Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Twig Bauble and Succulent Floret Winter Solstice Lantern
- 17 December 2025
Soak a few freshly cut twigs to make sure they are pliable.
Every Wednesday morning (Vancouver time), I send out a design note as an early glimpse at the newest Design and a few notes that I picked up creating the Tutorial that might be useful to you. This week, I wanted to tell you more about choosing twigs to shape into the bowl. If you’re new here, you can sign up below this post. And if you’ve been receiving these notes for some time, I hope they feel like a welcome break in your busy week.
Line a ball shaped container with a plastic sheet to make it easier to remove the twig bauble once dry into shape.
Push the twig down into the bowl...
Make sure the twig really curves into the container so that it takes on the shape you want.
Push the stem down into the container until it is firmly edged in.
When that first twig is firmly wedged into position push in the next twig and hook the stem end through the first so that it also gets wedged into position.
Again bend the stem so that the glass container becomes a mould to shape the twigs.
Keep adding twigs until you have a full bauble shape inside the container.
Set the container aside so that the twigs can dry out completely inside the glass mould.
To make the succulent votive holder cut a large succulent from a plant.
Remove the inside of the succulent.
This section can be rooted again so that you can continue to grow the succulent... we will be designing with the flat base...
I am replacing my wax votive with a battery operated candle....
Glue a neat row of succulent leaves around the foil container of the votive candle to conceal it.
So that it can fit back onto the base of the succulent...
Fold the succulent base up over the foil votive so that it again forms a neat rosette. Try to touch the succulent as little as possible so as to not remove the powdery, protective layer found on some succulents (called farina or epicuticular wax).
Design tip: you might need to secure it with a few drops of glue to make sure the shape looks natural. I found hot glue worked better than floral glue for this. Book readers turn to page 25 for a quick tip on how to remove hot glue strands without wiping the succulents.
For more information about my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman
Lift the dried twig bauble from the glass mould and place it on a display surface. For my design I used a cake stand as my display surface.
Slip the succulent votive into the twig bauble.
And glue in a few more succulents around it.
Add in a few more succulents to the rest of your design.
Tie the twigs together with a ribbon.
Glue in a few water tubes to keep the orchids hydrated in the twig lantern...
place the Phalaenopsis orchids to float and flutter like snowflakes around the design.
Add a dusting of artificial snow to gently settle over the design...
... and finish the twig lantern design with a few sparkling dew drop crystals.
See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how to add the crystals into even the tightest of spots.
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