Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
The struggle is real!
- 27 November 2019
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Ah mistletoe… it’s rather controversial isn’t it? From being toxic… a hemiparasite… a toxic, hemiparasite lovingly referred to as “dung-on-a-twig”
... and that tiny little snag that it is never, at all ever, ever, available here. And you know how they say once all the berries fall from the mistletoe branch its Christmas magic is gone? Uh huh… faux get all that!
And now that we have an equally controversial (see my newsletter this week for my explanation on why I added the 3 faux designs) work-around for the Mistletoe bit let’s rather focus on the other… the bigger problem... when it comes to designing with Mistletoe:
Where shall we hang it!?! Here is my strategy:
You know
the kitchen work triangle principle that
kitchen designers and architects use
when designing residential kitchens?
Well, right in the middle of that triangle,
that is where I hang the everlasting*** sprig of mistletoe.
*** It’s not really, really fake… if it’s everlasting on purpose!
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Tutorials
Gather a few branches to hang as a magical winter wonderland Christmas decoration.
Add a real stem to shorter artificial branches to incorporate them into a design.
What if you absolutely HAVE to decorate with faux plants? Here are my guiding rules when it comes to styling with permanent botanicals
A sprig of wired faux plant material is easy to bend back into a more natural position. Plastic plant material without a wire in their stems need a bit of help to get back into...
Artificial snow can be very "chemical" and flowers deteriorate quickly when exposed to it. It also dissolves in water. I use candle wax as "snow"
Just a few adjustments can transform a boring artificial wreath into a high end looking designer decoration.
I wanted my design to look more "found this way" than "designed this way" so I strategically tangled the ribbon to dangle down the design rather than tie it in a neat bow.
Glue curved twig snippets to craft a delicate winter white Christmas tree
Cover a wreath frame with bark strips and fluffed out cotton
Use delicate sprigs of cypress or juniper, fir, pine, eucalyptus, ivy or a combination of them all to create a winter themed kissing bough
Use a cardboard shape to craft a simple wire Christmas star
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...
Wire is always sold in a roll and it can be very frustrating to try to remove bends, kinks and curls.
Related Designs
An easy to do ahead of time winter wonderland themed design for the calm days just after Christmas but before New Years Eve.
Design 2 of my three week pre-Christmas designing series looking at How to style with artificial plants and branches using quality faux plants and stems. This week: wired branches
Design 1 of my three week pre-Christmas designing series looking at How to style with artificial plants and branches using quality faux plants and stems. This week: a wreath
A Merry Christmas Twig Snowflake
A sticky shooting star made with gypsophila stems and fluffy dandelion seeds
Glue the most delicate twig table top Christmas tree
Cover a wreath frame with bark and cotton for a textured Christmas wreath design
A wire Christmas star with a secret plan to hide the twinkle