My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures

Pour wood glue in a bowl and thin with warm water

Pour wood glue in a bowl and thin with warm water

The mixture can easily be stained with water based paint

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

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

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

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

Cover the shape with long strands running down the shape

Set aside to dry completely before releasing the air from the ball

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

Remove the ball, and design with the sisal shape

Or:

Cover just the top most part of the shape with sisal

Cover just the top most part of the shape with sisal

To create a disk shaped armature

To create a disk shaped armature

Or:

Cover a band around the shape

Cover a band around the circumference of the shape

To create a barely there wreath armature

To create a "barely there" wreath armature

Or:

Cover a wedge of the shape

Cover a wedge of the shape

To create a boat shaped armature

To create a boat shaped armature

Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.

Tutorials

24 August 2011 Stain wooden skewers with natural dye

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.

28 August 2013 Unravel Sisal string to get Sisal Fibers

I purchase a huge roll of sisal string to use... sometimes as string, but mostly I unravel it for the fibers

28 August 2013 Unravel Sisal string to get Sisal Fibers

I purchase a huge roll of sisal string to use... sometimes as string, but mostly I unravel it for the fibers

22 March 2017 Using sisal and wood glue to make a rigid and versatile foundation for floral art armatures

Wrap thin, glue soaked sisal fibers around a balloon or ball to create a barely there armature

22 March 2017 Pin Protea foliage into a curl

The sturdy Protea leaves holds it shape even when dried when pinned into place

22 March 2017 Add plant material and a wire support to sisal armatures

Customize sisal armatures by adding a wire skeleton and interesting bits of plant material

22 March 2017 Skewered Foliage Garland

Create a garland that dries well with rolled up leaves

5 January 2011 Peel a Protea flower

Peel away the tepals and bracts from a Protea flower hear to make a large composite flower orb

29 March 2012 Use a BoutStix Floral Magnet to hang test tubes

This is a fast and easy way to hang test tubes in a design

5 May 2011 Unravel wire from a copper pot scrubber

Up-cycle a pot scrubber to get a huge roll of very pretty copper wire

5 May 2011 Wire baubles

Make baubles from wire

5 May 2011 Wire curls

curl wire to add to designs

26 July 2011 Wire Tendrils

Curl the wire at irregular intervals to create a natural wire tendril similar to that of a passion fruit plant

7 September 2012 The Three legged trick for Upright Constructions

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.

2 October 2013 Twig garland

Add a dangling garland of twigs to the design

14 January 2011 Beaded wire

Thread thin wire with tiny beads

24 August 2011 Stain wooden skewers with natural dye

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.

7 April 2012 A Neighbor friendly way to deflate a balloon

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

8 May 2013 Glue a Sisal Fiber Bubble

Mix Sisal fibers and glue to make a bubble

19 June 2013 Sisal Disk

Create a inflexible circle armature to hang flowers from

Related Designs

22 March 2017 Biomimicry

A design demonstration and workshop at the Floral Trends Design group in South Africa exploring how we emulate nature’s best biological ideas to solve our modern day design...

22 March 2017 Biomimicry Demonstration and Workshop video

Looking back at the preparations and my Biomimicry design demonstration and workshop at the Floral Trends Design Group in South Africa

8 September 2021 A good September Soaking

Exploring two soaking techniques for a subtle early autumn design

11 June 2012 Wish Upon a Dandelion Star

A sticky shooting star made with gypsophila stems and fluffy dandelion seeds

26 June 2012 Diamond Jubilee Waterfall

To commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee and the 20th Anniversary of Friends of Government House Gardens Society a Horticultural event was hosted in the gardens and...

8 May 2013 So happy together

Glue a sisal bubble for a few delicate flowers to rest in

19 June 2013 This Moment

Create an armature design outside the vase

27 May 2015 Limelight

My RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 Limelight Floral Art Design. My Limelight design was inspired by a slice of lime. But I wanted it to look like it was spun by a butterfly. I used...

9 September 2015 Fall Treasures

A sisal mat armature for fall twigs flowers and leaves