Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Upright standing besom for the modern witch on the go
- 20 October 2021
- click to send Christine a smile
The word ‘Besom’ derives from the old English ‘besma’ meaning ‘bundle of twigs’.
For a detailed Tutorial on how to make a basic besom broom see the Tutorial below this post.
Curl the ends of three sturdy wires.
In case you are curious as to why three... see the Tutorial below where I explain a bit more.
Giving the broom a wider foot to stand on that would also not scratch the surface.
To attach the wires to the broom handle:
Fold the other end of the wire over...
Match the fold end to the broom handle and wrap the longer part of the wire around the broom handle and the folded over section of the wire to secure.
Fold over the next wire, match it to the broom stick and wrap around the stick and the first wire. Do the same with the third wire.
Space out the wires so that the broom stick is balanced upright on the wire legs.
Follow the besom Tutorial below and craft the bristles around the broom stick. Make sure you drill above the wires.
And keep the besom balanced on the wires with a few more twigs to support.
The decorative bits:
This week I discuss things to consider when you design a floral illusion design like this in a bit more detail in our email. Make sure to subscribe if you are not yet receiving yours. The button is below this post.
Decide on how you want your besom to look. Would you like it to look old and abandoned... as if it belonged to someone a long, long time ago? Or modern and comical? I wanted mine to look like it just came back from the flower market... but it is already ready to go flower shopping at any moment...
For this I added a few stems that curls like it just swept in...
(... if you want to make sure the stems do not really fly away pour in some wood glue to secure them)
Add few vines to go up the broomstick ...
(Secure the vines every here and there)
... with the ends curving in the direction of the movement created by the bristle twigs.
and add a few vines to the bristles.
I have a fun hint for you if you want to tame those bristles in this week's email.
... and a bit of pretend leftovers from the shopping trip that is now part of the design. I also added cobwebs to make it look a bit... well... less cute.
(The cobwebs are actually a clever design technique- I explain more in the email...)
Design note: If you hold by the floral art design rule that Fresh Plant Material Must Predominate, which I do- remember that plant material must make up about 70% of your design. For most of my competition designs I aim for 100%. I sometimes dip into 80% if I have to travel to stage a design.
Book readers turn to page 110 for more information about preserving flowers and foliage. But to get you started I have included a Tutorial for preserving hydrangeas below the post as well.
For more information about my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman
And a few dew drop crystals for sparkle...
And finally a few autumn leaves to pull the theme together.
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