Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Balancing a fishbowl vase on its side for a floating design
- 4 March 2020
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See what I did here? No it is not a slanted round bowl. It is an ordinary fishbowl vase... balanced on it's side!
Place a block on your display surface for support. It can be anything... a wooden block, a book, a box or even a small bowl. Anything that you can use to support the vase while you balance it on its side.
Rest a fishbowl vase to be supported on the block.
Carefully test the vase to make sure it is well and truly supported.
It should stand freely balanced on the block for support.
Fill the fishbowl vase with water.
I wanted tiny roots floating about in my design... so I rooted these rosary vines. This way the succulent is not particularly stressed when you design it to float about in water.
For more information about designing with succulents turn to page: 104 and 105 of my book.
I also placed a single cymbidium orchid in the bowl. Again because of the interesting angle of the vase I wanted the flower to be semi-submerged.
See the Tutorial below for detailed instructions on how to create a little skirt for the flowers if you want it to perfectly float on the surface of your design.
Drape the rosary vine to curve in and around the vase.
Book readers: turn to page 272 and 273 for a better look at this design. It's part of the bit where I talk about creating illusions... rather fitting, right?
Top up the water in the vase to the very edge.
To make this syringe with tube see the Tutorial below.
Carefully test the balance of the vase to see if the water level is just right... by pushing it away from the support.
Newsletter subscribers: I have a special tip for you about the support and balance for this design. Subscribe in the section below to make sure you don't miss out on these exclusive weekly tips.
Once you feel confident that the bowl is now completely balanced... remove the support... carefully!
The design will now stand by itself balanced by the water level.
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Tutorials
Easy way to fill test tubes and easiest way to remove water from a vase
Flowers naturally float in water. They just don’t always naturally float on water. For that they sometimes need a bit of help.
Suspend a flower for an unusual but minimalist design over a leaning container lid.
Add a leaf to a large-ish vase to create a small puddle of water for your short flower stem to rest in.
Create a barely there armature with sturdy end of season vines.
Flowers naturally float and you will need some kind of sinker to keep them suspended under water.
Cut the Phalaenopsis orchid with a bit of green stem attached. This will make them last longer.
Favourite Flowers
Rosary vine, Chain of Hearts, Collar of hearts and String of hearts
Cymbidium, Boat Orchid
Related Designs
Ooooh! Am I excited to show you this design. It is an ordinary fishbowl vase... balanced on it's side.
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Freely translated it means Each Moment, Only Once. It is a saying associated with Japanese tea ceremonies.