My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society at the Cape Town Convention Centre.

Christine de Beer Veiled Sunshine Competition Design.

Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society

Christine de beer, 50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society at the Cape Town Convention Centre

I wove vine wreaths and stacked them from the smallest to the biggest to create a basket.

Floral Art competition Veiled Sunshine

Inside the basket I arranged a pave of roses, pincushions, lisianthus and lilies

Floral Art Competition Veiled Sunshine with cymbidium orchids

The stars of my design are the two large yellow orchid stems placed to flow around the design, one facing forward and one back. One stem is also over the Mikado reeds and one under.

Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society

Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society

Floral Art Competition Veiled Sunshine with reed veil

I gently bend and wove reeds over the design to form a ball shape and create a veil.

These were the biggest, brightest orchids- just compare the size to that of the pincushions!
For more Cymbidium Orchid designs look at my Boat Orchid series I loved weaving the wreaths so much that I couldn’t stop until I had loads- then I loved using them so much that I had to force myself to let them go. See my Last Vine Wreath post below

Cape Orchid Society's 50th anniversary.

Publicity poster for the Cape Orchid Society's 50th anniversary show.

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

Tutorials

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...

25 January 2012 Weaving Willow spheres

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

Favourite Flowers

Protea

Protea (but each variety also has a common name)

Cymbidium

Cymbidium, Boat Orchid

Eustoma

Lisianthus, Texan Poppy, Texas Bluebell, Tulip Gentian, Prairie Gentian

Rosa

Rose

Leukospermum

Pincushion

Related Designs

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...

24 July 2012 A little bit of Art and Soul

A twig structure with roses

30 September 2015 So

A willow sphere to display your first Autumn treasures.

17 February 2016 Where would you put it!?!

Tie a twig armature enclosure for fresh flowers

13 April 2016 It keeps me going and I love it.

Hang a veil of Tillandsia Usneoides to create an armature

4 May 2016 Ring-a-round

Open a vine wreath to create a spiral twig armature around a glass container

25 May 2016 Half the Fun

Cut a cabbage to create a design platform

15 June 2016 One tug

Weave willow bark strips into a nest and weave a bird from flax

29 June 2016 Make the design

Weave a reed cradle to suspend orchids from

17 August 2016 Strangeness

Weave a wreath to display air plants on

14 September 2016 Hang on!

Macrame inspired handing seahorse vases

12 October 2016 I found it this way: Bird nest design

This was the fourth design I did in my "I found it this way" floral art demonstration

16 November 2016 All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate): Snipped into Sections

This was the second design I did in my "All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate)" floral art demonstration

8 March 2017 Piece of the forest

Standing roses upright in a shallow container

11 April 2017 Well… we did it again!

Blossoms and chocolates for Easter

24 May 2017 Link

weave a few wreaths to link

27 September 2017 As tendrils tend to do

Curl a wreath with tendrils to create a twig-pumpkin

4 October 2017 Whipped up in the autumn breeze

Give a loosely woven wreath legs to stand on to hover lightly around a pumpkin

7 March 2018 Twist of its own

... a quick an easy design. Curl a few flax leaves to frame orchids

14 March 2018 Old, new trends

My article and willow birdcage design for wedding rings featured in DIY Weddings Magazine.

21 March 2018 Bring some Spring

Just like the weather is only hinting at spring, so is this design only hinting at being a basket

13 June 2018 Eat up!

A woven bubble for a carnivorous plant.

12 June 2019 Almost... all over!

Loop a grass veil over a lily stem to create a minimalist summer design.

24 July 2019 Up to much?

Dress up a single lily stem with a few blades of grass.

16 June 2021 Dream Rescue

Weave the most delicate grass shelter veil for a gorgeous lily.

23 June 2021 Over Easy

A cooling design to celebrate the summer solstice.

28 July 2021 Linked This Way

A fun way to elevate a few bud vases into a display.

15 June 2022 Take a swing at it

A cooling design for early summer days with swinging ripped grass and more than enough water for thirsty hydrangeas.

24 August 2022 Hot air balloon

A grass bubble to frame two of the most beautiful calla lilies.

27 September 2023 this NEEDS to be at the top of my (our?) to-do list

Autumn bud vase collar made from gladiolus foliage.