My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Woven lily grass parachute armature

Place a few blades of grass in a horizontal position on a flat working surface

Place a few blades of grass in a horizontal position on a flat working surface

See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how to weave with foliage

Start to weave blades of grass

Start to weave blades of grass

I used a simple over and under pattern

I used a simple over and under pattern

Adjust the weave to secure

Adjust the weave to secure with the blunt side of a cuticle pusher

Extend the stems to the side with a wide angle

Extend the stems to the side with a wide angle

Cut the stems

Cut the stems to the same length

Gather the stem ends in your hand

Gather the stem ends in your hand

Carefully lift the woven grass as a unit

Carefully lift the woven grass as a unit

And set the stems in vases filled with water

And set the stems in vases filled with water

Adjust the weave to secure with the blunt side of a cuticle pusher

Adjust the weave to secure with the blunt side of a cuticle pusher

Glue in tiny drinking straw test tubes to keep the orchids hydrated

Glue in tiny drinking straw test tubes to keep the orchids hydrated

See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how I make test tubes from drinking straws

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

Tutorials

4 January 2011 Drinking straw "test tubes"

When you need to keep a tiny stem hydrated this is just what you need.

8 June 2011 Foliage Weaving

For this tutorial I focus on a simple weave pattern that does not require you to soften or prepare the leaves to be more durable or flexible. This is the starting point in...

20 December 2011 Weaving a gift box with a lid from palm leaves

A great all natural gift decorating alternative

1 February 2012 Weaving a diagonal green grass basket

Once you figure out how to do the corners weaving a diagonal shape is actually not that hard to do.

17 July 2012 Guacamole Green Coiled Grass Chameleon

My Chameleon is mono-botanical. Made from coiled grass

3 April 2013 Twin Leaf Weave

Weave two palm leaves together to create a floral grid

14 January 2015 Weaving Slippers from Foliage

Weave slip on shoes from palm leaves

Related Designs

13 July 2016 Woven

Weave a canopy or parachute shaped armature for orchids to perch on

17 May 2017 Nobody move!

Weave a small basket with a lid to keep fluffy treasures in

19 July 2017 Meraki

A grass armature for one perfect slipper orchid

9 August 2017 Hat tip

Tip a mortarboard inspired top at an angle for a glass design

29 May 2019 Creative Competition

This week I am so excited to share my article and design that was published in the recent issue of the Floral Art Society of New Zealand's Academy Magazine for NZ qualified...

15 January 2020 This way we connect

Weave a connected panel to frame a single orchid.

26 February 2020 To top it all off

This is a great "space-keeper" design. The tulip will continue to grow into the vase height as they open... but until then the grass platform part of the design diverts your...

10 March 2021 The way we curve

Tiny minimal design that explores curves.

17 March 2021 A scoop of pretty

A tiny budvase design that rearranges basic ingredients, such as a single leaf and an orchid to create a new design concept.

9 June 2021 Making Waves

A quick and easy to do cascade design for summer.

16 June 2021 Dream Rescue

Weave the most delicate grass shelter veil for a gorgeous lily.

2 February 2022 Putting my feelers out

Adding just a little something to a bud vase design to connect them... and make it special.

2 March 2022 The thing!?! Do you remember the thing?!?

A design that visually plays with good proportions to allow the sheltered flower to be the focal point.

24 August 2022 Hot air balloon

A grass bubble to frame two of the most beautiful calla lilies.

5 April 2023 Where do you even start looking?

Easter egg... egg for Easter eggs

26 July 2023 Column… try it flower buddies

A bottom to the top... top to the bottom support to help keep your summer flowers hydrated.

23 August 2023 Note to Self

An easy to weave natural grid for summer floral arrangements.

25 October 2023 Go on Autumn… glow!

Mixing permanent and fresh design ingredients to celebrate just how clever the glow of Autumn is.

1 May 2024 Favourite Take-Away

Basket weave container for some Spring floral treasures.

17 July 2024 Refresh-ing

A tall vase for a short orchid stem summer design

7 April 2011 Weaving with Flax

Here are a few more examples of woven flax. I also use Typha, palm, iris leaves, Kyogi paper, boat orchid leaves and aspidistra to weave with.

12 April 2011 "On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... two turtle doves"

Flax Christmas tree "cake" for the Floral Trends Design Group end of the year function.

14 September 2011 Cool, Collected and Contemporary

My take on harnessing elegance, simply looped from lily grass. Cool, as in attention-grabbing idea. Collected, as in held together. And contemporary as in the latest thing

20 December 2011 Our finest gifts we bring,

A small, all natural gift box woven from palm

8 May 2012 Skipping stone

Weave a grass pebble for the orchid to nestle in.

1 October 2012 How to catch a dew drop:

Weave a sphere from grass to catch a precious and exquisite and perfect glistening early autumn dew drop

12 March 2014 Petrichor

A minimalist design in a shallow tray

23 April 2014 Bound to Keep

Weave and tie a decorative catcher to suspend flowers

14 January 2015 Take a load off

Weave slippers from foliage