Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Pot-scrubber copper wire curls and autumn twig twirls bud vase toppers
- 4 November 2020
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Fill two budvases with water.
Place two autumn leaves on top of the vases. Leave a gap between the edge and the leaf for a flower stem...
These leaves are dried flat in a book. See the Tutorial below for detailed instructions on how to dry plant material... and why I dry them in batches to dry in different ways.
Slip the orchid stem through a gap in the leaf so that it is kept neatly in place on top of the vase.
Top up the water so that the flower can remain hydrated.
Make sure the stem is just long enough to be in the water without it cluttering the clear vase.
Rest a dried vine over the two vases so that it creates a unit.
Design note: these vines dried in the most gorgeous curls naturally. But if you want to recreate the look I have a Tutorial below for you on how to dry twigs in a curl (or spring).
For my design I added three vines. One placed to point from this side to that side. One placed from that side to this... and one to give the slightest bit of height at around the middle point.
Design note: when you create a horizontal design add width to the design rather than height.
My favourite kind of wire... up-cycled by unraveling it from a copper pot scrubber.
The flat wire is just fantastic. I discovered it designing for a budget friendly demonstration years ago where I needed a generous amount of wire. But it has now become my go-to copper wire. What makes it particularly suitable for designing is that you can curl it as you do ribbon. You know that trick of pulling ribbon over the edge of a knife or scissors? Exactly like that! Gorgeous. See the Tutorial below for detailed instructions on How to unravel the copper pot scrubber, How to curl it and as a bonus How to make beaded wire if you want to add that rather.
Fold the wire at one end and hook it into the design.
Newsletter subscribers: your tip for this week is about this fold... the why and a bit more on the how. Make sure you are signed up to receive the once a week email when the new design is ready and read more about my inspiration and insider tips about the design. Also feel free to reply to the email if you have any advice or questions.
And glue a leaf to the other end.
Allowing the leaf to dangle down as if twirling and falling in the autumn breeze.
Design note: If the vase is filled with twigs it will spoil this effect by distracting from the delicate copper curls.
To finish the design, drape a copper curl over the horizontal twigs from one end to the other.
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