On my online workbook this week: Let’s

Dear

This week's inspiration is a celebration... happy 5th birthday to my book!

My tip for you is about creating the neat streamer spiral of grass around the wire.

Wrap the blade of grass tightly around the wire (see the picture above) to curl it. Gently, gently stretch the grass ever so slightly. If you are a beginner designer exploring wrapping the grass around the wire to curl it, listen carefully you will hear the faintest crunching sound as you wrap the wire. Over time you will develop a feel for it and you will become so sensitive to the amount of tension that you put on the grass that you will be able to judge how tight to wrap each blade of grass without damaging it. Now release the grass slowly to let the curl expand around the support. It will twirl around neatly.

To create longer sections of grass simply glue a tip of grass onto the cut end of another grass. Overlap it slightly. The cut end is usually thicker and less pliable than the tip and by connecting the grass tip to cut end you create a continuous blade of grass that ends up twirling into a similar curl than the rest of the grass without adding any kinks or folds that might be obvious as you curl it. I wanted a happy streamer curl that is bigger in some areas and tighter in others so I used these glued connections to secure the ringlet curl to the wire at intervals.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine