Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Wrap a vine around a tiny vase to suspend it from a balanced twig
- 2 September 2020
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Cut a strong twig to hang the vase from.
Design note: I chose a dried eucalyptus twig. Firstly because it is grey like almost all the other design elements. Making sure I pare down the visual distraction so that you have more "space" to notice the design magic happening.
I spoke a bit about using design elements that are magical in my newsletter this week. Are you signed up? Every week I share a tip related to the design so that we can have a conversation about it if you want to reply to the email.
Strip away the dried foliage.
I am using a glass sea horse vase for this design. They are just the cutest! Everyone always asks me where to find these soooo: I buy these from Fusion Flowers magazine by the box load- enough to keep with some leftover to share.
But you can also use a tiny perfume sample bottle or glass tube. For more ideas on cute and unusual water sources turn to page 196/197 of my book. The last one on page 197 works so well that my editor wrote me a special note about it!
Place a long rosary vine deep into the bud vase so that it won't lift out of the water...
Fold the vine down and wrap the rest of the vine over the folded part to secure it.
Be careful not to break or damage the tiny heart shaped leaves but rather use them to secure the vine.
Design note: if you know rosary vine you also know it likes nothing better than for the tiny little heart shaped leaves to catch another heart shape leave. Let it. The vine stays in place without having to knot it because of this natural tendency. Yay nature!
Hook the vine over the prepared twig and wrap it to secure the vase to the twig with the vine.
For more inspiration on how to secure a tiny tube or vase turn to page 178 of my book. In fact that entire section would be helpful if you want new inspiration for using small vases or water tubes in unusual ways in your designs.
Make sure the bud vase is secure before adding water or design details.
Place the twig in a shallow container and place a heavy pebble on the opposite twig end.
Prop the twig up with another pebble on the edge of the shallow container.
Fill the bud vase with water.
Place the orchid deep into the vase... again I do this so that the flower can't topple out easily.
See the link below for a Tutorial on how I cut my orchids from the spike to give me a longer stem to design with.
Add in more vines to twirl around the flower and around the twig into the shallow container.
Carefully resting the delicate ends on the pebble... to create the illusion of a "it just grew this way" design.
Finish the design with a few dew drop crystals.
See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on why (and how) I use a pin to place these crystals.
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Tutorials
It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.
Cut the Phalaenopsis orchid with a bit of green stem attached. This will make them last longer.
Suspend a flower for an unusual but minimalist design over a leaning container lid.
Orchids grow in long flower spikes. It is great to use the entire stem but sometimes you need shorter section. There is a trick to cutting the stems without leaving a visible...
Wire and glue the driftwood at an angle to balance on a pebble
Create a contrasting base to lift the heavy flower-head to design in
Weave a barely there all natural spider web.
Favourite Flowers
Rosary vine, Chain of Hearts, Collar of hearts and String of hearts
Phalaenopsis, Moth orchid
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