My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Strangeness

Tillandsia, Spanish moss and rosary vine on a willow wreath

"There is

Succulent and Air Plant wreath

no

Tillandsia and rosary vine

exquisite beauty

Tillandsia and rosary vine wreath

without

Tillandsia on a wreath

some strangeness

Strangeness floral art design

in the proportion."

Ligeia (Bacon, Lord Verulam), by Edgar Allan Poe (published 1838)

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

Tutorials

17 August 2016 Hanging Tillandsia

There are many ways to hang your air plants in a design. In this Tutorial I explore three

9 July 2014 Taking care of Tillandsia

Conditioning and growing air plants

9 July 2014 Designing with Tillandsia

Air plants need special design consederations

1 November 2011 Weaving a twig wreath

For my design I wanted the wreath to look wind blown so I added a few loosely woven twigs into the weave. I also wanted to emphasize the autumn colours so I added a twirling...

7 December 2011 Hang a wreath on a door without knocking nails into the door face

I use two methods (or a combination of both) to attach a wreath to a door.

3 September 2014 Glued Twig Snippet Wreath

Small little twigs are glued to create a lace-like wreath

8 July 2015 Overgrown Willow web inspired by a traditional Dream-catcher

I wanted my willow armature to hint of a web-like dreamcatcher that grows in the wild rather than being a precise replica of the traditional craft technique. But I did weave it...

26 August 2015 Sun baked Sweetpea vine wreath

A perfect way to use a Lathyrus vine after all it flowered

Favourite Flowers

Tillandsia

Air plants

Ceropegia woodii

Rosary vine, Chain of Hearts, Collar of hearts and String of hearts

Salix matsudana "Tortuosa"

Curly Willow, Chinese Willow, Tortured Willow, Globe Willow, Dragon's Claw, Hankow Willow

Related Designs

19 October 2016 There are Octobers

Autumn wreath

29 March 2017 A Twirl

Suspend a wire chandelier design to twirl

24 May 2017 Link

weave a few wreaths to link

14 March 2018 Old, new trends

My article and willow birdcage design for wedding rings featured in DIY Weddings Magazine.

15 May 2019 Heard it through the grapevine?

Have you heard? I have wonderful news this week. Oh! and I also have this pretty grapevine armature shaped like the petals of an open rose to show you. But... Have you heard...

11 September 2019 Transition into Fall

A sustainable, absolutely no waste floral design using willow to suspend your flower head in your arrangement.

18 September 2019 It’s a sugar rush!

A perfectly imperfect wild willow wreath to display the first Autumn treasures of the year.

24 June 2020 End Up

Connect small wreaths to create a pretty summer armature to arrange your flowers on.

7 April 2021 First we learn HOW to design… and then we learn how only WE design.

Whipped up to be light in the Spring breeze wreath design.

1 March 2023 … ish

An early... ish Spring basket glued from blossom twigs

23 October 2012 Everlasting

Design Inspiration Video: Take a few twigs, snippets of air plants and succulents and combine both traditional wire and tape techniques with more contemporary methods to embed a...

13 January 2016 Once Upon A Time

Stack and glue a Grass Pyramid Armature

20 March 2013 The power of reinvention

Retail florists and wholesalers are already designing, ordering and preparing their product range for prom. This is my article that I wrote for the Prom Design Issue of Canadian...

9 July 2014 Us two

Wedge a twig into a container to grow your air plants on

20 November 2013 Excogitate

Ornamental cucumbers and air plants, with just a touch of green.

20 January 2011 The last Vine Wreath

Every designer knows how to stretch their supplies. We use and re-use our dried plant material until our fellow designers feel like hiding it from us. I formed such an...

3 April 2011 Bark Wreath

I needed the wreath to be as light as possible to make sure it would "dance in the rain" on the flexible metal stand.

8 April 2011 Large Open Weave Twig Basket

Easter Basket used in the Durbanville Flower Club Easter Parade Demonstration

11 April 2011 Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society at the Cape Town Convention Centre.

Bright and sunny cymbidium orchids and roses, lilies, lisianthus and pincushions

12 April 2011 Intimate Dinner For Two- Table Setting Competition Class

Floral Sushi Dinner, for two

1 November 2011 On The Street Where You Live

A floral design snapshot of what it looks like when walking down the streets of Vancouver this week.

5 January 2012 Designing Your Way to Profits

Floral Craftsmanship Article in the Canadian Florist Magazine

25 January 2012 Three Drops of Floral Chocolate

The design drips down in three tiers each celebrating life, love and connection.

12 August 2012 A Twist on Tradition

August is the month for retail florists and wholesalers to start designing, ordering and preparing their product range for the Christmas and Festive Season. This is my article...

22 September 2012 Turning of the leaves

An Autumn Equinox design that captures the moment before the spectacular colour burst of autumn floats around again

6 November 2013 This is the Fragrance of November

Weave a wreath to thread a dome for an Autumn leaf design

29 January 2014 Glued to stay just so

Wire and glue a twig armature

26 March 2014 You are not done

Retail florists and wholesalers are already designing, ordering and preparing their product range for prom. This is my article that I wrote for the Prom Design Issue of Canadian...

3 September 2014 What's done is done

My article and lace fine wreath design featured in the Autumn issue of DIY Weddings Magazine

8 July 2015 How To Catch A Dream

Take inspiration from a traditional Dream-catcher design to create a floral armature

26 August 2015 Bent

Weave a wreath from sweetpea stems and tendrils