaning Sunflowers to stay just so
27 July 2016
Leaning Sunflowers to stay just so

The trick to any freestanding design is to get your first three stems standing stable and secure in the water. Once you have that you can build the design around it.
Free standing Willow twig armature with a hidden water source
20 April 2016
Free standing Willow twig armature with a hidden water source

Cut a few willow twigs to split to create legs for the armature
Sturdy, blossoming armature in a shallow puddle
16 March 2022
Sturdy, blossoming armature in a shallow puddle

If you know just a bit more about the "why" we do the things we do it is easy to discover new "how's". This week I show you why it is possible to design with blossoming twigs in a shallow puddle.
Related Designs
A leg to stand on
13 August 2014
A leg to stand on

Create a upright design by supporting the flowering stems
Just So
25 February 2015
Just So

Twirl a few willow twigs to create a balanced armature to display orchids
Gotcha!
10 June 2015
Gotcha!

Hana Kubari lily stems
Too Hot!
27 July 2016
Too Hot!

Leaning floral stems to stand on their own in a shallow container
That Will Be
20 April 2016
That Will Be

Freestanding willow twig armature design
Poised to Spring
16 March 2022
Poised to Spring

An "it's only 10 days to Spring" design to display some blossom buds.
Favourite Flowers
Lathyrus
Lathyrus

This design was entered in the craft section of a show. I grew my bag over 12 weeks. Each day I would guide the tiny fresh growth of the Sweet Pea plants to completely cover the...