My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Up around the bend

Up around the bend floral art design

Do do do do

Equisetum wreath

Do do do do

Lily and equisetum wreath

Do do do do

Lily, Cymbidium and Equietum wreath

Do do do do... yeah!

Cymbidium and Equisetum wreath

Do do do do

Lily, Cymbidium and wired Equisetum wreath flower arrangement

Do do do do

Lyrics by (John Cameron Fogerty) Creedence Clearwater Revival from the song: Up Around the Bend

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

Tutorials

7 February 2018 Bend Wired Equisetum into a Hollow Wreath

Craft a wreath with a hollow cavity inside to use as an armature for your flowers

3 January 2011 Syringe with tube

Easy way to fill test tubes and easiest way to remove water from a vase

1 March 2011 Paper covered Wire

Cover the wire with the raffia

2 January 2011 Lilies

How to keep Lilies in bud for longer. Removing the pollen. Stringing a Lily Garland.

30 March 2012 Keep pod shaped flowers in bud for longer

Sometimes you want to keep flowers in tight bud for as long as possible to suit your design

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 Glue a forest filigree twig wreath

This wreath is not woven but glued to create a see-through forest filigree

18 January 2012 Butterfly hairclip claws to hold twigs in place while glue dries

Butterfly hair clips are the perfect little claws to help you hold tiny items in place while you wait for glue to dry

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.

7 September 2016 Willow flower crown

Loosely weave willow tips to create an ethereal crown

26 August 2015 Sun baked Sweetpea vine wreath

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

30 November 2016 Barely there Wreath armature

Glue snippets of Baby's breath and grass into a lace fine wreath shape to showcase the tiny chocolate cosmos buds

26 October 2016 Folded Bleached Baby’s Breath Wreath Armature

Glued Baby's Breath Wreath, folded in half to create a moon shaped armature

4 November 2015 Bleached Baby’s Breath Wreath

Glue a radiating wreath from bleached Gyp

24 July 2012 Stacked Twig Roundabout

This is a great way to use all those bits of twigs and sticks in your design room to make a floral armature

29 July 2015 Disk Twig Armature

Glue a few wigs to follow the shape of a glass bowl to create a disk armature

23 March 2012 Curl Equisetum shoots into a snail shell spiral

Equisetum is hollow and jointed resembling miniature bamboo but it can be shaped into spirals by wiring the shoots

Favourite Flowers

Equisetum

Scouring Rush, Horsetail, snake grass, puzzle grass

Lilium

Lily

Cymbidium

Cymbidium, Boat Orchid

Related Designs

14 February 2018 Two Are

Equisetum Valentine's hearts

19 September 2018 Before I show you my book- let me show you my book

… and why we call this the special craftsmanship edition

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...

10 June 2020 All Out

An all out effective way of keeping a flower stem in the exact spot you want it to be in a clear water vase design.

24 June 2020 End Up

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

19 August 2020 All round pretty sweet and short

Frame a passion flower in a vine wreath for a short lived but so pretty arrangement.

28 April 2021 Here comes the sun...

A minimal design celebrating the new growth on twigs

16 June 2021 Dream Rescue

Weave the most delicate grass shelter veil for a gorgeous lily.

7 September 2022 Of the shades to come

This design requires a bit of prep-time so it is perfect to make while waiting for the first autumn leaf to appear…

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 One Singular Sensation

Three Lilies plaited to create a sensational, singular flower "growing" out of a Equisetum dome filled with Rainbow Oasis pebbles.

7 December 2011 Forest Filigree Christmas Wreath

I wanted my Hazel twig wreath to look like forest filigree: mysteriously overgrown, tangled with age and dappled with moss and lichen. The wreath is also dressed with fresh and...

7 September 2016 You are all invited!

My article and Willow Crown design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

26 August 2015 Bent

Weave a wreath from sweetpea stems and tendrils

30 November 2016 All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate): Worth a second look

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

26 October 2016 Harvest Moon

Fold a fine twig wreath in half to create a moon shaped armature

30 May 2012 The Beauty in the Sleeping Woods

As a floral artist I am inspired by the endurance of nature and my work is still re-creating the Sleeping Beauty Castle of my imagination.