Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Succulent and gilded flameless candle yule log display stand
- 3 January 2024
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Cut a log in half so that you have a flat surface for it to stand on. Drill a few guide holes into the log and glue in thin dowel sticks.
This is exactly the same technique that I showed you before on how to make a "brick on a stick" to display your design on. See the Tutorial below if you are unsure of how to make these.
For my display I kept the dowels long and oversized but it is easy to adjust.
Design note: Add a generous amount of glue into the hole when securing the dowel. The longer the stick the more secure the glue needs to be because it will wobble a bit more.
Fit the flameless candles down the length of the yule log. I added as many as I could to give it a glow of "fire".
Paint the flameless candle with wood glue every here and there...
Carefully rip some silver leaf and place it on the wet glue.
This week in our email I tell you a bit more about how I use or rather guild with silver (or gold) leaf. It is a wonderful and eco friendly alternative to glitter as it is not considered toxic to us or the ecosystem. If you are not yet receiving my once a week email you can find the sign up below this post.
Set the candles back on the log while the glue sets.
Paint the dowel sticks with wood glue every here and there and settle some silver leaf loosely on the glue...
Same with the bark... paint some wood glue every here and there...
And carefully place the ripped silver leaf to dry on the bark.
I also covered some metal bells with silver leaf for the magnetic twig clusters that I used to display the flowers on the snowflakes.
Both the Tutorials for the Magnetic twig clusters and the paper snowflakes are linked below in the Tutorial sections.
Use hot glue to glue some of the bells to the log.
And start adding some artificial snow around the candles and bells.
See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how I add artificial snow.
The idea is to build up little puddles of snow around the flameless candles so that the candles can easily be lifted out to switch them on and off but they are still nestled deeply into the snow to give the design the flameless.... flame yule log glow.
Cut the succulents from a plant. I cut it so that they have a long stem to give them the best chance of rooting again in your design.
After about a week the cut should be calloused over and ready to root in water or soil.
Create a snow bed for the succulents with foam.
Glue the snow sheet of foam with hot glue to create a pocket for the succulent. Pull the foam tight over the stem to secure each succulent in place but be mindful so that you can remove the succulent later without damaging the plant.
Buff away the extra silver leaf and add more artificial snow.
Make sure the candles can still be lifted out and that they are working...
Before topping the dowel sticks with paper snowflakes...
Book readers if you want to try something similar but this time using bleached mulberry bark turn to page 344 of my book for a Tutorial. For more information about my book:
The Effortless Floral Craftsman
Or Christmas trees as I did for my demonstration design.
Next step is to add the magnetic twig clusters for the fresh flowers stems.
See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how I made the twig clusters.
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Tutorials
Fold some snowflakes to display your beautiful winter flowers on.
An easy to remove and put back bundle of winter twigs to add to a display.
It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.
Glue curved twig snippets to craft a delicate winter white Christmas tree
The fluffy stuffing found in pillows create beautiful, water repellent tree skirts.
Cotton balls can be unrolled and fluffed to create long garlands of "snow"
Using all those cardboard boxes to craft a bark covered "log" design for getting a head start on Christmas decorating.
Soft and minimal glow lantern that you can make ahead of time to last all Festive Season.
Add warmth to a space with a softly glowing winter white arrangement
A cranberry lantern to cozy up a white winter's evening.
Favourite Flowers
Rosary vine, Chain of Hearts, Collar of hearts and String of hearts
Echiveria, Hen and chicks
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