Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Light Layer float Wisteria flowers
- 17 May 2023
- click to send Christine a smile
Pour water into a glass display container...
Design note: sure you can simply place the Wisteria flowers in the container and be done with it... but by spending a bit of extra time you get to spend a bit more time working with nature (always a bonus!) but also a longer lasting design.
I tell you more about this in this week's email. Make sure you are signed up to get the notification email every Wednesday morning (Vancouver time) with a little something extra that caught my attention while crafting the design that I think you might enjoy reading about... and chatting about. Feel free to reply to the email if you have comments or questions... or want to say Hi. The sign up is below this post.
Place the chive scapes at an angle in the container...
And start to float the flowers around the chives.
Hold the wisteria so that the keel and wing petals are lightly pinched between your fingers...
... And place it so that the pedicel is deep in the water and the flower floats on the large banner petal.
I also explain a bit more about this in our email.
Cover the entire surface with a single layer of Wisteria flowers... make sure they are floating on the surface but will remain hydrated with their stems in water.
Book readers... Want to take this to the next level? How about adding a dome? See page 171 where i talk about suspending flowers.
For more information about my book:
The Effortless Floral Craftsman
Add in a single chive stem to stand upright into the bundle so that it leans towards the Wisteria flowers to break up the flat surface...
And add a few dew drop crystals to this stem to attract attention and finish off the design.
I use a pin to place these small crystals exactly where I want them to be on even the most delicate design details. See the Tutorial below for the detailed instructions.
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Tutorials
It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.
Wire a sturdy cloud shaped armature to hang a heavier water source for thirsty Wisteria flowers.
An easy fix for preventing flowers from falling out of a container
Create an invisible "stay under water" for blooms that still leaves space for longer stems in a vase.
Part of sustainable designing is designing with the entire life-cycle of your work in mind. Designing armatures is a lasting and ever changing design solution.
Not only is water designs wonderfully refreshing to make... it is also wonderfully refreshing for your flowers.
Use a wet brush to lift any tiny bits of plant material floating on and in the water to keep your container clear.
Flowers naturally float in water. They just don’t always naturally float on water. For that they sometimes need a bit of help.
Fold and peg banana leaves into pockets so that they float freely on water. This is inspired by a traditional banana leaf craft used to cook rice in.
Cut circles out of transparencies to make ripples in the water
Float flowers in a bottle by giving each flower their own little bubble wrap raft-skirt.
Related Designs
Softest Wisteria colour to cool things down on an unexpectedly warm day.
An Autumn Equinox design that captures the moment before the spectacular colour burst of autumn floats around again
Is it better to go Cold Twinkle Turkey and embrace the minimalist living room or rather ease into it?
A mindful summer craft using banana leaves to create a floating arrangement.
One of my trusty tried and tested techniques. When the going gets hot... float your flowers!