My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Hovering golden wheat Ghost Ship armature

Place a wide container on your working surface

Place a wide container on your working surface.

Pour some water in the container

Pour some water in the container.

Glue a reedy stem end of wheat to the container with hot glue

Glue a reedy stem end of wheat to the container with hot glue.

Glue in another wheat stem

Glue in another golden wheat stem.

And a third dried wheat stem next to that

And a third dried wheat stem next to that.

Make sure these are sturdy pieces and add a bit more glue than needed. The dried plant material hangs from these supporting stems.

Start to build up the ghost ship shape by connecting the wheat stems

Start to build up the ghost ship shape by connecting the wheat stems.

Glue in the next section to connect the other two wheat stems

Glue in the next section to connect the other two wheat stems.

This shapes the basic hull of the ghost ship

This shapes the basic hull of the ghost ship from which the design is sculpted.

Place some spray roses between the wheat stems

Place some spray roses between the wheat stems...

Book readers turn to page 265 of my book before cutting the stems for a tip on how to help the roses stand upright.
For more information about my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman

And add in wheat stems to anchor the roses in place

And add in wheat stems to anchor (see what I did there? :o) ... the roses in place.

Place the next stem of spray roses

Place the next stem of spray roses...

And anchor them in place

... And anchor them in place with wheat.

Fill the space with spray roses and neatly keep them upright with stems

Fill the space with spray roses and neatly keep them upright with stems.

Turn the design around and start adding support stems from the back

Turn the design around and start adding support stems from the back.

And add a few spray roses into the the gaps

And add a few spray roses into the the gaps.

Anchor the roses with wheat stems

Anchor the roses with wheat stems.

Next we add in the wheat

Next we add in the wheat

Last week we tamed the twigs (remember the hot glue hair net in our email?) this week we do the exact opposite. Do not glue the wheat part, only the reed part.

Make sure the wheat part point up

I do this to avoid even the slightest hint of a droopy look to my design. When adding stems, even stems like dried wheat always make sure it looks fresh and vibrant rather than droopy and wilting. A sure fire way is to glue in things with a natural angle to point... up.

Turn the design and add wheat all around to create a golden ghost ship shape around the roses

Turn the design and add wheat all around to create a golden ghost ship shape around the roses.

Add some parallel stems

Adjust the spray roses to be perfectly upright (see our email of this week for how) and add in some parallel stems to mirror the spray rose stems to create a sailboat mast look with towering poles mounted to the deck of the ghost ship.

For a bit more about these parallel lines and this week's tip on how to keep them at least almost straight see our email. If you are not yet signed up to receive the once a week email you can sign up below this post.

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

Tutorials

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.

4 August 2021 Scattered dried grass with raindrop crystals

Craft a light and airy grass halo to suspend tiny drop crystals around gorgeous roses.

23 September 2020 All dried Autumn hemisphere design that will outlast even the falling leaves outside

Preserve some floral material to design with when it is but not quite Autumn outside.

19 February 2020 Twig snippet pillar armature

A great do-in-advance and reusable design solution for a winter, early spring floral display.

6 September 2011 Twig collar

Create a light and transparent collar-base for the large composite flower to nestle into.

11 May 2016 Twig snippet vase armature

Glue twig snippets to closely follow the shape of a glass vase

24 July 2012 Stacked Twig Roundabout

This is a great way to use all those bits of twigs and sticks in your design room to make a floral armature

6 February 2019 Winter White Twig Screen

Glue twigs to screen delicate flowers for a wintry design.

14 October 2020 On the edge grid for a decorative twig and reed armature

Place the floral details strategically on the edge of sturdier parts of the armature to keep the reed grid from collapsing under the weight of the floral details.

17 July 2019 Twig Dome Armature

Crafted from a hand full of twigs to give you a large design... even though you add only two stems of sweet peas.

8 June 2016 Popsicle Stick Square Armature

Glue Popsicle sticks to create a double layered, upright armature

Favourite Flowers

Rosa

Rose

Related Designs

27 October 2021 Ship Shape

The dry wheat stems are suspended from the outside of the container so that they remain dry and the flower stems can gently rest inside to remain hydrated.

1 June 2022 Found it!

A very secure thorn branch armature to hold overgrown Tulips in place

27 July 2022 Wrong on the right, for a right

A glued snipped to create a cooling cone for dangling orchids

18 January 2023 Getting the Band Back Together Again

Glue a band of snow dusted twigs to create a delicate armature for winter treasures.

31 May 2023 Notice That?/!

Light and airy... like a wonderful breeze on a hot summer day grass and erigeron display.

4 August 2021 Counting Raindrops

Grass crisscross that makes you want to lean in closer to count the late summer raindrops around these gorgeous roses.

23 September 2020 Getting a head start on all that Fall-ing

Floral styling using mostly dried material that will last the entire Autumn.

19 February 2020 The Upside of being Inside

A creative design that has some height to it without blocking the view. This can easily be scaled up or down to match the environment you want to display it in.

6 September 2011 When Autumn Fall

Autumn leaf composite flower

11 May 2016 Pour

Glue a twig vase and melt some plastic to create a tumbling design

24 July 2012 A little bit of Art and Soul

A twig structure with roses

6 February 2019 Tread softly on winter

A delicate winter twig armature to show off the delicate beauty of these early spring coloured tulips.

14 October 2020 Stick it out… the creative spirit version

Soft minimal Fall armature making it easy to replace the flowers as the season progress.

17 July 2019 … and... a bit more... effort… to make it special

Instead of just placing a handful of twigs and two stems of sweet peas in a vase... why not...?

2 October 2019 Cross-hatch a Shadow Bright Autumn

A clever trick borrowed from art techniques to add dimension to a bright and colourful Autumn floral design.

8 June 2016 When the wind whisper

Glue a fantasy forest from Popsicle sticks, grape vine tendrils and willow tips