Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Create a woven base for a “prettiest flower of the moment” display
- 17 June 2026
We start our design with our diplay container turned flat side up.
Wrap a grass or foliage (I am using gladiolus leaves for my design) around the container.
Overlap the tips and secure it with floral glue.
Design note: if you do not want to use foliage you can use an elastic band or even string. We are removing this to fit it into the container so it need not be decorative.
Slip a gladiolus leaf into the ring and fold it over the container.
You can use small bits of floral glue if it is difficult for you to keep the foliage in place... but... once we remove the ring the glue will show so try to avoid it. Instead cut the grass long enough to easily tuck into the ring or band that you chose as support.
Tuck the leaf into the ring on the other side.
Start the weaving pattern by adding in another leaf.
I use a "basic" weaving pattern for my designs. And I say basic because it is the minimal over and under weaving pattern. And then I customize it with tiny tweaks to suit my design.
To get you started I also have a few weaving Tutorials for you linked below this post.
Continue to weave in gladiolus foliage to cover the container.
If you are unsure about weaving see the Tutorials below for step by step instructions.
Notice the tails? I am letting them dangle freely to add over the container as a finishing touch...
This next step is a bit difficult. You want to gently lift the weave from the container, flip it around and set the folded leaf ends into the container so that they can remain hydrated when you fill the container with water.
I explain how I did it in our email this week. 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.
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.
When you have it in position cut the ring away to make it easier for you to remove it.
Tuck all the ends of the gladiolus leaves back into the container.
Pour water into the glass container to keep the foliage and your flowers hydrated.
Use a bamboo skewer to adjust the foliage to create a neat weave that sits right inside the opening of the container.
Curve the dangling foliage over and around and secure it to the outside of the container.
To frame the weave, yes, but this also finish it off. The curved leaves conceal the cut ends of the foliage that are a bit messy inside the container because of the way they fall once folded to weave.
Cut and groom a Lobelia stem so that you have the longest possible stem (yes, they hydrated but of course will not last long. Select stems with nearly open buds, those will open later in your design) to design with.
Wiggle open a guide hole with a bamboo skewer and slip a tiny Lobelia stem through the weave.
Curl lily grass into ringlets and slip it into the weave gaps.
There is a link below that will help you with instructions on how to curl the grass.
And I am adding the tiniest of sprinkling of dew drop crystals onto the weave to finish it off.
Book readers turn to page 166 for a design that levels up on this technique. It looks spectacular but... really it is made in the exact same way!
For more information about my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.
