Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
A wreath bridge to hint at the transition between the wildness of late summer and the autumn haze to come
- 3 September 2025
I am again using vine wreaths as a mechanic. They are so easy to make (and so versatile and useful!) and well worth keeping a few in you design pantry. See the Tutorial below this post for detailed instructions if you are unsure of how to weave a vine wreath.
The best part of custom making wreaths is that you can make them in a way that opens up so many creative possibilities. It is absolutely the "imperfections" that makes them so useful so go ahead... don't be perfect!
Inspect the wreath to see how you can use these unique hand made qualities to secure the wreath upright to a display container.
Use small amounts of hot glue to secure the wreath across one end of the display container.
Aim for many, many tiny invisible hot glue connections rather than larger ones that might be visible.
And now we aim for perfect... it is well worth spending a bit of time getting this armature exactly right. For one thing if your armature is unshakably solid it means that the design will not break down somewhere along the design process leaving you with a huge struggle or frustrating mess to try and fix. For another, if this armature is perfectly upright and stable you can add even the wildest of floral elements and it will still look professionally "done". The armature elevates the design... into a design.
Pour water into the display container and make sure the water level is below the dried wreath to keep the water fresh and the dried wreath from rotting.
Start to weave in pretty clematis vines.
Make sure the cut ends are under water and the growing tips are left wild and free.
This week in our email I tell you more about designing "light" it is also an explanation of why I placed the wreath at an angle over the container. I send out an email every Wednesday morning (Vancouver time) the moment the latest design is ready for you to view with a few notes (hopefully useful tips!) that you can use as design inspiration. The sign up is below the post.
Use the curls in the stems as part of your design...
To support the vine exactly how you want it in the design.
To create an overgrown end of summer look for your display.
Slip the cosmos flowers through the wreath gaps so that they are supported in an upright position.
Crafting a controlled wildness for your display. The cosmos flowers tend to nod off a bit and look sleepy. This can easily be mistaken for the flowers looking wilted!
But here is a quick trick: If you find the well hydrated flowers still nod their heads...
Give the stem a twist before inserting it into the display to create a more lifted look immediately. But even though cosmos flowers look delicate they will also reposition themselves and start to collaborate with you in the design over time.
Thread through a few stems of ornamental grass.
To add that shimmery texture and wildness of the end of summer...
For my summer haze I am adding a few grasses cut short and glued in throughout the design in a horizontal position
And as always I finish my design with a few dew drop crystals to add sparkle, this time to the horizontal grasses.
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