About fabric dyes I use to colour my flowers

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Often I am asked what sort of dyes I use to colour fabrics for my pieces. And it is a very relevant question as not any fabric dyes could be used for our purposes. To start with I can say that acrylic fabric dyes are not suitable for a number of reasons. First, they are quite thick, they coat the fabric rather than just penetrate it thus changing the texture of it and they also stick to the millinery tools when we shape petals or leaves.
The right dyes to use when making silk flowers are so called aniline dyes, synthetic dyes that come in either liquid or powder form.
I started with these Russian made aniline dyes, which come in 11 rather strange completely artificial colours. They need careful mixing before one can come up with a suitable delicate colour to use on flowers.

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Butterflies for a wedding hairdo

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Recently I accepted a custom order for a set of 5 silk butterflies to decorate a bridal hairdo. The bride-to-be has taken her inspiration from this Pinterest photo and wanted a similar hair style

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Oversized rose headdress

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I have finally finished this custom oversized rose headdress. This was an experimental piece, the one your customers inspire you to dare and do it by ordering something quirky. You try your best and come up with ... well, a masterpiece!

Oversized rose headdress

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Hydrangea experiments

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I wonder if there is ever going to be a moment when I say to myself: I have tried and made all the flowers imaginable. For some reason I do not think this is going to happen and you know very well why: there are sooooooooo many flowers out there that it is virtually impossible to make them all. Every time I come across a flower picture in a book or online or I see a plant in somebody's garden or at a garden centre, I make a mental note "I should try to create this one soon!". One of such flowers, hydrangea has been on "to do" list for a while. Last summer I was admiring its faded pink blooms in my own garden, the colour I would like to call "antique pink". Here is the photo of it:

Hydrangea from my garden

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Spring in leather bloom

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As the days become warmer Eva and I spend more and more time wandering pedestrian paths and little streets of our city enjoying spring and the blooms it has brought.
One of the classic spring flowers is a noble camellia. Often hidden in the back gardens it is in full bloom at the moment. More often than not camellia flower has clean lines and a regular shape which is perfect for recreating this flower in leather. I have gone slightly mad and made a whole load of smaller and larger camellias in differently coloured genuine leather and suede.

Leather camellia

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Butterfly decor

Hand painted pure silk butterflies

I know everybody's thoughts are about spring and summer these days especially with wall-to-wall sunshine outside. But some of us do like to plan ahead. So instead of thinking about Easter preparations one of my customers is busy planning her next Christmas tree design! Surfing the Internet she came across a picture of a tree all covered with butterflies and got so inspired that wanted the same. Unusual as it is, I received this order for 10 different sample butterflies a couple of weeks ago. Here are the butterflies, which are going to decorate a fir tree next Christmas. 

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A velvet rose

 Recently I have added a couple of new stunning roses to my portfolio. One of them is this large beauty.

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Velvet poppy brooch

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In November I was talking about new poppy designs which I would like to add to my oh-so-popular existing line. One of the ideas was to create a poppy using luxurious velvet fabric. Finally last weekend I found the time for this experiment.
Please welcome the wild poppy made of cotton velvet for petals and cotton melton for leaves and stems.

Velvet poppy brooch

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New year - new tools!

I am always on the lookout for new ideas in the world of fabric flowers. This include different technology, tools, materials, ways of presenting the work.
At the end of last year I decided to be generous and get a silk floristry related gift for myself. I simply could not resist these gorgeous Japanese brushes!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

Dear followers of my blog, 


From my family to yours... remembering the reason for the season. 

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