Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Shelter grass veil for a round container
- 16 June 2021
- click to send Christine a smile
Secure a Kenzan to the bottom of a display container
If you are unsure of using a Kenzan (they are amazing!) turn to page 160 of my book- you will find loads of information. To get you started I have included a detailed Tutorial on how to secure a Kenzan below this post.
For more information about my book:
The Effortless Floral Craftsman
Place a beautiful lily flower into the Kenzan teeth
Place sea glass pebbles over the Kenzan to conceal it.
Design note: urgh! we all want flowers to look absolutely flawless in our design. But what a waste to completely discard such a beautiful flower just because it has a few bruises. Here is a clever way of concealing imperfections...
Weave your sturdiest blade of grass over the container...
For me this will always be in a slightly off center position so that the veil falls slightly to one side. But you can adjust this to suit your own style.
Weave your next stem to cross over the first.
This week in our email I tell you about a memory of mine from the Chelsea flower show and discuss the habit-tip that absolutely saved my design.
Weave in the next blade of grass and if you need to, secure it like I mention in the email.
Once you have a stable veil add a few strategic blades of grass that cross over the flower and hides any imperfections from view.
Add in a row of dew drop crystals. I use a corsage pin to add my crystals. It is such a delicate way to place these crystals without ever disturbing the design (see our email) or bruising even the most delicate petals. You can read more about this in my book but I also have a Tutorial for you on my how... and why below this post.
Add in the last few blades of grass to finish the design.
... and now...
newsletter subscribers... we give the design a...? to test the design to make sure it is stable.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.
Tutorials
Temporarily adhere a traditional Ikebana Kenzan or pincushion to a shallow container.
Keep all the fresh flower material hydrated in water by weaving the stems from one side of the vase to the other.
A cool and minimal floral design for summer.
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...
Weave a canopy or parachute shaped armature in a way that you can place the stems in two vases to keep it hydrated.
It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.
Tulips continue to grow as they open. This means you not only have to be mindful of their proportions as they are now... but also as they will be once open.
Craft a wreath with a hollow cavity inside to use as an armature for your flowers
How to keep Lilies in bud for longer. Removing the pollen. Stringing a Lily Garland.
Snip, roll and glue a few blades of grass to create a design feature
Favourite Flowers
Lily
Related Designs
Adding just a little something to a bud vase design to connect them... and make it special.
A cooling design for early summer days with swinging ripped grass and more than enough water for thirsty hydrangeas.
A small design to display those last Spring snippets from your garden...
It's the little sun-washed coloured hints that makes you look again to see if you really saw what you thought you saw... yes! There really are signs of autumn everywhere!
Creating a larger sustainable floral design by clustering the floral details into bunches.
... take a moment of reflection as we celebrate 5 years! Happy 5th birthday to my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman
A creative way to keep foliage hydrated for a cool, water filled summer design.
Loop a grass veil over a lily stem to create a minimalist summer design.
Three Lilies plaited to create a sensational, singular flower "growing" out of a Equisetum dome filled with Rainbow Oasis pebbles.
It's not really what we call things that matter but what they are made of- in this design, it's made of all three types of Oasis and wool.
Loosely weave grass to create a decorative grid keeping flowers in place over a square container.
After a long winter it is always fun to use the first spring bulb flowers!
Weave a sphere from grass to catch a precious and exquisite and perfect glistening early autumn dew drop
This is a great "space-keeper" design. The tulip will continue to grow into the vase height as they open... but until then the grass platform part of the design diverts your...
Bright and sunny cymbidium orchids and roses, lilies, lisianthus and pincushions