My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Blow away hot glue strands

When you glue a structure with hot glue there are always a few stray strands of glue stuck all over the design.

Hot glue strands

Blow it away with a hairdryer.

Remove hot glue strands with a hairdryer set on high.

Set the hairdryer on the highest (warmest) setting.

The glue cobwebs melts away.

Because the strands are so thin they don’t need a lot of heat to simply melt away.

Removing hot glue strands.

Do not focus the heat on any section for long enough to melt the glue connection.

The glue strands melt away.

Simply heat until the strands start to melt

Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.

Tutorials

28 March 2011 Spinning a Hot Glue Spider Web or silk for a Floral Cocoon

How to spin (and remove) hot glue spider web or floral cocoon

Related Designs

24 July 2012 A little bit of Art and Soul

A twig structure with roses

12 August 2012 A Twist on Tradition

August is the month for retail florists and wholesalers to start designing, ordering and preparing their product range for the Christmas and Festive Season. This is my article...

18 December 2013 Jingle Belling

Glue a stacked twig round-about to use as a Christmas table top wreath

8 January 2014 It's stick season!

Snap and stack an glue a few twigs to create a lace like armature

18 June 2014 Stuck stick

Glue a few sticks to create a hollowed out crescent armature

24 December 2014 Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

A bark Christmas stocking glued to a frame

31 December 2014 The sound of a kiss

Stack and glue twigs into a table top heart

29 July 2015 Beautiful Things

Glue a few twigs into a disk armature

21 October 2015 Watch the leaves turn

Roll autumn leaves to create a wreath

9 December 2015 On a Grand Scale

My article and a floral panel design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

10 February 2016 Be My Twig-Heart

Glue an upright twig heart for a freestanding Valentine's display

11 May 2016 Pour

Glue a twig vase and melt some plastic to create a tumbling design

5 October 2016 I found it this way: Leaf nest design

This was the third design I did in my "I found it this way" floral art demonstration

21 December 2016 A Gleaming Cotton Christmas

Glue bark to a wire frame to create a Christmas stocking armature

8 February 2017 It could hold

A fragile looking heart made from twigs that can hold a lot of orchids

29 November 2017 Marcescent

Glue a delicate autumn room devider

13 December 2017 Just hear those sleigh bells jingling

Craft a bark sleigh that will last for weeks.

31 October 2018 Scary stuff!

My Halloween design... with some scary stuff hidden if you can read between the leaves!

19 December 2018 Oh Florist-tree

Craft an Eucalyptus Christmas tree

16 January 2019 Every. Single. Week.

Stand tulips upright in a shallow container with a suspended twig armature.

6 February 2019 Tread softly on winter

A delicate winter twig armature to show off the delicate beauty of these early spring coloured tulips.

15 May 2019 Heard it through the grapevine?

Have you heard? I have wonderful news this week. Oh! and I also have this pretty grapevine armature shaped like the petals of an open rose to show you. But... Have you heard...

17 July 2019 … and... a bit more... effort… to make it special

Instead of just placing a handful of twigs and two stems of sweet peas in a vase... why not...?

13 November 2019 It’s unreal!

Design 1 of my three week pre-Christmas designing series looking at How to style with artificial plants and branches using quality faux plants and stems. This week: a wreath

4 December 2019 A Very Merry eucalyptus-collar-candle Christmas!

An easy and naturally fragrant winter white candle decoration to bring nature into your house this Christmas.

19 February 2020 The Upside of being Inside

A creative design that has some height to it without blocking the view. This can easily be scaled up or down to match the environment you want to display it in.

6 May 2020 Forever… incomplete

Craft a pretty armature that can be used again and again.

23 September 2020 Getting a head start on all that Fall-ing

Floral styling using mostly dried material that will last the entire Autumn.

14 October 2020 Stick it out… the creative spirit version

Soft minimal Fall armature making it easy to replace the flowers as the season progress.

25 November 2020 Have yourself a Merry Cellulose Fibre Christmas: Santa’s gift bag wreath

...ok not really that fancy- it’s made from paper pulp. A cardboard box gift bag wreath… really. In the spirit of 2020- I am inspired by the endless stream of cardboard boxes...

4 August 2021 Counting Raindrops

Grass crisscross that makes you want to lean in closer to count the late summer raindrops around these gorgeous roses.

11 August 2021 A bit Special... four dimensional designing

Using that little something that is unusual about your flower to make the design stand out.

20 October 2021 Flying Lessons

An easy get ahead with Halloween decoration that will last.

27 October 2021 Ship Shape

The dry wheat stems are suspended from the outside of the container so that they remain dry and the flower stems can gently rest inside to remain hydrated.

10 November 2021 … any day now

Using dried floral material is so trendy right now. But the longer lasting the design elements the more effort you have to put in to stop it from looking lifeless.

1 December 2021 It’s the most… it’s the most... Hap-Hapiest Patina Christmas of all!

This is the second of my Christmas 2021 series of designs. This year in the form of a mini workshop… my Christmas present to you. Craft a three twig sphere snow man to proudly...

15 December 2021 It’s the most… it’s the most… wonderful Patina Copper Christmas Tree of all!

This is the fourth of my Christmas 2021 series of designs. This year in the form of a mini workshop… my Christmas present to you. Paint copper to add a beautiful patina to a...

29 December 2021 It’s the most… it’s the most... Toast-iest Patina Christmas of all!

This is the sixth of my Christmas 2021 series of designs. This year in the form of a mini workshop… my Christmas present to you. This week I will show you how to go overboard on...

9 February 2022 Pouring

Place a small fishbowl vase at an angle to look like it is pouring out flowers and twigs.

27 April 2022 Shine Shade

Glue snippets of grass into a double layer sphere to create a sheltered floral globe.

29 June 2022 But for this… let’s not rush

A take your time and mindfully craft a pretty design to celebrate the summer solstice- it is officially summer here in Canada.

4 January 2023 Around and about the new year

A glowing cranberry ball for frosty evening decorating.

11 October 2023 Plenty Glow to Harvest

Glow and sparkle bark armature to celebrate the first signs of Autumn

10 April 2024 (if only) I can see you

Tangle jasmine vines outside a vase for a transparent screen to display floral details on and around a sea horse vase to display floral details in.