My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

SHAPE

Wax Design 4:

Chrysanthemum Hourglass
This is my "Chrysanthemums in a new light" arrangement for our Floral Trends Design Group Meeting.
Maybe it is because Chrysanthemums are relatively inexpensive or because of their shape, we frequently see them arranged closely together for impact.
This completely dominates the design.
For my design I decided to go in the opposite direction.

Chrysanthemum Hourglass

The Mikado Reed hourglass is visually very strong and tricky- if not impossible to compete with. I decided to deliberately not compete with it. But I still needed my Chrysanthemums to be the central point of the design so rather than fighting for dominance I decided to use colour to distinguish it.

Wax foundation

I used only two colours:
copper and blue green.

Blue Green:I aged copper strips and coins to show effects of time giving them the characteristic blue green “rust” (Patina). I then made the wax foundation to exactly match this blue green. I also painted the hourglass that blue green colour.
Copper:The aged strips of copper point up into the design to lead your eyes to the copper coloured florets that represent sand tumbling down the hourglass.

View from the top

Weave a long length beaded flax string. Weave a grid at the top of the reed hourglass armature. Tie flowers (in drinking straw tubes) to the string to create a garland. Cut the garland into long sections. Suspend the garland from the grid to tumble into the bottom wax foundation.

Patina copper and blue green.

The entire design rest, both structurally and visually, on the wax foundation.

Flax string and chrysanthemum

Flax string and chrysanthemum

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Tutorials

19 March 2011 Melting Wax for Floral Art

For Floral Art the temperature of the wax rarely exceeds the minimum melting point.

18 March 2011 The Floral Hourglass Wax Foundation

Pour a foundation from cardboard and wax

18 March 2011 Made to fit carrier to transport the wax shape foundation

Although the wax is strong it is also soft and can easily be damaged. I make carriers for my wax shapes so that it doesn't damage in transit.

24 November 2021 Patina Copper

The colour and the effect will vary due to application, temperature and humidity.

14 January 2011 Ripping Flax

Flax can be ripped into fibres creating long and versatile strips

4 January 2011 Drinking straw "test tubes"

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

18 March 2011 Reed Hourglass

Glue small sections of Mikado Reeds into a hour glass shape

Favourite Flowers

Phormium

Flax, New Zealand flax

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum or "mums"

Related Designs

1 March 2011 FLOAT

Reflex Tulip and Passion Fruit Tendrils in a wax disk

8 March 2011 ANTI-BACTERIAL

Waxed fruit and a Hot Glue nest

14 March 2011 MOULD

A mould is a hollow container or profile used to give shape to molten or hot liquid material as it cools and hardens.

29 June 2016 Make the design

Weave a reed cradle to suspend orchids from

24 August 2016 Details

Glue twigs to create a vase shaped armature

23 August 2017 Almost is still not quite

Weave just a hint of the Autumn to come

15 November 2023 Freeze… just for a moment!

Not quite winter but also a bit late for autumn design that is somewhere between sparkle and flying leaves.