My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Autumn leaf Christmas tree stack

You can also find a video Tutorial of this design in the design post below.

Drill a small hole in a piece of lumber

Drill a small hole in a piece of lumber.

Cut wire at a sharp angle

Cut wire at a sharp angle...

The sharp angle of the wire makes it easier to skewer leaves

The sharp angle of the wire makes it easier to skewer leaves without ripping them.

Place the wire in the hole.

Stand the wire in the lumber, with the sharp end facing up.

Sort the leaves into stacks similar in size

Sort the leaves into stacks similar in size.

Set aside the two smallest leaves to use as a tree topper

Set aside the two smallest leaves to use as a tree topper.

Fan out the leaves

Pick up the stack with the largest leaves and fan them out. The stem ends should point in all directions.

Skewer the leaves onto the wire

Skewer the leaves onto the wire.

Skewer the leaves

Skewer the leaves, stack after stack, progressively getting smaller.

Stack the leaves almost all the way to the top of the wire

Stack the leaves almost all the way to the top of the wire, leaving a tiny bit of wire to attach the tree topper.

Glue the two small leaves

Glue the two small leaves, back to back.

Slip the leaves over the wire

Slip the leaves over the wire to end off the stack and create the tree topper.

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Tutorials

30 October 2013 Straightening wire

Wire is always sold in a roll and it can be very frustrating to try to remove bends, kinks and curls.

30 October 2013 Spiked Autumn leaf cauldron

Pike a few (hundred!) autumn leaves to build up a hollow leaf armature

10 May 2017 Skewered Eucalyptus leaf line-up armature

Thread leaves through wire

22 March 2017 Skewered Foliage Garland

Create a garland that dries well with rolled up leaves

28 June 2017 Skewer leaf rolls to support a tiny water source for fresh flowers

Hide the water source in a rolled leaf

10 August 2011 Foliage Pleat Garland

Folding a garland from strips of a Aspidistra leaf

Related Designs

24 October 2018 It all stacks up

Quick and easy: Stack autumn leaves onto a wire for a... tiny table top Christmas tree.

22 September 2021 Kinda Corny

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18 May 2022 Because Why

Adding the smallest details to absolutely make the design.

30 October 2013 As the leaves melt away

Spike a few hundred fall leaves to create a cauldron for Halloween flowers

10 May 2017 About a line

Skewer and line up leaves to create an armature

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...

31 May 2017 Let's hang out

Skewer some Eucalyptus to suspend between the orchids

28 June 2017 Somewhere in the Middle

Skewer Dracaena leaves into a roll that supports a tiny water source for the Oncidium orchids

10 August 2011 Pleated Pleasure

Pleats are accordion like folds of equal width in alternating opposite directions in any kind of fabric. I absolutely love the tight buds of Allium and they represent the...