My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Pleated Pleasure

A Floral Trends Design Group Assignment
Pleats are accordion like folds of equal width in alternating opposite directions in any kind of fabric.

Pleated Pleasure floral art design

Pleated Pleasure

Pleat garland from foliage

I wound my basket bowl shape out of an Aspidistra leaf garland made up of small accordion pleats similar to those used when folding a fan.

Allium flower heads and orchids in a pleated basket

Nestled low in the pleat basket,just off center, is a single yellowish-green phalaenopsis orchid and shadowing it, three tight buds of Allium flower heads. The pleasure part of my design is the Alliums. They are fascinating beyond believe as they twist and turn while they follow the sunlight in the room creating an ever changing design.

Lastly, I draped a knot made of a ripped Aspidistra leaf over the design to break up the tension created by the pleat pattern.

Pleated Pleasure basket from Aspidistra leaves

I used test tubes filled with water to keep my flowers fresh but I could also stand the design in a shallow tray filled with water- it is the basket frame that suspend and balance the design.

When your design is balanced on twigs or legs, like this one, place one of the legs facing forward.
Visually this creates balance but it will also stop the basket from toppling forward once you add the flowers.

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

Tutorials

10 August 2011 Curl Allium stems while conditioning

Allium stems twist and turn and follow sunlight

10 August 2011 Alliums "breath freshener"

Lessen the smell of Garlic and Onion related flowers

10 August 2011 Foliage Pleat Garland

Folding a garland from strips of a Aspidistra leaf

10 August 2011 Free standing basket

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

14 January 2011 Ripping Flax

Flax can be ripped into fibres creating long and versatile strips

Favourite Flowers

Phalaenopsis

Phalaenopsis, Moth orchid

Related Designs

13 January 2016 Once Upon A Time

Stack and glue a Grass Pyramid Armature

25 May 2016 Half the Fun

Cut a cabbage to create a design platform

15 June 2016 One tug

Weave willow bark strips into a nest and weave a bird from flax

22 June 2016 Perfection

Spiral grass to create a nest for the lady slipper orchids

13 July 2016 Woven

Weave a canopy or parachute shaped armature for orchids to perch on

23 November 2016 All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate): Another perspective

This was the third design I did in my "All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate)" floral art demonstration

10 May 2017 About a line

Skewer and line up leaves to create an armature

24 October 2018 It all stacks up

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

9 October 2019 With a thankful twist in the middle

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

27 May 2020 Take a Stab at it

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

17 February 2021 From here in out

An all natural, zero waste design using only plant material.

31 August 2022 Bud… bud… bud… they were feeling so… very blue

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

24 August 2011 Touchstone

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