My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Add plant material and a wire support to sisal armatures

See the Tutorial below for detailed instructions on how to use sisal to make armatures.

Sisal armatures are rigid and ready to use as is, but if it needs to travel to a location before you design with it or if it is going to be handled often, it is safer to add a chicken wire frame to the design.

Cut the chicken-wire to fit your shape. Add a wire frame if it suits your design

Slip the sisal around the frame and secure with wire

And glue in the additional plant material

See the Tutorial below for detailed instructions on how to make the leaf curls

More design ideas:

Fit the chicken-wire inside the disk shape.

Dip the tepals of a protea flower in thinned glue and scatter...

...to conceal the wire

See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how to peel a protea flower.

Or cover a few disks with Protea bracts and Leukadendron leaves

Or wrap the shape in a sphere of chicken-wire

and dip some Tortum snippets in glue and scatter all over the frame and sisal

Or place the wire inside the shape and wrap in copper wire and shape.

I used a copper pot scrubber that I unravelled to make twig garlands, curls and baubles with. See the Tutorials below for more detailed instructions

Weave the copper twig garlands around and through the armature frame

The armatures are now ready to design with. I placed my armatures on three legged acrylic tubes. See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how to design on three legs

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Tutorials
Unravel Sisal string to get Sisal Fibers
28 August 2013
Unravel Sisal string to get Sisal Fibers

I purchase a huge roll of sisal string to use... sometimes as string, but mostly I unravel it for the fibers
Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures
22 March 2017
Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures

Wrap thin, glue soaked sisal fibers around a balloon or ball to create a barely there armature
Pin Protea foliage into a curl
22 March 2017
Pin Protea foliage into a curl

The sturdy Protea leaves holds it shape even when dried when pinned into place
Add plant material and a wire support to sisal armatures
22 March 2017
Add plant material and a wire support to sisal armatures

Customize sisal armatures by adding a wire skeleton and interesting bits of plant material
Skewered Foliage Garland
22 March 2017
Skewered Foliage Garland

Create a garland that dries well with rolled up leaves
Peel a Protea flower
5 January 2011
Peel a Protea flower

Peel away the tepals and bracts from a Protea flower hear to make a large composite flower orb
Use a BoutStix Floral Magnet to hang test tubes
29 March 2012
Use a BoutStix Floral Magnet to hang test tubes

This is a fast and easy way to hang test tubes in a design
Unravel wire from a copper pot scrubber
5 May 2011
Unravel wire from a copper pot scrubber

Up-cycle a pot scrubber to get a huge roll of very pretty copper wire
Wire baubles
5 May 2011
Wire baubles

Make baubles from wire
Wire curls
5 May 2011
Wire curls

curl wire to add to designs
Wire Tendrils
26 July 2011
Wire Tendrils

Curl the wire at irregular intervals to create a natural wire tendril similar to that of a passion fruit plant
The Three legged trick for Upright Constructions
7 September 2012
The Three legged trick for Upright Constructions

When in doubt, always give your armature three legs. Two legs are simply not enough and four legs will wobble if it is even slightly off balance.
Twig garland
2 October 2013
Twig garland

Add a dangling garland of twigs to the design
Beaded wire
14 January 2011
Beaded wire

Thread thin wire with tiny beads
Stain wooden skewers with natural dye
24 August 2011
Stain wooden skewers with natural dye

Using fruit, berries, flowers, leaves and grasses to naturally stain design details for floral art relies on the same techniques as using paint or any other dye.
A Neighbor friendly way to deflate a balloon
7 April 2012
A Neighbor friendly way to deflate a balloon

Apart from avoiding the noise popping a balloon makes this is also a less violent way to deflate a balloon when you make Papier Mache items
Glue a Sisal Fiber Bubble
8 May 2013
Glue a Sisal Fiber Bubble

Mix Sisal fibers and glue to make a bubble
Sisal Disk
19 June 2013
Sisal Disk

Create a inflexible circle armature to hang flowers from
A Dandelion Seed Puff that stays just so
17 May 2017
A Dandelion Seed Puff that stays just so

Use a thin wire to puff out dandelion seeds to look like it spilled from a basket
Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures
22 March 2017
Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures

Wrap thin, glue soaked sisal fibers around a balloon or ball to create a barely there armature
Pin Protea foliage into a curl
22 March 2017
Pin Protea foliage into a curl

The sturdy Protea leaves holds it shape even when dried when pinned into place
Skewered Foliage Garland
22 March 2017
Skewered Foliage Garland

Create a garland that dries well with rolled up leaves
Add plant material and a wire support to sisal armatures
22 March 2017
Add plant material and a wire support to sisal armatures

Customize sisal armatures by adding a wire skeleton and interesting bits of plant material
Related Designs
Wish Upon a Dandelion Star
11 June 2012
Wish Upon a Dandelion Star

A sticky shooting star made with gypsophila stems and fluffy dandelion seeds
Diamond Jubilee Waterfall
26 June 2012
Diamond Jubilee Waterfall

To commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee and the 20th Anniversary of Friends of Government House Gardens Society a Horticultural event was hosted in the gardens and Great Hall of Government House in Victoria, Canada entitled British Columbia Blooms.
So happy together
8 May 2013
So happy together

Glue a sisal bubble for a few delicate flowers to rest in
This Moment
19 June 2013
This Moment

Create an armature design outside the vase
Limelight
27 May 2015
Limelight

My RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 Limelight Floral Art Design. My Limelight design was inspired by a slice of lime. But I wanted it to look like it was spun by a butterfly. I used Sisal, silk and loads of Lisianthus flowers and 9 grapevine plants. Each tiny stem was placed in a water filled glass seahorse or test tube to keep it hydrated.
Fall Treasures
9 September 2015
Fall Treasures

A sisal mat armature for fall twigs flowers and leaves
Nobody move!
17 May 2017
Nobody move!

Weave a small basket with a lid to keep fluffy treasures in
Biomimicry
22 March 2017
Biomimicry

A design demonstration and workshop at the Floral Trends Design group in South Africa exploring how we emulate nature’s best biological ideas to solve our modern day design problems.