My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Tie an Iris leaf tassel

An Iris leaf tassel is a great alternative to a graduation corsage or boutonniere

A tassel (also called a tuft) consist of: A suspending cord, the body and a fringed or ornamental skirt

Split the leaf from a iris plant to make a tassel corsage

Split the Iris leaf into eight with a needle. You can also use a kenzan if you want to have a finer fringed tassel.

Tutorial: Rip fibrous leaves (Flax, iris or typha) into thin strands with a Kenzan. See the tutorial link below

Making the tassel

Gather the bundle of strips in the middle and fold in half.

Tie the tassel body

Wrap a strip of leaf around the fold tightly. Tie onto itself.

Snip the tassel skirt

Snip the strands neatly with sharp scissors and fluff open

Iris leaf dome

Weave a dome and secure the ends with Floral Adhesive

See the Tutorial links below for more information about harvesting, preparing and weaving with foliage

Attach the tassel to the dome

Plait three long strands of iris leaves. Push the plaited cord through the fold of the tassel body. Tie the cord to the dome and knot tightly to secure.

Neatly cover the knots.

Split the rest of the plaited cord open to about five cm of three loose hanging strands. Snip dried iris stems into short sections. Remove the leaves that cover the stem. These are natural tubes and great to cover knots with.

Plaited cord

Slip the dried tubes over the three cord strands.

Tie the tassel

Tie one strand around the place where it splits open to secure with a knot. Slip the tube over the knot and tie. Split the other two strands and tie to the dome. Slip the tubes back over the knots. Check to see whether the tassel hangs securely and straight. Adjust if necessary.

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Tutorials

14 January 2011 Ripping Flax

Flax can be ripped into fibres creating long and versatile strips

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

Favourite Flowers

Iris

Dutch Iris or widow iris are the best known varieties used as cut flowers

Related Designs

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15 June 2016 One tug

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