My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Floral Ice Cream Cones

A weave creates a strong cone base for the design. There are two ways to shape a woven cone:

Roll the cone shape:

Start a plain weaving pattern with strips of Kyogi paper.

Rip a sheet of Kyogi paper or thin shaved wood into thin strips. Start to weave the strips in a plain weaving pattern.

Add a few more strips

Add a few more strips and weave them in following a over and under pattern.

Woven mat ready to shape into cones

Woven mat ready to shape into cones

Cut the woven mat in three and tightly roll the cone shape

Cut the woven mat in three and tightly roll the cone shape

Glue the strands that overlap

Glue the strands that overlap

Weave the cone shape:

Weaving the cone creates a wider opening

Weave four strands of shaved wood

Weave four strands of shaved wood

Secure the weave with a small bit of masking tape and fold the strips over

Secure the weave with a small bit of masking tape and fold the strips over to create a sharp triangle at the bottom of the cone

Fold over the rest of the strands and continue to weave

Fold over the rest of the strands and continue to weave the cone

Add more strips and continue to weave

Add more strips and continue to weave. Pull the strips tight as you go. End off the cone by weaving any loose ends back in on itself

For the loosely woven ice cream top

Pour wood glue into a bowl and thin with warm water

Pour wood glue into a bowl and thin with warm water

Soak ripped foliage strands in the glue mixture

Soak ripped foliage strands in the glue mixture. I used ripped Cymbidium orchid leaves

Place an elastic band around a glass bottle

Place an elastic band around a glass bottle. This will make it easier to keep the ripped strand in place when you start to weave it

Catch the first strand under the elastic and wrap it up and around the bottle

Catch the first strand under the elastic and wrap it up and around the bottle

Weave the strand over and under the strand

Weave the strand over and under the previous strand to make sure it closely follows the shape of the bottle

Crumble up a bit of foil

Crumble up a bit of foil

And shape it to create the tip of the ice cream

And shape it to create the tip of the ice cream

Continue to add strands all the way from the elastic band to over the foil tip

Continue to add strands all the way from the elastic band to over the foil tip

Hold the glue soaked strips in place with small butterfly hair clips

Hold the glue soaked strips in place with small butterfly hair clips while you wait for the glue to dry

Continue to weave in strips to create a strong shape

Continue to weave in strips to create a strong shape. Do not add too many strips at once. The weave should be more of a veil than a dense mass

Paint the shape with thinned glue

Paint the shape with thinned glue

Let the glue dry completely.jpg

Let the glue dry completely

Remove the elastic band

Remove the elastic band

And remove the butterfly hair clips

And remove the butterfly hair clips

Wiggle the strands loose with a nail cuticle pusher

Wiggle the strands loose with a nail cuticle pusher

And remove the shape

And remove the shape

Fit the shape on the cones and trim the strands neatly

Fit the shape on the cones and trim the strands neatly

Glue a few tiny test tubes into the shape

Glue a few tiny test tubes into the shape before gluing the shape to the cone. Fill the tubes with water.

I used my drinking straw test tubes. See Tutorial below

Add the orchids and weave in a few more strands

Place the Cymbidium orchids in the tubes and weave in a few more strands over and under the orchids to make sure they will not fall out.

Display the orchid ice cream cones on a bark and paper covered Styrofoam stand

Display the orchid ice cream cones on a bark and paper covered Styrofoam stand

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Tutorials

18 January 2012 Butterfly hairclip claws to hold twigs in place while glue dries

Butterfly hair clips are the perfect little claws to help you hold tiny items in place while you wait for glue to dry

4 January 2011 Drinking straw "test tubes"

When you need to keep a tiny stem hydrated this is just what you need.

3 January 2011 Syringe with tube

Easy way to fill test tubes and easiest way to remove water from a vase

14 August 2012 Midelino cane coil basket

Weave a hand basket from Midelino cane coils

30 October 2012 Midelino Harvest Moon Basket

This is a great flat and open basket to take outside when “harvesting” your fall leaves, pods and flowers. Who knows, you might even find a ghost pumpkin or three…

Related Designs

14 January 2013 It's High Time for Tea: from craft to art, taking a delicious floral journey with weaving techniques

This was the first two designs for my Floral Art and craft demonstration at The Capilano Flower Arranging club

14 January 2013 It is High Time for Tea. Floral Craft and Art demonstration at the The Capilano Flower Arranging Club meeting

This is an overview of the Floral Art and Craft Demonstration at The Capilano Flower Arranging Club. I demonstrated three floral craft cake designs and three matching floral art...

10 May 2023 By the cone full

A small design to display those last Spring snippets from your garden...

21 July 2011 Tradition and Technique, Technique and Tradition

When you need inspiration for a design problem study a Traditional Craft- you will be amazed!

3 August 2011 Magnetic Fields Forever

The heart shape of my corsage is woven from shaved wood and then decorated with green strawberries. I used corsage magnets to place the corsage on the lapel of a jacket