My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Spinning a Hot Glue Spider Web or silk for a Floral Cocoon

To create a spider web or cocoon you will need a hot glue gun and two small blocks of Styrofoam

Press out a good amount of glue onto two pieces of Styrofoam

Press the two pieces together and slowly pull apart to create long glue strands.

Wrap the glue strands over your design for a natural looking web.

Raindrops on the spider web:

To create the raindrops: spray the glue web with water

Hot glue silk on the cherry twig cocoon

Removing hot glue silk from a design:

Blow the web that the glue gun creates away with a hairdryer set on warm.

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Tutorials
Wood chip and sparkle mushroom cornucopia
11 October 2023
Wood chip and sparkle mushroom cornucopia

A horn of plenty... seasonal sparkle.
Grass snippet globe with T-connections for a (shaded) second layer
27 April 2022
Grass snippet globe with T-connections for a (shaded) second layer

Craft two snippet half moons to connect... and... then add a second layer of grass snippets here and there to shade the flowers.
Upright standing besom for the modern witch on the go
20 October 2021
Upright standing besom for the modern witch on the go

Craft a wire tripod to fit into the bristles of a handcrafted broom so that it can stand freely in your display.
Vase topped with a Hollow Wreath for Halloween
28 October 2020
Vase topped with a Hollow Wreath for Halloween

Create a dimensional wreath by assembling wreath vine to hug around an oblong container.
Arachnis Gerbera-petal-legicus
28 October 2020
Arachnis Gerbera-petal-legicus

The easiest Gerbara disk floret spider... ever!
Levitating Halloween tree with roots
30 October 2019
Levitating Halloween tree with roots

Cut a slit in the branches, at the root side to suspend it over the vases rather than in the vases.
Bat Skeleton crafted from twigs
30 October 2019
Bat Skeleton crafted from twigs

Eerie! Because you use what is there already in the twigs this skeleton looks rather... realistic!
Folded leaf nest
5 October 2016
Folded leaf nest

Leaf armature made of rolled mini Monstera leaves
Blow away hot glue strands
24 July 2012
Blow away hot glue strands

When you glue a structure with hot glue there are always a few stray strands of glue stuck all over the design. Blow it away with a hairdryer.
Twig cocoon
16 August 2011
Twig cocoon

Cherry twig frame for my cocoon design
Fast way to fill a lot of test tubes in awkward places
16 August 2011
Fast way to fill a lot of test tubes in awkward places

I do not believe in arranging flowers without a water source of some kind. I want my flowers to remain as beautiful for as long as possible and I often get quite creative to ensure a water source for even finer stems and blossoms.
Related Designs
Plenty Glow to Harvest
11 October 2023
Plenty Glow to Harvest

Glow and sparkle bark armature to celebrate the first signs of Autumn
Shine Shade
27 April 2022
Shine Shade

Glue snippets of grass into a double layer sphere to create a sheltered floral globe.
Flying Lessons
20 October 2021
Flying Lessons

An easy get ahead with Halloween decoration that will last.
Magic Spell Number 614: How to make absolutely any task you need to do fun
28 October 2020
Magic Spell Number 614: How to make absolutely any task you need to do fun

A hint of a wreath table top design for pre-Halloween decorating.
There once was a bat called Tequila, a Halloween story
30 October 2019
There once was a bat called Tequila, a Halloween story

An all plant zero waste, levitating, twig (with just a splatter of autumn leaves, a breath of spiderweb and float of roots) Halloween decoration with an eerie bat skeleton made from twigs lurking just over there.
I found it this way: Leaf nest design
5 October 2016
I found it this way: Leaf nest design

This was the third design I did in my "I found it this way" floral art demonstration
Cherry twig cocoon
16 August 2011
Cherry twig cocoon

Japanese aesthetic, wabi-sabi, acknowledges three simple truths:nothing lasts, nothing is done, and nothing is perfect.
Forest Experience
12 April 2011
Forest Experience

This was a Flower Fantasy Competition Design staged by the Helderberg Flower Club, Western Cape Association of Flower Arrangers
Spider web covering the design with drops of glittering rain
28 March 2011
Spider web covering the design with drops of glittering rain

Weaving hot glue spider webs