Ripping Flax

Canary vine tangle in a double vase

Great craft for when you are tidying up the garden before the first frost but would still like to enjoy the vines for a bit longer.

Bored looking Sisal ghost with dangling bell feet

Quick and so easy... I added the bells so that the ghost looks kinda bored now that Halloween is all over.

Turn some gladiolus leaves into a pumpkin vase collar

A collar for a vase that you can use throughout the season... simply replace the water and the flowers inside the vase.

Knot a dragonfly

The easiest critter ever. All you need to do is make a few knots...

Above and below water jasmine in a grass square

Not only is water designs wonderfully refreshing to make... it is also wonderfully refreshing for your flowers.

Suspend a tiny flower over a large water filled container in a sandwich knot support

You don't have to design with a bud vase when you have a bud vase sized flower.

Swing ripped foliage over a mop-head of hydrangeas to follow the natural curve

Gently curve ripped foliage over flowers to add a cooling movement to a minimal summer design.

Hanging knotted foliage hearts from Quince blossom branches

Add a bit of love to your blossom branches with hanging heart knots.

Knot a delicate hammock from ripped foliage

Light and airy addition to a floral design to celebrate summer

Adding flowers to those pretty hand coiled flip flops I made for my book

Step up the flip-flop design by decorating it with some long lasting succulent flowers. It might look delicate... but these flowers are robust and long lasting.

Basket weave in an eggshell

A tiny little basket weave to add to an Easter Design

Hula skirt for a glass vase

Hawaiian Hula skirt for a Luau inspired flower arrangement.

Magnetic Floral Corsage inside a lily pod-bud

Conceal a BoutStix Floral Magnet in a lily bud to design a woodland foraged inspired corsage.

Tie a half bow with ripped grass

For a natural alternative to ribbon or string... add a ripped grass bow.

Attaching a lily bud corsage using a BoutStix Floral Magnet

I love these little Boutstix corsage magnets! They are strong enough to hold flowers neatly in place.

No Foam pave design

Here it is: my take on the one design that people argue is "tricky" to design without floral foam. A low pave design. Not tricky at all! It's actually easier to do without foam. And yes, you can pick it up and place it on a wall for a foam free floral wall.

Creating a secure grass snippet here and there grid

This grid helps secure flowers in place... and add visual interest by being over rather than under the flowers.

Hanging dangling eggshells with a twig and some ripped grass

Pierce eggshells to string it up for a delicate Spring design element.

Curl tinsel

Gently pull the tinsel over a blade to curl

Ripped Flax Mittens

Knot delicate floral mittens from flax.

Coil slip on sandals

Braid ripped flax and coil it into shaped slip on sandals.

Wrap around grass loop and knot armature

Connect strips of ripped grass to create a knotted armature for short stemmed flowers

Bundled Phormium with a secret water source

Rip Phormium to create a freestanding bundle armature design.

Phormium bubble frame

Curl and secure a few blades of flax into a bubble to frame your flowers

Tape a grid around the edges of a container for a table top wreath

Suspend flowers with an almost invisible taped grid

Twirl a ripped Phormium pumpkin pod

Rip the New Zealand flax to create a delicate fiber armature

Bending blades of grass to shadow over a design

Acrylic Spiderweb

For this design I made the inside connection bit on a 3D printer with the spikes made of acrylic tubes.

Binding a lily bud

Binding the bud to let it open in an exaggerated trumpet shape

Sliced Grassy Cabbage

Slicing a cabbage to create an armature for a vegetable design.

Dangling flowers from blades of grass

Knot a blade of grass around a water source to create a free hanging design

Securing a kenzan

Temporarily adhere a traditional Ikebana Kenzan or pincushion to a shallow container.

Weaving a ring basket

Create a wire frame and weave ripped foliage around it

Bamboo scaffold armature

Latch a few bamboo pieces together to create a scaffold for the flowers to hang from

Bamboo panel

Create a panel for the flowers to hang on

Scattered grass armature

An grass armature that looks scattered but is actually very secure

Flower catcher

Keep a flower suspended just above water with palm leaves

Foliage doughnut corsage with a hidden Boutstix Floral Magnet

Wrap a foliage circle to9 create a base for a magnetized corsage

Lightly sprinkled foliage frog

Light as air ripped foliage flower frog

Ladder-frog

Lash the orchid stems together to create a ladder for the flower to rest on.

Messy summer floral nest

Wrap and weave and twirl and dangle foliage to create a spiral nest

Weaving a pod shape from ripped foliage

Weave a pod shape armature

Bird's Nest Lattice

Cherry stems and ripped flax makes a perfect natural lattice to suspend floral material from

Ripped Foliage Mesh

Create a delicate mesh over the design

Tiny Twig Christmas Treasure Trunk

Wire a small twig gift-box for Christmas presents

Ripped Grass Frame

Create a sheltered or veiled design by framing the outer edge of your armature (in this case thick cardboard) with long strands of grass

Braid a Celtic heart knot

Braid or knot a traditional Celtic heart with foliage

Midelino cane coil basket

Weave a hand basket from Midelino cane coils

Stringing pearls

Long blades of thin grass or ripped flax are ideal for stringing decorative beads

Mikado Reed drop shaped nest

A sturdy shape made by binding Mikado reeds keeps the thin strands of flax in place.

Hana-Kubari chopsticks

Splitting the chopsticks or a wooden branch, such as a willow twig creates a natural (and glue-less!) clamp.

Making a parasol

I glued wooden slats into a frame and then wove flax string to create the floral parasol

Tie an Iris leaf tassel

A tassel (also called a tuft) consist of: A suspending cord, the body, a fringed or ornamental skirt

Foliage Weaving

For this tutorial I focus on a simple weave pattern that does not require you to soften or prepare the leaves to be more durable or flexible. This is the starting point in weaving techniques. You can build on this technique to make floral handbags, gift boxes, and baskets, sew it into a curve or wrap it around a vase or cover a test tube.

Unravel wire from a copper pot scrubber

Up-cycle a pot scrubber to get a huge roll of very pretty copper wire

Mud Pie baskets

I made the baskets from plastic cupcake cups.

The Floral Hourglass Wax Foundation

Pour a foundation from cardboard and wax

Reed Hourglass

Glue small sections of Mikado Reeds into a hour glass shape

That day after Halloween feeling

Time to cut down vines... and enjoy them a bit longer in a Halloween display.

this NEEDS to be at the top of my (our?) to-do list

Autumn bud vase collar made from gladiolus foliage.

… And his little flower

Easy support for a single flower... and knot a special secret admirer just to keep it company.

Floral Hurricane

My Floral Hurricane design entry for the BC Floral Art Society mini show competition

It's a Heatwave!

Deep water design for extremely warm weather.

Blue…

The tiniest flower adds some much needed coolness to a summer floral design.

Take a swing at it

A cooling design for early summer days with swinging ripped grass and more than enough water for thirsty hydrangeas.

Hang on, love

A hanging heart design to celebrate love this Valentine's Day.

High-Strung

String up a tiny hammock for a dreamy summer vacation design

Step It Up

Dress up a pair of hand coiled flip-flops with succulents.

Don’t put all your Baskets in one Egg

A bit of a wrong way round pretty Easter design. Put the basket weave inside the egg instead of putting the eggs in a basket.

But... what are you Like?

A fun design... with a hula skirt (...for the cool summer breeze to arrange and rearrange)

All in one pod

Fold open a lily bud to conceal a clever little BoutStix floral magnet for an unusual corsage.

Club together

Last Wednesday I had such a flowery fun evening teaching a collaborative floral carpet workshop focusing on braiding and weaving ideas from my book the effortless floral craftsman … this was my carpet block that I designed for the evening

It’s all ===> right

Hang a dangling eggshell in a Spring blossom design.

Grab your party mittens, flower buds… it’s Book Launch Day!

Celebrating my book launch by knotting floral mittens using the design Tutorial from my book and the template from the free gift template booklet.

Book Launch Day!

Oh yes! Today is officially my book launch day!

It’s not that it is inexpensive… it’s priceless!

Yes, this Coil slip on sandals design is in my book: the effortless floral craftsman, a floral crafter’s guide to crafting with nature ... it is also the first design from the book featured in a magazine: Thank you DIY Wedding Magazine , I am so happy to share finally the this with you:

On the net

Knot a net to rest short stem orchids on.

A Bundle of Pretty

A dried bundle of ripped flax hides a secret water source for the orchids

Hi-Lo

Perfect stems, perfect flowers. Needs nothing more.

Twist of its own

... a quick an easy design. Curl a few flax leaves to frame orchids

How do squirrels Cache a tree?

Hoard a few acorns in the fork of a twig to show off a single oncidium orchid.

Around again

Tape a grid at the edge of a container

Almost is still not quite

Weave just a hint of the Autumn to come

Playing Favourites

A quick and easy Kenzan design

Details

Glue twigs to create a vase shaped armature

A Shade of Summer

Twist and weave a lily grass summer hat

The ties that Bind

Bind a lily to create a trumpet shape as it opens

Half the Fun

Cut a cabbage to create a design platform

Because I think I am making Progress

Create a floral ceiling

Any Which Way

Using a traditional Ikabana Kenzan to place flowers in a shallow container

All white, just not quite

My article and woven ring basket design featured in the summer issue of DIY Weddings Magazine

Be Silent And Listen

Lash a few bamboo pieces together to create a scaffold armature

Scattered

Scatter some dried grass to make a floral armature

Bound to Keep

Weave and tie a decorative catcher to suspend flowers

Come on Over

Weave an open foliage flower frog

Easy does it

Rip foliage to sprinkle as a light as air flower frog

Excogitate

Ornamental cucumbers and air plants, with just a touch of green.

Their work well done

String Autumn leaves to fall down in a design

Of trust… and belief… and stars…

Weave and wrap and twirl and knot a summer floral nest

All it needed

Clean, simple and restrained elegance: a single jasmine stem in a wine glass. All it needed was just a few extra blades of grass to tie it all together. And wings, of course!

Just not Flowers!

My article and woven ring-box design featured in the DIY Wedding Magazine

Natural, naturally

Weave a armature to rest a lily on

An invisible line to cross

Weave a strip to slip around a candle

In one basket

Weave a nest for an Easter design

Just Meshing About

create a mesh to drape over the design to create a soft veil.

It's High Time for Tea: from craft to art, taking a delicious floral journey with weaving techniques

This was the first two designs for my Floral Art and craft demonstration at The Capilano Flower Arranging club

Please have snow… and presents under the tree

Wire a Tiny Twig Treasure Trunk for small Christmas gifts

'Tis the Season

My article looking at contrasts and 6 winter lantern designs featured in the DIY Wedding Magazine

Mr. Stalk, the Seriously Terrifying Scarecrow, on his Day Off

An easy going design of ripped grass and calla lilies. But look a bit closer. See if you can find Mr. Stalk relaxing somewhere between the blades of grass.

Tying the knot and loosening those curls

Romantic rose centerpiece with just a bit of an edge featured in the DIY Wedding Magazine

Tying the knot

Gypsophilla design with Celtic love knots featured in the DIY Wedding Magazine

Just Right! Floral Art demonstration: Own It!

My fourth design in my demonstration at the BC Floral Art Society meeting

Diamond Jubilee Waterfall

To commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee and the 20th Anniversary of Friends of Government House Gardens Society a Horticultural event was hosted in the gardens and Great Hall of Government House in Victoria, Canada entitled British Columbia Blooms.

Designing a Feeling

The emotions your designs inspire give real meaning to your work. My article in the Canadian Florist Magazine

On the first warm day in May

A ripped flax, Ranunculus and Mikado Reed drop shaped nest

In an Oriental Manner

I wanted my parasol design to be thoroughly me, and thoroughly contemporary yet respectful of the guiding rules and methods shared by the different schools of Ikebana.

Pleated Pleasure

Pleats are accordion like folds of equal width in alternating opposite directions in any kind of fabric. I absolutely love the tight buds of Allium and they represent the "pleasure" part of my design

Forest Experience

This was a Flower Fantasy Competition Design staged by the Helderberg Flower Club, Western Cape Association of Flower Arrangers

SHAPE

Chrysanthemum Hourglass

Inspired by Nature

Flax leaves are ripped with a kenzan and wrapped with copper wire and small blue beads to create a rope to weave into a delicate spider web.

Phormium

Flax Christmas tree "cake" for the Floral Trends Design Group end of the year function. "On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... two turtle doves"

Typha

Wedding favour box that I wove from Typha.