My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Walking on eggshells

28 March 2018
click to send Christine a smile
and more

Carefully balance a bit of invent

To a delicate drop of arrange

Add a gentle splash of design

Just a pinch of conceive

With a smidgen of devise

… and hatch! Easter design

Happy Easter flower friends.

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Tutorials

28 March 2018

Stacked eggshell containers that won't topple over.

Balance a stack of eggshells with a magnet for a tiny Easter design

7 April 2012

Paste and cut Wooden Feathers

Wood glue makes wood veneer or Kyogi paper soft and playable to make feathers with

3 January 2011

Syringe with tube

Easy way to fill test tubes and easiest way to remove water from a vase

16 August 2011

Cut spiked flower stems and foliage into short sections

Orchids grow in long flower spikes. It is great to use the entire stem but sometimes you need shorter section. There is a trick to cutting the stems without leaving a visible blunt stem.

22 April 2015

Dowel ring flower holder for the most delicate of stems

The most delicate of stems often disappear in a design. this is an easy way to display really delicate flowering stems without overwhelming them

28 June 2017

Skewer leaf rolls to support a tiny water source for fresh flowers

Hide the water source in a rolled leaf

10 August 2016

Bamboo frog for a shallow container design

Cut short bamboo lengths to keep your flower material upright in a shallow and narrow container

1 April 2015

Hana-kubari Bamboo

Hana-Kubari is an Ikebana flower mechanic. Only natural materials such as pebbles, sticks and branches can be seen to support the flowers. Traditionally no twine or wire, nails, or screws or any other man made materials are used

30 May 2012

Plaiting a palm thorn garland

This is the basic technique used in traditional Easter crafts to plait a crown of thorns.

9 April 2025

Nesting a small basket in a clematis vine for a “help yourself” Easter egg display

The dried plant material keeps the vine from flopping over in the vase as it continues to grow and flower and the vine lifts the dried material far above the water to prevent it from spoiling.

16 October 2024

Protect your “mercury” glass vases with a reusable lining when using wire as a mechanic

How to protect glass vases from scratching when using wire as a mechanic

29 March 2023

Grow a wheatgrass patch for an almost entirely edible Easter display

Grow wheatgrass to create a Spring patch of green for your mini Easter egg hunt.

13 April 2022

Handcrafted grass and twig basket to hold some Easter flowers

Easter basket filled with (almost... almost chocolate) anthuriums.

29 July 2020

Foxtail in a bud vase forest floor

Create a sturdy platform from bark to design an entire forest floor on a single foxtail fern frond

8 April 2020

Basket weave in an eggshell

A tiny little basket weave to add to an Easter Design

17 April 2019

Cross cut Spring Twig Armature

Give a sturdy twig a cut to stay put in your Spring design.

20 March 2019

Hanging dangling eggshells with a twig and some ripped grass

Pierce eggshells to string it up for a delicate Spring design element.

10 October 2018

Single blade wrap armature

Fold a single blade of grass or slender leaf around a small container to stand your flower in position

Related Designs

22 April 2015

Toiling

Convert a dowel stick into a container for delicate flower stems

28 June 2017

Somewhere in the Middle

Skewer Dracaena leaves into a roll that supports a tiny water source for the Oncidium orchids

10 August 2016

Saved up

Cut lengths of bamboo to place in a shallow container as a flower frog

1 April 2015

The Space Between

Traditional Hana-Kubari flower mechanic

12 August 2015

Catch of the Day

Weave a loose basket to display a single flower... or three

16 April 2014

Never saw such a lovely day...

Weave a palm thorn garland to decorate for Easter

2 July 2014

Clearly contained

Clear containers need clear grids to keep the flowers in place

7 April 2012

Spring Clean

A clean Easter design. The tiny blossoms are Kalanchoe 'Calandiva Pink'. Tucked low in the paper eggs are a few Cymbidium orchids and the twigs are contorted hazel. The feathers are made from Kyogi or shaved wood.

9 April 2025

Eggsactly… just like this

The flowers will continue to open around the nest… and the eggs… well surely they will disappear and you will need to replace those before Easter.

16 October 2024

And there you glow

A glowing autumn display of vases to scatter around every here and there.

29 March 2023

To grow a patch of grass of our very own

The first of my new monthly articles about growing the material you need to design with. This month we are taking stock of what we need... and growing wheatgrass.