My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Cut spiked flower stems and foliage into short sections

Cut oncidium orchids into short sections

Orchids grow in long flower spikes.

Oncidium orchids cut short

Cut the flower from the main stem just where the stems connect.

Cut the Brassia orchid at an angle

Cut the stem at an angle

Cut the flower from the spike

This creates a neat cut without appearing like it was shortened but rather as if the flowers grew on a short stem that opened all the way to the top.

Flower cut from the stem

It is always best to cut an orchid so that you can condition it with a bit of the green stem but sometimes you want only a single flower from the stem.

Cut the side stem from the main stem

The same holds true for foliage. Cut the side stem from the main stem just where the stems connect.

This creates a stem that is as long as possible but still looks natural

This creates a stem that is as long as possible but still looks natural

The cut becomes almost invisible

The cut becomes almost invisible without leaving a visible blunt stem.

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

16 August 2011 Cherry twig cocoon

Japanese aesthetic, wabi-sabi, acknowledges three simple truths:nothing lasts, nothing is done, and nothing is perfect.

10 April 2013 Unthinkably good things

Oncidium orchids hiding in a woven grass cup. This Design Tutorial is featured on The Conna Flower and Garden Club (Ireland) website. It is part of their Floral Art Lessons...

18 December 2013 Jingle Belling

Glue a stacked twig round-about to use as a Christmas table top wreath

29 October 2014 Frightfully Pretty

Weave a single strand Spanish Moss spider web

17 December 2014 Star of Wonder

Glue pine needles into star shapes

31 December 2014 The sound of a kiss

Stack and glue twigs into a table top heart

7 January 2015 Any Which Way

Using a traditional Ikabana Kenzan to place flowers in a shallow container

4 November 2015 Delicate

Bleached Gypsophila wreath with delicate autumn touches

11 November 2015 Balancing Act

Bend dried fall leaves to balance on the edge of a glass container

30 March 2016 A Point of Support

My contemporary floral art design demonstrated at the Canada Blooms flower show in Toronto.

28 September 2016 I found it this way: Wasp nest design

This was the second design I did in my "I found it this way" floral art demonstration

26 October 2016 Harvest Moon

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

28 June 2017 Somewhere in the Middle

Skewer Dracaena leaves into a roll that supports a tiny water source for the Oncidium orchids

9 August 2017 Hat tip

Tip a mortarboard inspired top at an angle for a glass design

28 March 2018 Walking on eggshells

Fill eggshells with moss to create an upright container... with a surprising balancing trick.

10 October 2018 From A... for Acer to Z… for Zantedeschia

This week we look at the design featured in the Flower Guide Chapter at the very end of my book

10 April 2019 Just Like Wisteria Rain

Craft a ethereal design from twigs and wisteria flowers

24 April 2019 Put aside

Urgh… my glass cake stand broke leaving me with a still beautiful, but now mismatched and extremely inspirational lid...

1 May 2019 Can you see the tiny hint of Sunshine on the tips of the grass?

I left the grass to mature so that the tips mirror the sun bleached yellow of the orchids.

3 July 2019 Taking a Breather

A relaxing summer design that spins gently in the wind

7 August 2019 Point Out: this is a single bunch of gladiolus!

Cut stems of Gladiolus to place in a radiating summer design.

18 September 2019 It’s a sugar rush!

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

26 August 2020 It starts with WHY

Add design elements that serves a purpose for a minimal summer inspired floral design.

2 September 2020 Last full Moon of summer

All natural design using the design elements as mechanics.

9 August 2023 Look at me… doing math!

Adding our own "bit" to our floral design work.