Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Adjustable nested grass Wood Wide Web shelter for tiny snow drops
- 14 January 2026
You can use any true grass for this design. Cut it open to make sure you have round, hollow stems between its joints.
My design was inspired by two of my older designs. The one was made from equisetum (made in 2011 and I needed to wired it) and shelter design that I made for a sunflower (made in 2019) and I glued that one. I wanted to combine the two techniques and this is the result. Both designs are linked below.
I am using a small container that is just big enough for my Kenzan to fit in.
Angle in the first two grasses. With nothing there for them to kick against they will want to spill out. Use a tiny drop of floral glue to secure these grasses.
You can now use these two grasses to keep the rest of your grasses in the container as you arrange them.
Simply slip the grass below the previous ones so that it leans outward.
Design note: If the angle of your container makes it impossible to keep the grasses in you can always use the tiniest drop of hot glue to secure the grasses temporarily to the container.
Place a heavy Kenzan on the grass stems to weigh it down.
Book readers turn to page 158 for more inspiration. You can use both the wire and the moss shown as a support. And turn the page (160) to see how I use this shelter design idea in a shallow container, this time as a support for taller and heavier flowers.
For more information about my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman
Carefully remove the small hot glue drops. Do not force it. If it is still stuck it will come away the moment you add water. Just make sure to tidy up the design before displaying it.
Pour enough water into the container to cover the Kenzan.
Fluff out a tuft of wool to create a thin mat.
Place the wool over the Kenzan.
The tiny snowdrop stems are too thin and delicate to be speared into the Kenzan teeth and I did not want to add them into the design as a clump. The wool is a perfect design solution... in more ways than one.
Every Wednesday morning (Vancouver time), I send out a design note as an early glimpse at the newest Design and a few notes that I picked up creating the Tutorial that might be useful to you. This week, I show you why I add a wool mat to keep the snow drops in position and how this helps me keep my Kenzan clean. If you’re new here, you can sign up below this post. And if you’ve been receiving these notes for some time, I hope they feel like a welcome break in your busy week.
With the wool cover you can now simply place the delicate flower stems in any position you want and they are snug and secure.
As a nod to winter I am adding frosted glass chips but these are more decorative than anything else. So add whatever you want that suits your style.
When you are happy with your display move on to craft the shelter.
Lift one of the grasses up and over.
Match it to another grass from the opposite side. Loosely knot the grass and turn the design to measure out how big you want the shelter to be. You do not need to be too precise, we can somewhat adjust it because of the way we combine the grasses but make sure you have a plan before cutting the grasses.
Fold the grass at a neat angle...
Cut the grass between the nodes to expose the hollow stem on one end...
And slide the other grass into the hollow opening.
This creates a neat angle that can be retracted and extended to adjust the shelter at any time.
Continue to fold and match the grasses over the flowers...
And if you are feeling brave you can even slip a few more grasses below the Kenzan to craft a fuller shelter.
Remove any left over glue drops to tidy up the design.
And as always I am finishing off my design with a few dew drop crystals. I am adding larger crystals on the wool and my usual tiny ones on the grass shelter.
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