My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Display wreath that hover around a big shiny pumpkin

For this design I wanted my wreath to be light and airy so that it just whips around the solid pumpkin like a breeze.

Soak some dried vines in warm water for a few hours

Soak some dried vines in warm water for a few hours

Bend the wreath in a large circle

Bend the wreath in a large circle. Hook the ends into the circle shape to secure.

See the Tutorial below for more detailed instructions on how to weave a wreath

Weave another circle

Weave another circle, this time slightly smaller and weave it into the wreath shape

Extend some of the vine so that it lifts the wreath from the design table

Weave in thin vines to fill in the basic shape between the gaps, and extend some of the vine so that it lifts the wreath from the design table. Make sure it is quite strong so that it can carry the weight of the flower material and water tubes.

Slip a tiny vine snipped under the pumpkin so that it does not roll around in the display

Slip a tiny vine snippet under the pumpkin so that it does not roll around in the display

Add in the tiny water tubes for the flowers and glue in the plant material

Add in the tiny water tubes for the flowers and glue in the plant material

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

Tutorials

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...

6 November 2013 Leaf Swirls

Cut fall leaves to create continuous swirls

4 December 2013 Flower Girl Red Net Basket

Weave a twig wreath for an easy net basket

11 February 2015 Willow Heart Wand

4 May 2016 Loosened Wreath Armature

Snip a dried twig wreath to undo the spirals to hang around a glass container

24 May 2017 Chain link wreath weaving

Weave a few small wreaths to connect

27 September 2017 Tendril vine Wreath Pumpkin

Reshape a vine wreath into smaller wreaths to combine as a pumpkin

16 October 2012 Taco-shaped twig armature

Make a half-moon shaped armature to fill with flowers

26 October 2016 Folded Bleached Baby’s Breath Wreath Armature

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

28 October 2015 Besom Broom

The word ‘Besom’ derives from the old English ‘besma’ meaning ‘bundle of twigs’.

Favourite Flowers

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum or "mums"

Related Designs

4 October 2017 Whipped up in the autumn breeze

Give a loosely woven wreath legs to stand on to hover lightly around a pumpkin

23 October 2019 As pumpkins do this time of year

Hanging pumpkins and tiny vases to create a Autumn mobile floral design.

16 September 2020 The circle of making new things:

A wreath armature design for early Autumn... this takes the split armature Tutorial I showed you last month a little bit further.

30 September 2020 This season all the stylish pumpkins will be wearing them!

A simple way to keep the plastic mesh the pumpkins are sold in from becoming trash: wrap it around the container as an armature for a quick Fall design. Replace the flowers as...

7 October 2020 Let’s circle around to this one

Create a floral circlet to rest the little pumpkin on... but above the water line.

1 September 2021 It’s butter… nuts!

An it's not too early to decorate for Autumn, Autumn design

15 September 2021 Blowing this way and that

Craft an arch armature to display those early autumn treasures.

13 October 2021 Gratitude

A minimal Thanks Giving design that is a modern take on a wreath

14 September 2022 Overgrown S-Autum-mer Swirl

Designing for somewhere not still summer not yet autumn weather...

4 October 2023 So Into Fall

Keep you fresh plant material hydrated in water... and your dried plant material suspended to keep it from falling into the water.

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.

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...

10 April 2011 Feeling Funky

I wove vine wreaths to form a pyramid, one just slightly larger than the next. In the natural cavities between the wreaths I placed the roses and lisianthus in plastic covered...

30 March 2011 Garden Wreath Workshop and Demonstration

Contemporary Wreath Design demonstration as part of the Durbanville Garden Club's annual Garden Festival, Western Cape, South Africa

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

6 November 2013 This is the Fragrance of November

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

4 December 2013 Red, Redder, Reddest!

My article and flower girl net basket design featured in the Red! issue of DIY Weddings Magazine

11 February 2015 Love Spell

Weave willow to create a heart shaped wand design

21 October 2015 Watch the leaves turn

Roll autumn leaves to create a wreath

4 May 2016 Ring-a-round

Open a vine wreath to create a spiral twig armature around a glass container

19 October 2016 There are Octobers

Autumn wreath

27 September 2017 As tendrils tend to do

Curl a wreath with tendrils to create a twig-pumpkin

7 October 2011 Thanksgiving Harvest

Thanksgiving pumpkin with Chinese lanterns and spiral blossoms

16 October 2012 Bright, brighter… brightest!

Celebrate the bright colours of autumn with lilies and Chinese lanterns

26 October 2016 Harvest Moon

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

28 October 2015 On Pumpkin Coloured Days

Create a besom broom to sweep up those Autumn leaves