Prized for Its long vase life, which makes it an excellent choice for cut flower arrangements, Craspedia Globosa, commonly known as Billy Button, Sun Ball flower, or sometimes just drumstick flowers, is a plant species native to specific regions of Australia and New Zealand. Craspedia’s durability as a plant and as a cut flower also makes it suitable for use in dried floral craftworks, where its exceptional shape and vibrant color can add appeal and essence to creative floral designs and plans.
These charming plants can be grown from seeds, and when started early, tend to bloom as soon as in just one season. And when they bloom, the flowers are distinctive, featuring large, globe-shaped buds that are held on upright stringy stems, which rise above mounds of grass-like leafage. The foliage often has a silvery look. This adds to the plant's general visual charm in landscapes and gardens.
As a cut flower craspedias are highly decorative and a welcome and joyful addition to practically any style of floral arrangement. The Craspedia Paintball™ Pop, which is the subject of this woven in DIY floral decoration tutorial, thrives in the flower fields of Marginpar in Kenya.
Floral Designs Featuring Craspedia
Several popular types of craspedia exist, all of which have specific traits and characteristics that set them apart, such as different colors, sizes, or growth habits. However, the Craspedia Paintball series, which is known for its extraordinarily large bright yellow heads and very long stems of up to 100 cm is one quite exciting variety.
You, for instance, can use it for DIY projects to come up with really exquisite floral design creations. The Craspedia Paintball™ Pop, in this case, has a perfect accent for any such flower designs, bouquets, or arrangements. Plus, you have the leeway to dye it too if you want, allowing for an unlimited array of options in design.
Woven In DIY Floral Decoration With Craspedia
The woven in decoration simply radiates pure coziness! Quite like in the old days. It features an old weaving frame filled with craspedia, miscanthus, scutellaria, twigs, and wool that is woven in between the strings.
This produces a subtle play of colors that is sure to not just attract the eyes, but also captivate the mind. And what's more, you can easily make it by yourself with this step-by-step guide.
The design is chiefly about the variation in size. It could feature craspedia balls of different sizes and shapes. But in this case, they are large and round. And the longer the stem, the bigger the balls get. The size of the balls also has to do with the paintball pop variety and the health of the soil, as well as the age of the plant.
For this inspirational design, you’ll need:
- Wooden board
- String
- Scissors
- Two twigs
- Wool
- Craspedia Paintball™ Pop (50)
- Scutellaria ‘Tinkerbell’ (10)
- Miscanthus White Cloud (10)
The Step-By-Step Guide to Creating the Woven In Decoration
Start by wrapping 8-10 strings around the length of your board, and tie them at the back. Ensure to distribute them evenly over the width. These vertical strings are called the ‘warp’.
Then weave a twig through the ropes at the top of the board by going under and over each vertical string. The twig will, accordingly, be a strong base for your design.
Next, you can now start weaving in your first group of flower stems, like Scutellaria ‘Tinkerbell’ in this decorative design. Two stems are used, each facing in the opposite direction. You also need to make sure to alternate going over or under the first string between each row. After weaving, push the stems toward the top of the board to secure them.
To create a much cozier decoration, you can add materials like wool. This is done by weaving strokes of wool into the warp in the same way as the flower stems.
Just like indicated, Craspedia Paintball™ Pop is the star of this design. So use roughly 8-12 stems per row of craspedia to give them the attention they deserve.
Then continue weaving rows of miscanthus, scutellaria, and craspedia stems and wool until you reach the bottom of the board, and when done, cut off the stems protruding too far to the sides, before finishing off with a strong twig.
After that, cut the strings at the back of the board and tie each set of adjacent strings at the top and bottom, right at the twig. At the top, tie all strings together to be able to hang them on the wall.
And with that, you have created your own natural tapestry. You can then go ahead and find a nice place to hang the decoration and enjoy it!
The Tutorial Video (and More!) by BLOOM's
Check out this 7-minute tutorial video by BLOOM's. The part of the above DIY design starts at minute 4:14.
Klaus Wagener and his team commented:
"This decoration exudes pure coziness! As in the past weaving frame drumsticks of the variety Paintball™ Pop from Marginpar, helmet weed, Chinese reed, twigs, and wool are incorporated between the cords. The subtle play of colors of the tapestry rightly attracts all eyes. How exactly this decoration is created we show you in the video!"
Photos by Marginpar (@marginpar). With thanks to Klaus Wagener and his team from BLOOM’s Deco for the designs and breeder Danziger.
