My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Mikado Reed Line-up

Creating a good quality armature makes it effortless for you (and your clients) to replace flowers, as they fade, with fresh blooms for an ever changing and long lasting floral design.

Glue Mikado Reeds to a block of Styrofoam

Glue Mikado Reeds to a block of Styrofoam.

Start at both ends and work your way in

Start at both ends and work your way in

Turn the design on its side and cover the sides

Turn the design on its side and cover the sides

Cover the back of the design with Mikado Reeds.

Cover the back of the design with Mikado Reeds.

Measure the bottom of the Mikado Reeds to make sure the longest reeds are all the same length.

Measure the bottom of the Mikado Reeds to make sure the longest reeds are all the same length so that the design will stand firmly.

Glue reeds to a few test tubes and spear the tubes into the Styrofoam.

Glue reeds to a few test tubes and spear the tubes into the Styrofoam.

Add Alstroemeria flowers and effortlessly sweeping grasses

Fill the test tubes with water and add Alstroemeria flowers and effortlessly sweeping-grasses

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

Tutorials

22 April 2011 Test tube on a stick

Include a single floret (such as an orchid) or bundle a few weaker stems (such as lily of the valley) into an arrangement or hand tie by wiring a test tube to a stick.

Related Designs

8 October 2012 Making an effort to appear effortless

Effortless is hard work! Effortless is difficult to achieve! Effortless takes years! The reward is exactly that; your work will be without effort. My article in the Canadian...

20 February 2013 Designing with Mother Nature

Retail florists and wholesalers are already designing, ordering and preparing their product range for Mother's Day. This is my article that I wrote for the Mother's Day Design...

29 June 2016 Make the design

Weave a reed cradle to suspend orchids from