My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Mikado Reed Line-up

Creating a good quality armature makes it effortless for you (and your clients) to replace flowers, as they fade, with fresh blooms for an ever changing and long lasting floral design.

Glue Mikado Reeds to a block of Styrofoam.

Start at both ends and work your way in

Turn the design on its side and cover the sides

Cover the back of the design with Mikado Reeds.

Measure the bottom of the Mikado Reeds to make sure the longest reeds are all the same length so that the design will stand firmly.

Glue reeds to a few test tubes and spear the tubes into the Styrofoam.

Fill the test tubes with water and add Alstroemeria flowers and effortlessly sweeping-grasses

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Tutorials
Test tube on a stick
22 April 2011
Test tube on a stick

Include a single floret (such as an orchid) or bundle a few weaker stems (such as lily of the valley) into an arrangement or hand tie by wiring a test tube to a stick.
Reed Cradle Armature
29 June 2016
Reed Cradle Armature

Glue reeds on a wire frame to create a dimensional armature to suspend orchids in
Leaf snippet gift cube
25 December 2013
Leaf snippet gift cube

Cover Styrofoam with leaf snippets to create a gift box design
Related Designs
Make the design
29 June 2016
Make the design

Weave a reed cradle to suspend orchids from
Designing with Mother Nature
20 February 2013
Designing with Mother Nature

Retail florists and wholesalers are already designing, ordering and preparing their product range for Mother's Day. This is my article that I wrote for the Mother's Day Design Issue of Canadian Florist Magazine
Making an effort to appear effortless
8 October 2012
Making an effort to appear effortless

Effortless is hard work! Effortless is difficult to achieve! Effortless takes years! The reward is exactly that; your work will be without effort. My article in the Canadian Florist Magazine