Latest Commissions
Four hearts created from wedding bouquet and venue flowers...
Have your Wedding day flowers beautifully preserved into a bespoke one off artwork keepsake that is completely unique to yours and your partners day.
What better way to remember the perfect wedding day? By using your flowers, colour theme and style, to create a piece of art for your home. Working with, Wendy Ann, the designer to incorporate various elements of your special day such as lace and other sheer fabrics to create your own personalised keepsake.
One or two flowers can be used, partial bouquet or the whole Bouquet, table or venue flowers can also be used.
Fresh flowers, upto a week after the big day, are collected or dropped off at the studio where they are carefully pressed dry and perserved. Each flower stem is carefully deconstructed and delicately pressed between soft layers of paper. Methodically checking the flowers as required throughout the drying process. Roses are hung upside down and dried out whole, to keep their beautiful structure. Several other methods of drying are used as and when required. The whole drying process takes around 6-8 weeks and then the artwork keepsake will be created.
The dried flowers are encased between fine layers of pure silk fibre this giving them a protective layer which can then be embellished. Pure Silk Fibres are layed out in the required size and shape; this is the base layer rather like making your own paper in which to create an image on. The flowers, lace and any other elements are added over this base layer of fibres. A fine layer of silk is added over the top of the flowers to encase them inside the paper all the fibres are guled together. This gives a paper surface which can be stitched into and embellished. A variation of this technique is used for all artworks, flower colour strength is tested before the piece is made and if colour loss is to be a problem the flowers are added at a later stage to avoid getting them wet and potentially loosing colour. Strong colours such as yellows, reds and bright pinks keep their colour well, with more care needed to preserve lighter pastel shades. Your keepsake can be made even more individual by incorporating lace or other dress fabrics, sheer fabrics work best giving lovely subtle textures.
Occasionally I use a dye to paint in some of the lighter coloured flowers this also helps against fading and helps the keepsake last longer and look fresher. The dyes have a strong pigment which adheres well to the natural colour of the flowers and helps enhance white and pastel colours which sometimes can fade to a more yellowy tone. I embellish the flowers with hand and machine stitch, this helps to bring everything together and pull all the elements of fabric and flower together. The piece is then ready to be framed or rewet and stretched over canvas or lampshade. Please see examples below....
Partial bouquet(or small full bouquet)Bespoke framed 25"x25" £450
There is a large choice of frame styles including light and dark wood, silver or white. The artwork keepsakes can be framed with or without glass or some people prefer to have their artwork stretched over a canvas to give a more textural quality.
Full bouquet canvas using a mixture of the dried bouquet flowers and table flowers, veil fabric, bouquet ribbons were hand stitched into the surface to add texture and depth. This huge canvas measures 34"x34" and is a real statement piece!
Smaller canvas and framed button hole were created as bespoke gifts to the mother of the bride/groom and bridesmaid.
Large canvas £800
small canvas £150
Buttonhole with rose petal paper £95
(10% Discount is given for orders over £1000)
Visit Wendy at her Studio at Farfield Mill, Sedbergh to discuss commissions.