Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Sturdy, blossoming armature in a shallow puddle
- 16 March 2022
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Set a shallow container on your design surface. Make sure it can hold some water. This one is deceptive though. It holds a lot more water than you think making it ideal for shallow puddle designs.
Because we are designing in a shallow puddle I advise you to cut the stems flat, rather than at an angle as we normally would.
Book readers turn to page 264 for more details. I rather liked this design.
Build up the armature to mainly balance on three legs.
Why three? See the Tutorial below for more details about this old and reliable trick.
Secure the twigs with floral glue... or wire if you prefer.
I explain why in our email this week. Make sure you are signed up to receive the "lesson to be learned" tip each week that goes with the design. The sign up is below this post.
Make sure the stem ends are in contact with the surface as you glue in the rest of the armature to complete the design.
Nestle in the Phalaenopsis orchids between the blossoming twigs so that it forms a unit.
Fill the shallow container with as much water as possible, testing the stems ends to see that they are under water.
Add in another orchid to finish the design.
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Tutorials
When in doubt, always give your armature three legs. Two legs are simply not enough and four legs will wobble if it is even slightly off balance.
Part of sustainable designing is designing with the entire life-cycle of your work in mind. Designing armatures is a lasting and ever changing design solution.
Frost a few twigs to craft a delicate armature for fragrant freesias
Line a shallow container with fiber to create a mat for the flowers to hydrate and stand in the exact way you want to place them.
A great do-in-advance and reusable design solution for a winter, early spring floral display.
Cut a few willow twigs to split to create legs for the armature
Twirl twigs to create a balanced nest to display the beautiful orchids on
Making a truss out of sunflower stems for a free standing design
Favourite Flowers
Phalaenopsis, Moth orchid
Related Designs
An "it's only 10 days to Spring" design to display some blossom buds.
A leaning twig armature with both the first signs of Spring and the last signs of winter.
A creative design that has some height to it without blocking the view. This can easily be scaled up or down to match the environment you want to display it in.
