My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Peel a Protea flower

Condition the Proteas very well before peeling. Gently remove the green foliage.

Clean Protea flower head (or spike)ready to peel.

Start close to the stem and gently lift the outer involucral bracts away from the spike and peel. To make sure the bracts do not get damaged I use a finger nail cuticle pusher.

Continue to remove the bracts working with the natural growth of the terraced inflorescence.

It gets easier to remove the bracts closer to the florets

Peel away the last few bracts

Place a perfect peeled flower head in a test tube to hydrate.

Continue to remove the bracts from 8 more flowers

Remove the florets from the last 6 flower heads in the same way. Make sure you remove the florets as one and be careful not to divide stigma, anthers and parianth segment to make it easier to glue the flower heads back.

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Tutorials
Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures
22 March 2017
Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures

Wrap thin, glue soaked sisal fibers around a balloon or ball to create a barely there armature
Pin Protea foliage into a curl
22 March 2017
Pin Protea foliage into a curl

The sturdy Protea leaves holds it shape even when dried when pinned into place
Skewered Foliage Garland
22 March 2017
Skewered Foliage Garland

Create a garland that dries well with rolled up leaves
Add plant material and a wire support to sisal armatures
22 March 2017
Add plant material and a wire support to sisal armatures

Customize sisal armatures by adding a wire skeleton and interesting bits of plant material
Peel a Pine cone
14 August 2012
Peel a Pine cone

It is easier to peel a pine cone from the flat side than to try and break the scales from the top
Related Designs
Biomimicry
22 March 2017
Biomimicry

A design demonstration and workshop at the Floral Trends Design group in South Africa exploring how we emulate nature’s best biological ideas to solve our modern day design problems.
Protea Composite
5 January 2011
Protea Composite

To create this huge Protea I took apart nine Protea flower heads and glued the tepals and bracts back on to a polystyrene ball to create a large Protea composite flower that is similar in shape to an African clay vase used in wedding ceremonies.
Favourite Flowers
Protea
Protea

This Protea Composite flower with Palm Butterflies is a Bridal Orb Bouquet, to be carried in the hand like a ball. This design was part of my Fusion Flowers Magazine Designer of...