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| "Botanical Specimen," Direct Positive Photogenic Drawing William Henry Fox Talbot, 1840 Digital Image Courtesy of the Getty Open Content Program |
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Hello friends,
A little under two weeks ago I had the opportunity to take a winter flower crown workshop at the Lemon Bowl (a shared art work space in D.C.) with the aptly named Holley of Sill Life. Instead of springy blooms we worked with the often less appreciated, but in my opinion more beautiful, greenery of the winter season. This included fragrant juniper, fir and pine cut directly off the branch to form lush fairy tale headpieces. Holley also taught us how to work with succulents, which are some incredibly hardy little troopers.
In addition to the wintry, old world aesthetic these materials created, using succulents and winter greens offered the benefit of making our crowns long-lasting. This meant they would remain available for wear throughout all the numerous holiday shindigs at which us Washingtonians inevitably must make an appearance. I, in fact, left the workshop directly for a friend's holiday party with my freshly assembled flower crown atop my head and a second crown in tow as a hostess gift - one which my friend promptly informed me was perhaps the most unique gift she'd ever received.
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| A flower crown as festive acoutrement to a holiday party refreshment table |
For me, the crowning glory (heh heh see what I did there?) was the berries that grew on the juniper branches. Ever since discovering custom milliner Fleur de Paris on Royal Street in New Orleans a few years ago (yes, such things do still exist!) and seeing the way they decorated their hats with all kinds of lovely flora other than the standard, frou-frou flowers, I got hooked on the idea of berries as a means of floral decoration. I love them on hats, in floral arrangements, you name it. So I made sure that my crown was bursting with juniper berries.
Other attendees of the class added their own personal touches as well. While I opted for a simple hoop that reached around my head, some of the ladies added nymph-like whimsy with the attachment of green velvet ribbon ties.
Prior to taking this class it had never occurred to me to use living materials in crafts (aside from the obvious floral arrangements, which I had never really previously thought of as crafting). Their mortality always struck me as an obvious deterrent. But then again, that mortality is highly linked to the concept of seasonality, and seasonality, it seems, is what lends crafts such as fairytale winter flower crowns their wistful loveliness. After all, isn't this how our ancestors adorned themselves and everything around them, with the materials they saw out in nature? Isn't it that very connectedness to natural cycles that we have lost with the advent of modernity, mechanization and the permanence of materials like plastic, steel and the ever dreaded non-biodegradable styrofoam?
Is it important for the crafts we make to be permanent? I imagine that those who engage in the spiritual practice of making and destroying sand mandalas would tell us no and that, in fact, it's the impermanence of the mandala that lends it its beauty.
So with that I've begun thinking about what other crafts might incorporate more living flora. I already knew from the flower crown workshop that Holley also teaches terrarium building classes in D.C. Wreaths also come to mind. And, in the past, I'd always been intrigued by Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging.
I was also aware, through one of my relentless Instagram clicking downspirals, of the website Flora Forager, where botanical artist Bridget Beth Collins creates what amount to impermanent bas reliefs with various vegetation she's collected and uses them to produce the most magnificent photographic prints.
I then looked to Pinterest for home decor inspiration and discovered these variations on the living wall concept:
Pinterest was also a plethora of ideas for resin jewelry with real pressed flowers:
And for those of us who like a traditional booklet of ideas to leaf through, rather than clicking haphazardly on pins, there are also a number of books out there full of instructions on bringing the outdoors in:
How about you, readers? Have you ever completed or wanted to complete a project incorporating living materials? Discuss in the comments.
Emily
