My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Fresh vine display tray

This is based on a combination of a traditional technique used to make willow baskets and a technique used to make a cane coiled bee skep. Only I am using fresh passion fruit vines with their cut stems kept long so that each stem can be placed in a tiny water filled test tube for the vine tray to balance on.

Cut the wire and fold in half

Cut 2 lengths of bind wire and fold in half to find the middle point

Twist the wire

Twist the wire at the middle point.

Cut and twist another wire.

Cut and twist another wire to be exactly the same as the first two.

Twist the wires

Twist the wires to form a double cross.

Cut a short section of vine. This section will be left out of water to dry and create a sturdy base for the tray.

Twist the wire around the stem.

Twist the wire around the stem.

Bend the stem and twist to secure

Bend the stem and twist with wire to secure

Roll the stem to slowly spiral out

Roll the stem to slowly spiral out, securing it with wire as you go along.

Twist the stem end to secure

This will be the only part of the spiral that will be dry to make sure the coil keeps its shape.

Twist a fresh stem with wire.

Twist a fresh stem with wire. If the stem is hard to bend set it aside for about 20 minutes to dehydrate and become more pliable.

Continue to curl and twist the stems around in a spiral

Continue to curl and twist the stems around in a spiral. Be very careful not to break the stem or bruise the foliage.

Add more stems

Add more stems as needed. Each time you add a stem make sure to leave a long enough stem to be able to bend and fit into the small test tube

When the spiral is wired soak the vines to re-hydrate.jpg

When the spiral is wired, soak the vines to re-hydrate for about two hours.

The vines are ready to design with when the leaves are hydrated.

The vines are ready to design with when the leaves are fully hydrated.

Bend the vine stem and place it in a test tube

I placed my design in an upturned bubble grass vase. Glue the first test tube to the base of the vase and gently bend a vine stem and place into the tube.

Make sure all the stems are in water.

Make sure all the stems are in water.

The vine tray is now ready to design with.

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Tutorials

10 August 2011 Free standing basket

I tied the strong inside veins of the 5 Aspidistra leaves (that I used to make the garland with) to make my basket armature.

Related Designs

8 October 2012 Growing Gratitude

Thank you.