On my online workbook this week: But of course.

Dear

This week's inspiration is something fun for us to celebrate... this design is post number 8000 to the My Creative Workbook website! Thank you for following along on my floral journey. That means I have now been posting a design to my website for 534 weeks straight... not one week missed!

You have to be extremely practical when you make things that are impossible. Have a closer look at our design for this week: The lid will simply roll over if you placed flowers in it. The heavy short flower stem will simply tip out if you just placed it in the vase. The vines will flop over unsupported. The skill lies in a bit of clever craftsmanship so that the design is quite sound while keeping it’s impossibly ethereal quality to make the viewer wonder just how it’s done.

Would you believe that the hardest part of this design is tying the rock with line? Now firstly let’s talk about the line. Fishing (nylon) line is often our go-to for an almost invisible knot. If you struggle to tie a knot with the nylon line, polyester thread will also do the trick. For the most part I avoid cotton thread for my submerged floral craft projects (unless I want the cotton to wick the water for some reason) because cotton will break down (rot) over time left in water and I create designs to last. Also I would advise you to avoid wire for securing submerged designs- even though it is probably easier to wire the rocks but the wire rusts and can damage your glass container in a surprisingly short time. For my design, I used a clear, heavy duty fishing line to hang the upside down lid and then a green lightweight line for the sea glass rocks.

Now for tying the rocks: It slips and wiggles and… well… it’s tricky! The trick is to loop the line and then smooth the loop over the side of the rock and see if you can find some imperfection where the line snags. Even if you find only a single snag your line now has something that you can use to keep it in place (even if barely) so that you can tie it, first horizontally and then vertically like a gift box. When you tie the other end to the stem do the same. Even a tiny node or snipped stem that sticks out is enough to give the line the support it needs not to slip off. But remember: do not tie the line too tightly around the stem that it acts as a tourniquet- you still want it to take up water so that it remains fully hydrated. For soft and spongy stems I have a work-around for you on page 188 of my book where I discuss how to hang flower stems.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine