Recommended flower making books for flower designers

Please find below a list of flower making books worthy having in you library (with a brief review):

❀ 1 ❀


One of out of print book is The Flower Workshop by Vera Jeffery.
- basics of the craft (tools and supplies, how to prepare the fabric etc.)
- step-by-step instructions in text and line drawings for more than 40 different flowers and plants that are made out of paper as well as fabric
- many original ideas for the use of the handmade flowers in colour pictures.
- flowers include roses, poppies, daisies, carnations etc. as well as more unusual ones like azalea, stephanotis, hollyhock, orange blossom and others.
- special occasions (Christmas flowers, Easter and weddings)

The Flower Workshop by Vera Jeffery is a great book to have on your shelf, and what's more, you can pick your preloved copy for a fraction of its price.

Click here to purchase the book

 ❀ 2 ❀


 Silk Flowers by Sally Harper-Kenn must me the latest English language book on fabric flower making.
- colour photographs
- intro about fabrics, tools, stiffening and painting the fabric
- instructions on 6 fabric flowers (2 similar roses, narcissus, poppy, peony and anemone) to be made with a flower iron.
- good for beginners, otherwise too simple and brief

Click here to order this book

❀ 3 ❀


Handmade Silk Flowers by Bruce Miller and Mary Donnelly was published in 1986.
- a definite must-have manual for a  fabric flower artist
- invaluable book for beginners in the craft
- a thorough introduction to the process of silk flower making (tools and fabrics review, fabric stiffeners and basic techniques and processes)
- patterns and instructions for 44 different plants including such rarities as Rhododendron, Geranium, Dogwood Blossom, Maple and Ivy Leaves etc.
- info on wedding flowers, tips on making bouquets,  boutonnieres, corsages, hair - a colour guide to wedding flowers.
- patterns and flowers a a bit on a simpler side
- mostly black and white

Click here to buy on Amazon

❀ 4 ❀


Silk Flowers; Making and Arranging Ribbon FLowers by Anne Hamilton and Kathleen White was published back in 1988.
- introduction about some basic techniques including cutting, texturing, reinforcing and lining, taping, wiring, as well as making flower centres and assembling
- clear step-by-step instructions for nearly sixty different flowers and plants  including poinsettia, lily of the valley, fern, eucalyptus, Japanese maple etc
- some designs require a flower iron
- a section on silk flower arrangements, both traditional and modern, wedding flowers, church flowers, flowers as gifts and flowers to wear
- a really useful book for any flower maker with a variety of templates and ways of using the flowers
The book uses special ribbons for flower making but stiffened natural fabrics can successfully substitute them

Click here to order this book on Amazon

 ❀ 5 ❀


 Adornments: Sew and Create Accessories with Fabric, Lace and Beads  is written by Myra Callan, an accessories designer and a successful Etsy entrepreneur.
-   a number of projects ranging from earrings to fascinators
-  a variety of techniques,  and different combinations of them
-  plenty of ideas on how to use silk flowers in different accessories ( fascinators,  sashes, bib necklaces, earrings etc) to create wearable pieces of art
- detailed instructions with colour pictures
- silk flowers presented in the book are rather simple
- a flower iron is needed for some projects

Click here to purchase this book on Amazon

 ❀ 6 ❀


 Handmade flowers from Paper and Fabric by Steve and Megumi Biddle was first published back in 1991.

- book on  fabric,  paper and ribbons flowers
- intro on some general techniques of flower making and tools
- no need to use a flower iron
- instructions for 28 flowers and plants including rare ones like foxgloves, bird of paradise, strawberries, frangipani, nerine etc.
- tips on how to assemble corsages and bridal bouquets
- versatile book for a wide audience of crafters

Click here to order this book on Amazon



... to be continued ...

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St. Patrick's Day and shamrock

Please be kindly informed that we have moved! To read new blog posts, purchase our floral pieces and learn more about how to make flowers you are welcome to visit out new website here

It is common knowledge that all 4 areas of the UK have national flowers associated with them as well as patron saints. Next Monday, 17 March, Ireland is celebrating the day of its patron saint, St. Patrick. It is customary to wear a shamrock in honour of this day. This plant’s story is that St Patrick used it to explain the Trinity from the Christian religion – the three leaves represent the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Pink clover worn as a hair embellishment

To read more click here

Silk leaves for restoring an antique piece

Please be kindly informed that we have moved! To read new blog posts, purchase our floral pieces and learn more about how to make flowers you are welcome to visit out new website here

I am sorry I have not posted in weeks. To start with we went for a fortnight to Russia to visit my family and have a change of scenery. And then for another three weeks I have been very busy working away on a pretty big, I would even say a wholesale order: I have been making 300 acer leaves for an unusual customer.

To read more please click here

New silk poppy

Please be kindly informed that we have moved! To read new blog posts, purchase our floral pieces and learn more about how to make flowers you are welcome to visit out new website here

Undoubtedly fabric poppies have always been popular. Especially fire engine red ones, which resemble the simple wild poppies grown without any cultivation in a natural setting. As we all know the red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields". To cater for all tastes I have several Remembrance poppies in my portfolio ranging from satin to velvet ones, with and without foliage, with just 4 petals or a fuller version with 14. Here is one of the most popular designs:

Remembrance Poppy Brooch

To read more please click here

Indian Summer has arrived. New line of leather flowers

Please be kindly informed that we have moved! To read new blog posts, purchase our floral pieces and learn more about how to make flowers you are welcome to visit out new website here

It is official, autumn is here. And although the days are still rather warm and even sunny the mornings are chilly and filled with dewy cobwebs.
In colder months I find that silks and other delicate fabrics tend to lose their appeal and give way to more seasonally appropriate fellow material, leather. Lately, I have been working on my new line which I dubbed Indian Summer. Those of you who live in the Southern Hemisphere may not have experienced this natural phenomenon. Indian summer is a bit of summer in autumn, a period of lovely warm and dry weather that occurs between late September and mid November in the Northern Hemisphere .
So what I was trying to achieve here is a line of brightly coloured accessories featuring autumnal blooms in rich and seasonal hues.
I started with chrysanthemums and have created this rusty orange open chrysanthemum corsage made of thin leather.

Click here for more detail on chrysanthemum corsage

The next piece was a red and brown leather gerbera.

To read more please click here

How I tame leather. Mini-tutorial

Please be kindly informed that we have moved! To read new blog posts, purchase our floral pieces and learn more about how to make flowers you are welcome to visit out new website here

Those of you who have tried working with genuine leather know how temperamental it can be. Leather is a natural product and as a result may have imperfections such as holes or scars, the thickness and stretch can vary too. And it is completely unpredictable when it comes to shaping it with hot flower iron.
For my floral pieces I stiffen leather is several ways. Today I am going to share one of this ways with you. The result is a flat stiff piece of leather that can be shaped with a flower iron. I use flat stiff leather to make a range of flowers including my camellias, gerberas etc.

So here is how I do it. But first of all the kit:

1. Measuring jug
2. A piece of genuine leather for stiffening
3. Bowl
4. White (PVA) glue
5. Measuring spoon
 and a piece of plastic or a glass board as seen in the picture.
I use a rather thiсk PVA glue intended for craft purposes. The ratio of glue to water can be from 1 to 5  to 1 to 10 depending on how thick your leather or glue are and how stiff you want the leather to be. You might need to experiment with the quantities, but the general guidelines are: the thicker the leather the weaker the solution (less glue). The ready to use solution should look like milk.

To read more please click here

CHARITY SALE TO HELP UKRAINIAN KIDS WITH SCHOOL ESSCENTIALS

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Click here to get to my shop

My dear fans and friends!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did not think that I would be ever writing this but here I am offering you to buy some of my flowers so that I could help refugee Ukrainian children with school uniform and stationary. I understand that I can not do much but in this situation everything matters and every little helps. I am sure you will agree with that.

To read more please click here

One wedding, three creations

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Last week we went to a wedding, my husband's niece was getting married.
To prove the well-known proverb "The shoemaker's son always goes barefoot" wrong, I decided to create a cocktail hat for myself (for once! :-D) to wear at the wedding. It gave me a chance to try my new hat block, a mini beret. I covered the base with a beautiful quilted dupioni silk and decorated with a spray of rumbling roses in purple. 

Floral cocktail hat

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About fabric dyes I use to colour my flowers

Please be kindly informed that we have moved! To read new blog posts, purchase our floral pieces and learn more about how to make flowers you are welcome to visit out new website here

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.

To read more please click here

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

To read more please click here