About a line

Thread leaves through wire

The finish of every design should be flawless. Make sure there are no bits of glue visible in your design by carefully removing all traces of spills.

Folding a garland from strips of a Aspidistra leaf

I tied the strong inside veins of the 5 Aspidistra leaves (that I used to make the garland with) to make my basket armature.

Pike a few (hundred!) autumn leaves to build up a hollow leaf armature

Drill holes in a piece of lumber and insert dowel sticks to create an armature

I wanted my Zipper to be "edgy" rather than "peaceful", so using bamboo or reeds or willow would not be appropriate.

Most stems, twigs and even sturdier branches can be bend into shapes. It takes practice and more than a bit of patience. The main idea is to slowly manipulate the branch without...

Most leaves and foliage can be slightly manipulated to curve or curl.

Pineapple flowers or pineapple lilies, the Afrikaans names for the flowers are Wildepynappel or Krulkoppie and the Zulu name is Umathunga

Stack two vases to create a small gap at the side to keep a leaf upright

Wedge twigs into a vase to create a grid.

Quick and easy: Stack autumn leaves onto a wire for a... tiny table top Christmas tree.

Craft an Eucalyptus Christmas tree

Stacking green stems to create an armature for short stemmed flowers.

Fold and thread an autumn leaf armature for a thankful Thanksgiving design

Skewer a few leaves to turn a single carnation in a bud vase... into an occasion... all by itself!

oh yes, a light an airy design showing off those very first autumn leaves.

Adding the smallest details to absolutely make the design.

When life hands you dyed flowers you make... well creatively speaking it turned out to be not such a bad thing after all!

Viola and chives cleverly dancing upright in a row.

Standing your delicate flower stems in a fern frond.

Adding our own "bit" to our floral design work.

Pleats are accordion like folds of equal width in alternating opposite directions in any kind of fabric. I absolutely love the tight buds of Allium and they represent the...

A Touchstone is something or even someone that you can rely on to evaluate the strength or worth of an idea or concept.

Designing Contemporary Floral Accessories and Body Flowers Article in the Canadian Florist Magazine

The emotions your designs inspire give real meaning to your work. My article in the Canadian Florist Magazine

Spike a few hundred fall leaves to create a cauldron for Halloween flowers

Rip foliage to sprinkle as a light as air flower frog

Thread cane through sticks to make a music inspired armature

My contemporary floral art design demonstrated at the Canada Blooms flower show in Toronto.

I wove my Zipper from just over 300 short, dried rose twigs with tiny thorns on them. The delicate "fabric" at the back of the design is woven rose bush roots. Aranthera and...

Cut a cabbage to create a design platform

Bind a lily to create a trumpet shape as it opens

Weave a reed cradle to suspend orchids from

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...