Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Heap tufts of quaking grass bracts to dance in the slightest summer breeze
- 18 June 2025
- click to send Christine a smile
Craft the softest heap of grass that looks suspended... like it just tumbled this way in the summer breeze.
Place two bud vases on a long display tray a little off centre to make it visually interesting
You can of course line your bud vases up perfectly but I am placing mine so that the grass can extend all the way across the display tray. Whatever suits your own personal style... is... perfect!
Use tiny drops of hot glue to secure long blades of dried grass to extend from the one bud vase to the other.
Slowly start to build up the delicate grass stack.
Make use of the natural curves in the grass to extend the blades as if it simply tumbled over the glass bud vases... it should be light as air.
Design note: notice how the grass alternates. Point the seed ends and the cut ends in different directions.
When you have a delicate grass foundation place the lily in the container so that it remains hydrated.
I am again placing my lilies slightly off centre to make my design a little less formal... like a summers day.
Also... these lilies are from my balcony garden. It was supposed to be more pinkish orange but I am absolutely not complaining! Love the burgundy even more.
Place a few delicate blades of dried grass to hover over the lily flowers. Take care not to rest the grass on the lilies. You want an ethereal lightness to this design and the grass should hover over the flowers so that it can dance in the slightest summer breeze.
You can use natural curves in the grass to suspend them... or you can prop them up in a way that would be difficult to see... just to keep the airy illusion. This week in our email I show you how I did that. I send out an email every Wednesday morning (Vancouver time) the moment the latest design is ready to view with a tip or observation to help you make the most of each week's design inspiration even before looking at the design. The sign up is below this post.
Carefully style the grasses to simply hover around the lilies.
Add in smaller sections of grass so that you have dangling grasses all the way around the beautiful lilies.
If you pull just ever so gently on the quaking grass seeds you can remove the tip to change the grass shape to mimic that of the open cup lilies...
... a tiny touch that makes a huge difference to create a rather uniquely you look for your designs.
Book readers turn to page 257 where I discuss discovering, developing and protecting your own effortless style. For more information about my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman
And I finished my design off with a few sparkling dew drop crystals.
See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how (and why!) I use a pin to place the crystals.
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