Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures
- 22 March 2017
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Pour wood glue in a bowl and thin with warm water
The mixture can easily be stained with water based paint or natural dye such as berries and sap
See the Tutorial below for detailed instructions on how to use natural dye
Unravel sisal fibers from the string (see the Tutorial below)
Soak the sisal in the glue mixture
For this Tutorial I used a balloon and a large exercise ball as a shape. You can also use other shapes covered with plastic wrap.
Set the balloon on a small bowl so that it doesn't roll around while you work
Cover the balloon with the glue soaked sisal
For an easy way to release the air without popping the balloon see the Tutorial below
Variations:
Cover the shape with long strands running down the shape
Set aside to dry completely before releasing the air from the ball.
You can use a hairdryer to speed up the drying process
Remove the ball, and design with the sisal shape
Or:
Cover just the top most part of the shape with sisal
To create a disk shaped armature
Or:
Cover a band around the circumference of the shape
To create a "barely there" wreath armature
Or:
Cover a wedge of the shape
To create a boat shaped armature
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Tutorials
Using fruit, berries, flowers, leaves and grasses to naturally stain design details for floral art relies on the same techniques as using paint or any other dye.
I purchase a huge roll of sisal string to use... sometimes as string, but mostly I unravel it for the fibers
I purchase a huge roll of sisal string to use... sometimes as string, but mostly I unravel it for the fibers
Wrap thin, glue soaked sisal fibers around a balloon or ball to create a barely there armature
The sturdy Protea leaves holds it shape even when dried when pinned into place
Customize sisal armatures by adding a wire skeleton and interesting bits of plant material
Peel away the tepals and bracts from a Protea flower hear to make a large composite flower orb
This is a fast and easy way to hang test tubes in a design
Up-cycle a pot scrubber to get a huge roll of very pretty copper wire
Curl the wire at irregular intervals to create a natural wire tendril similar to that of a passion fruit plant
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.
Using fruit, berries, flowers, leaves and grasses to naturally stain design details for floral art relies on the same techniques as using paint or any other dye.
Apart from avoiding the noise popping a balloon makes this is also a less violent way to deflate a balloon when you make Papier Mache items
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