Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
A wild "found it this way" thorn and overgrown tulip design with a ribbon tangle instead of a bow.
- 1 June 2022
- click to send Christine a smile
Design note: Book readers turn to page 150 for a more permanent way to fix an armature to a container.
For more information about my book:
The Effortless Floral Craftsman
Place a container on your working surface.
now... this design requires you to work really hard in the beginning and then once everything is stable you can just have fun. But first that beginning... I explain more in this week's email. Make sure you are signed up to follow along and get the main bonus tip each week. The sign up is below this post.
Pick out the branches to display the flowers carefully. You will not be able to go back and replace them if you change your mind.
Let the branches settle over the opening of the container. Wiggle it a bit to find a naturally comfortable spot... but then also go back in and glue the branch (I chose quince) to the container with hot glue.
Fill the container with water only once the branches are securely glued to the vase
I wanted my design to look "found" so I added a few wild and overgrown details such as popping open a few of the mature tulips to reflex the petals.
See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how to reflex tulip.
And set the flowers in the water... but honestly for me the real star of the show are three viridiflora tulips (those ones with the green stripe) included in my bunch.
I placed these three tulips together in a way that they look like they are chatting... pretty, right?
Remove any debris with a paint brush.
See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how I clean the water.
Cut a few thorn twigs at a sharp angle...
And glue more thorns back into the design.
The angle helps you to place the twig so that it looks like it is growing out of the branch. See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions.
Design note: I always glue in these tiny design details to add a touch of "impossible".
It would be impossible to get the tulips in the branches if those thorny twigs grew like that. I do this because our brains are really great at finding solutions. And if something does not make sense to us it makes us lean in to get a closer look. Immediately it captures our imagination. You get a sense of there's something quite magical happening here.
Lastly to complete my design and to pull in the "found" theme I tangled in (rather than adding a neat bow) a few ribbons in the exact same colours as the over grown Tulips. It must look like the early summer breeze finished the design for you.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.
Tutorials
Craft an everything is still growing spring design to celebrate... what we love!
Trap air between two vases to create a third circle... and frame for a small feather hint to a hopeful Spring
Here is a trick to make sure your tulips will condition thoroughly
Tulips continue to grow as they open. This means you not only have to be mindful of their proportions as they are now... but also as they will be once open.
Craft a light and airy grass halo to suspend tiny drop crystals around gorgeous roses.
Using dry and fresh floral material in one design without the dry becoming soggy and the fresh drying out.
A great do-in-advance and reusable design solution for a winter, early spring floral display.
Craft a suspended armature to create a clear winter design.
Wedge snipped twigs into a glass vase to act as a support for your flowers
Carefully manipulate and bend green willow stems to place in water to sprout as an armature for tulips to mature and open
An grass armature that looks scattered but is actually very secure
Use a wet brush to lift any tiny bits of plant material floating on and in the water to keep your container clear.
This is a trick for attaching fine details at exactly the right angle.
Using branches pruned from a fruit tree... with a few dried flowers and just a few orchids to make a fresh Spring design.
Favourite Flowers
Tulip
Related Designs
Balancing dried ribbons of foliage to craft a wind twisted floral display.
That good old double vase trick... but this time I deliberately added a bubble between the two layers to create a third circle in the design.
This is a great "space-keeper" design. The tulip will continue to grow into the vase height as they open... but until then the grass platform part of the design diverts your...
A delicate winter twig armature to show off the delicate beauty of these early spring coloured tulips.
Grass crisscross that makes you want to lean in closer to count the late summer raindrops around these gorgeous roses.
The dry wheat stems are suspended from the outside of the container so that they remain dry and the flower stems can gently rest inside to remain hydrated.
A creative design that has some height to it without blocking the view. This can easily be scaled up or down to match the environment you want to display it in.
Stand tulips upright in a shallow container with a suspended twig armature.
Manipulate fresh willow stems to create a sprouting armature for long tulip stems
