Stretching leaves and foliage into a ringlet curl

Manipulating stems: Snapping at an angle, Bending, Spiraling, Curling and Straightening

Most stems, twigs and even sturdier branches can be bend into shapes. It takes practice and more than a bit of patience. The main idea is to slowly manipulate the branch without breaking it.

Curving Calla Lilies

Follow the flower's natural curve but you can also curve only sections to create an elegant crescent or a curve at the tip of the stem

Curling Rattan

Curl and twill rattan tendrils

Curling Kyogi Paper

Kyogi paper can be curled if you work with it wet.

Curl Allium stems while conditioning

Allium stems twist and turn and follow sunlight

Curl Equisetum shoots into a snail shell spiral

Equisetum is hollow and jointed resembling miniature bamboo but it can be shaped into spirals by wiring the shoots

Guacamole Green Coiled Grass Chameleon

My Chameleon is mono-botanical. Made from coiled grass

Suspend flowers above water on two wires covered with ringlet "happy birthday streamers" made from grass

Create a wire platform to rest the fresh flowers on so that they are hydrated but not submerged in the water below the grass dome.

Clip a neat design strip right through 38.46 g (or a thousand!) sprouting wheatgrass for a ethereal Spring display

Mow a gap through growing wheatgrass to display Spring treasures.

Palm and hazel fan together to support perfect to pick Helleborus stems

Winter treasures in a small vase for an uplifting fresh flower display.

Making light of a heavy, heavy pumpkin in double low containers for a zero waste kitchen pumpkin display… a few days before Thanksgiving

A great way to show off your Thanksgiving pumpkin before cooking it… keeping the pumpkin well above and out of the water so that it will not rot and you can easily remove it from the design when you are ready.

Rock steady for tiny floral details

Lean a large pebble in a display container to keep your summer floral details exactly where you want them.

Basket weave bunny tail grid to catch your floral details

A no waste... but still decorative way to keep your flower in place and hydrated in the warm days of summer.

Frond Support for short stemmed flowers

Create an all natural fern grid to arrange your flowers for a summer display.

Lean along armature for grape Hyacinths

A last lean towards winter as the snow melts and the Spring flowers starts to make an appearance.

Interweave a dangling Egg outline Easter Wreath Basket

An open egg shaped wreath for Easter styling

Suspended, suspended buds in a zig zag grass thread

Suspend flowers in tight bud to slip over a folded and threaded grass grid

Dendrobium orchid and grass snippet cone around a glass container

Craft a grass armature to suspend the orchids in deep water from around the outside of your container.

Breezy lily grass ripple

A radiating design that has the freedom of movement to add a bit of a cooling effect on the warmer days of summer.

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.

A Double vase, Sticky tape, Reflexed AND Woven Nestled Grass and Tulip Whirl

so many techniques rolled into one rather pretty tulip nest. Perfect to celebrate new beginnings: Spring and my book birthday... and my online workshop!

Hanging knotted foliage hearts from Quince blossom branches

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

Off-cut stem snippet and grass curl basket

Piece together a floral basket that looks delicate AND overgrown.

Over the edge flower, floral support

Hook the calla lilies over the edge of a vase to create a support for your taller floral details.

Knot a delicate hammock from ripped foliage

Light and airy addition to a floral design to celebrate summer

Interweave a criss-crossed nest for an Easter Egg

Zero waste, all natural Easter craft design.

A tiny pebble to keep it all in place

Keep an orchid and a blade of grass on an upturned bowl... with the weight of a tiny pebble.

Weave a grass Christmas tree

Easy armature design that is actually quite relaxing to do... plant meditation!

Weave a trendy oversized clutch purse with a hidden magnetic closure

A three in one Tutorial to show you how to weave a clutch purse, how to add a magnetic closure AND how to incorporate a ribbon into a weaved design.

Basket weave in an eggshell

A tiny little basket weave to add to an Easter Design

Manipulate Blossoming Twigs To Hang Fluttering Woven Grass Hearts

These peach blossom branches needed only the tiniest bit of help to frame the woven hearts to perfection.

Weave a long lasting (without using floral foam) in a vase floral design basket

Give your woven grass a water source by designing the basket in a vase rather than placing the vase in a basket

Over and under weave floral panel armature for inside a vase

Weave a small panel that fits snugly in a container for a minimal, foam free design that is quick to make but looks spectacular.

Floating Filigree Pumpkin Patch

String up pumpkins and glass seahorse vases to craft an autumn mobile design.

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.

Long lasting Lily and lily grass ball

Keep all the fresh flower material hydrated in water by weaving the stems from one side of the vase to the other.

Letting grass kick against the side of the vase to create a neat and minimal line

Plant material float about in water. To keep it in place it is best to wedge it slightly to touch the sides of the container.

Stack a Stack of Stems to create a sturdy grid Armature... with some height

Stack green lily stems to create an upright mechanic to keep shorter stems in place.

An almost not even there grass grid

... with the help of an old staple technique.

Balance a cake stand lid on it’s side to create a leaning design

Suspend a flower for an unusual but minimalist design over a leaning container lid.

Dried Blossom Caterpillar

Craft a pretty little critter by threading dried blossoms onto a wire.

Weave a floral trap

Keep your flowers in place with an all natural woven trap.

Stacked bowl floral display

Create a foam free stacked design by slipping flowers between stacked bowls.

Lemon Aid Container Stopper

Keep flowers in place by placing a lemon on the narrow rim of the container.

Phormium bubble frame

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

Weave a flat top to tip at an angle with flower stems

Craft a platform to highlight small flowers

Half wire half grass tangle to keep stems in place

Tangle and shape wire to create a half moon for grass and gyp to rest in

Interweave a messy grass tumble

Loosely wrap and weave lily grass to create a planned-messy looking armature

Bending blades of grass to shadow over a design

A little nest for Easter chocolates that naturally hooks over the edge of a container

Weave a tiny nest with a twig hook so that you can hang it in a design

Weaving a Pillbox hat from grass

Use the "over and under" weaving pattern to weave a round, upright hat with a flat top and no brim.

Coil wire and grass to create a spring frog

Twirl and wrap wire and lily grass around a dowel stick to create a spring frog

Detailing a messy edged grass basket

Weave a basket from lily grass and then cut and curl the edges

Flat wire and grass bridal basket

Wrap grass around a flat wire shape to create a delicate bridal basket design

Cane Coils

Curve cane into a snail shell spiral

Folded leaf nest

Leaf armature made of rolled mini Monstera leaves

Lily grass spiral in a vase

Twist lily grass slightly to create a spiral for the orchids to nestle in

Binding a lily bud

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

Let’s

... take a moment of reflection as we celebrate 5 years! Happy 5th birthday to my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman

Spoiler alert: It is one thousand… that’s how many!

Growing 1000 wheatgrass seeds to celebrate adding my 1000th Tutorials to my website... Yay!!!

What’s that word for it again?

A fun way to fan out palm leaves to display some winter pickings

As light as a super thankful pumpkin

Create a almost wreath floral display that is light and airy... looking like it was just harvested.

It’s leaps of faith, grasshoppers

A sunny rock to make your design... not rock

Note to Self

An easy to weave natural grid for summer floral arrangements.

Standing in frond

Standing your delicate flower stems in a fern frond.

The word we are looking for is… fun

A leaning twig armature with both the first signs of Spring and the last signs of winter.

Where do you even start looking?

Easter egg... egg for Easter eggs

Bud… bud… bud… they were feeling so… very blue

When life hands you dyed flowers you make... well creatively speaking it turned out to be not such a bad thing after all!

Wrong on the right, for a right

A glued snipped to create a cooling cone for dangling orchids

The tiniest drop

A radiating summer design that waves in the slightest of breezes.

Take a swing at it

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

Chockablock!

Luxuriously filled design... filled with flowers... filled with grass. But most fun, for us as designers filled with hidden techniques

Hang on, love

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

Carry On

As sturdy as it is delicate basket made from off-cut stems and grass.

Creative Direction

Hang the arum lilies from the edge of a container to support all the other floral details.

High-Strung

String up a tiny hammock for a dreamy summer vacation design

Criss-crossed

Hide an egg inside a interwoven nest for a dainty Easter decoration design.

Have yourself a Merry Cellulose Fibre Christmas: wired snowball pom pom for a woven grass Christmas tree

...ok not really that fancy- it’s made from paper pulp. Some cardboard to wrap the string around… really. In the spirit of 2020- I am inspired by the endless stream of cardboard boxes being delivered. This week I am making loads of snowball pom poms.

Yes… but what would she put in it?

Some floral fashion inspiration: weave a pretty clutch purse

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.

Aerial Odyssey

A closer look at my design at Canada Blooms and The Toronto Flower Show last week. The show was cancelled right after we staged the designs due to COVID-19 concerns.

Parallel Hang Ups

While waiting for the blossoms to open... why not weave in a touch of Valentine's Day love?

Peekaboo

A light and airy (no floral foam but still long lasting) floral design for those days that you are really, really looking for signs of Spring.

This way we connect

Weave a connected panel to frame a single orchid.

As pumpkins do this time of year

Hanging pumpkins and tiny vases to create a Autumn mobile floral design.

All in one pod

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

For a longer lasting Summer

A creative way to keep foliage hydrated for a cool, water filled summer design.

These are my favourite summer things:

A submerged design... perfect for summertime designing... and enjoying!

Add up!

Stacking green stems to create an armature for short stemmed flowers.

Can you see the tiny hint of Sunshine on the tips of the grass?

I left the grass to mature so that the tips mirror the sun bleached yellow of the orchids.

Put aside

Urgh… my glass cake stand broke leaving me with a still beautiful, but now mismatched and extremely inspirational lid...

Blossoming like a Caterpillar

Crafting caterpillars from blossoms

It’s a trap!

Weave a trap to keep your floral details suspended in a square container.

Inna...

Stack bowls to keep your flower stems in place.

Lemon Aid

Use a lemon as a stopper to keep floral material in place

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.

Hat tip

Tip a mortarboard inspired top at an angle for a glass design

Beat the summer heat

Tangle some wire to set flowers in water

Meraki

A grass armature for one perfect slipper orchid

Playing Favourites

A quick and easy Kenzan design

About a line

Skewer and line up leaves to create an armature

Well… we did it again!

Blossoms and chocolates for Easter

Easter Bonnet

Weave a delicate Pillbox hat

Perfect!

Tulips are so perfect just as they are all that is needed is to simply drape their graceful leaves around the flowers

Not yet Spring, Spring but a spring

Coil wire and grass to create a spring

What is in a basket of spectacular?

Weave a basket with dangling edges for a single orchid display

Oh! So clever

My article and Bridal basket design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

Perfection

Spiral grass to create a nest for the lady slipper orchids

The ties that Bind

Bind a lily to create a trumpet shape as it opens

A watcha call it

Weave a sphere armature

Up on

Tie a bundle of grass as a floral mechanic

Bowled Over

Weave a sphere armature to complement delicate oncidium orchiods