My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

High Rise Twiner Jasmine and Twirling willow Easter mobile

For my design I started by soaking the egg shells in green food colouring

For my design I started by soaking the egg shells in green food colouring.

There are so many ways you can dye eggs. All of them fun. And you will absolutely find a way to dye your floral details (or decide not to... ever) that suits your design personality perfectly.

Book readers turn to page 373 for the bit where we discuss doing a bit more than you have to, to make your work extraordinary. You will find a whole section on natural dyes.
For more information about my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman

Gather a bundle of willow tips

Gather a bundle of willow tips.

Design note: it is so easy to find ways to use fresh tips. You can weave baskets and trays and... and... and... And then some times you purchase a bundle of willow and by the time you get home you find the tips are already too brittle to manipulate. Well, this is an ideal design for those tips!

Line up the eggs so that you can glue them into place

Line up the eggs so that you can glue them into place.

What makes the vertical nest design look rather cute when done is also what makes it rather tricky to get going. The curly willow is all over the place!

Adjust the egg shells so that it is in an almost straight line

Adjust the egg shells so that it is stacks up in a straight-ish line. Glue the eggs to the willow with a small drop of hot glue.

Add in the next willow twig

Add in the next willow twig.

Do not force the twig into position

Do not force the brittle twig into position. Simply see where it naturally falls and glue the twigs together closer to the top...

And close to the bottom

And closer to the bottom leaving the twig to just naturally curve around the egg shells.

Keep adding willow twigs one by one

Keep adding willow twigs one by one.

Add twigs all around the egg shells

Add twigs all around the egg shells by securing them somewhere where they naturally connect at the top, twirl down past the egg shells and again connect somewhere close to the bottom.

Vary the stems by sometimes placing the tips to the top, and then to the bottom.

Create a strong connection to secure all the twigs into a bundle

Create a strong connection to secure all the twigs into a bundle

And glue the twigs to the egg shells

And without putting any force on the willow tips glue the twigs to the egg shells where they naturally touch to make a robust armature that can spin and twirl without coming ondone.

Have a look at the armature from all angles and make sure it is secure

Have a look at the armature from all angles and make sure it is secure... and pretty. Add in more willow twigs where needed.

For my design I am covering the glue bits with moss

For my design I am covering the glue bits with moss.

This is the part of our design personalities that I am most curious about. What is your relationship with your design material? How much consideration do you give what you use and how important is sustainability to you? Do you buy everything you need? And from where? How do you feel about foraging for moss, for example?

See below for the link to my Grow Your Own floral pantry post on how I grow moss.

Simply snip the moss and glue it to the design

Simply snip the moss...

Glue the moss to the design to conceal the glue on the willow twigs

... and glue the moss to the design to conceal the glue on the willow twigs. Use a tweezer to get into the bits between the willow twigs.

Hang the willow nest mobile using fishing line

Hang the willow nest mobile using fishing line before adding the floral details.

Let it settle so that you can see if there is a front to the design

I do this because it is so much harder to hang the mobile so that it settles with the side you want to be the front... to the front. I rather let it settle first so that you can see if there is a front to the design.

It will mostly spin. But there will be moments when the design hangs perfectly still... make that side extra special.

Fill the egg shells with a bit of water

Fill the egg shells with a bit of water.

And add in the saxifraga flowers stems

And add in the saxifraga flowers stems so that it remains hydrated.

This week in our notification email I tell you a bit more about using an armature to keep your floral details in place. Make sure you are signed up to receive the email on Wednesday mornings (Vancouver time) so that you can make the most of this weeks design inspiration... and reply to the email if you have questions or comments. Or say Hi. I would love to hear from you. The sign up is below this post.

Add in a few fresh jasmine vines to twine over and around the willow armature

Add in a few fresh jasmine vines to twine over and around the willow armature.

Make sure all the stems are below the water line so that they remain hydrated

Make sure all the stems are below the water line so that they remain hydrated.

Finish the willow and jasmine armature design with a few sparkling dew drop crystals

Finish the design with a few sparkling dew drop crystals.

See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how to add the crystals to your designs.

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

Tutorials

10 April 2019 Twig cloud mobile

Wire a sturdy cloud shaped armature to hang a heavier water source for thirsty Wisteria flowers.

8 July 2015 Using a pin to place tiny dew drop crystals

It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.

11 April 2017 A little nest for Easter chocolates that naturally hooks over the edge of a container

Weave a tiny nest with a twig hook so that you can hang it in a design

27 March 2019 An eggshell stack and grass snippet arch with a hidden water source for a Spring or Easter design

An almost nest like design with a hidden water source.

29 March 2023 Grow a wheatgrass patch for an almost entirely edible Easter display

Grow wheatgrass to create a Spring patch of green for your mini Easter egg hunt.

13 April 2022 Handcrafted grass and twig basket to hold some Easter flowers

Easter basket filled with (almost... almost chocolate) anthuriums.

5 April 2023 Interweave a dangling Egg outline Easter Wreath Basket

An open egg shaped wreath for Easter styling

31 March 2021 Interweave a criss-crossed nest for an Easter Egg

Zero waste, all natural Easter craft design.

7 April 2012 Just Hatched Papier Mache Easter Eggs

Glue newsprint paper to balloons to make large egg shaped containers to design in

3 August 2016 Hanging Willow Nest

Bend and weave a nest shape from fresh willow stems

8 April 2015 Cane and Willow Nest Shaped Basket

Weave a nest for Easter eggs

Favourite Flowers

Salix matsudana "Tortuosa"

Curly Willow, Chinese Willow, Tortured Willow, Globe Willow, Dragon's Claw, Hankow Willow

Related Designs

27 March 2024 Twiners Gonna Twine

Twining jasmine vine twirl for Easter

26 March 2024 Grow and Cut Moss for your design room

I grow a lot of what I design with... especially the things that you can not buy... like moss

5 April 2017 Easter Bonnet

Weave a delicate Pillbox hat

2 April 2011 Easter Parade Demonstration and Accessory Workshop

Advanced level Workshop: For my Easter Parade Demonstration I made 6 hand-tied designs within armatures. The concept was to pick up the design while demonstrating and to literally...

21 April 2011 Happy Easter!

Spring "Ice cream" posy with a Banana Leaf "cone"

13 April 2022 Hop on… it’s Easter!

A cheery Easter basket for a new beginning

10 April 2019 Just Like Wisteria Rain

Craft a ethereal design from twigs and wisteria flowers

11 April 2017 Well… we did it again!

Blossoms and chocolates for Easter

20 March 2019 It’s all ===> right

Hang a dangling eggshell in a Spring blossom design.

3 August 2016 Practice

Weave a willow bird nest

8 April 2011 Large Open Weave Twig Basket

Easter Basket used in the Durbanville Flower Club Easter Parade Demonstration

8 April 2015 Just think!

Weave a nest for chocolate Easter eggs

27 March 2019 Like trying to find a water tube in a eggshell stack

A fun Spring and Easter design with stacked eggshells.

8 April 2020 Don’t put all your Baskets in one Egg

A bit of a wrong way round pretty Easter design. Put the basket weave inside the egg instead of putting the eggs in a basket.

16 April 2014 Never saw such a lovely day...

Weave a palm thorn garland to decorate for Easter

29 March 2023 To grow a patch of grass of our very own

The first of my new monthly articles about growing the material you need to design with. This month we are taking stock of what we need... and growing wheatgrass.

5 April 2023 Where do you even start looking?

Easter egg... egg for Easter eggs

23 March 2022 Chockablock!

Luxuriously filled design... filled with flowers... filled with grass. But most fun, for us as designers filled with hidden techniques

7 April 2012 Spring Clean

A clean Easter design. The tiny blossoms are Kalanchoe 'Calandiva Pink'. Tucked low in the paper eggs are a few Cymbidium orchids and the twigs are contorted hazel. The...

31 March 2021 Criss-crossed

Hide an egg inside a interwoven nest for a dainty Easter decoration design.