SPLENDOUR IN DECAY

Part 1

IN PRAISE OF FLOWERS

Most wondrous, amazing and fabulous.

All shapes and sizes, colours and smells.

When in bloom some may last months

Others blossom for fleeting moments.

All possess the splendours and beauty

Of Mother Nature at her most magnificent.

Throughout the ages countless are the volumes that have been written about flowers. They constantly inspire so many emotions and connections, love, health, beauty, memories, environment, survival, design, life and even death. Their eloquence, charm, diversity and character all remain a vital part of our existence. Flowers say it all!!

Normally when flowers die they tend to be thrown away. But sometimes - at different stages, before they begin to die - people dry flowers, by hanging or suspending each one upside down - to preserve them for future, creative arrangements. Flowers may also be pressed between the pages of books, another means of preserving their beauty, albeit in an altered state.

Through trial and error we discovered another way to dry and preserve roses. You arrange them as normal in a vase, adding a small amount of water, just enough to keep the ends of the stems covered by about 1 inch. Then you leave them in a quite, out of the way spot on a windowsill for a minimum of 10 months to over a year!

We joke not. It seriously does take this length of time for the flowers to dry out properly, whilst the stems remain constantly in water. Caution, never let the water dry out.

It’s essential to always exercise the greatest care and delicacy when checking to make sure the bases of the stems remain covered in water. Even the smallest amount of rough handling could cause your beautiful creations to collapse before your eyes.

Never attempt to dust the flowers whilst they are slowly drying out. Part of their exquisite beauty and ageing is achieved by the patterns the dust and cobwebs make.

Because you’re leaving the flowers (in our case roses, we haven’t yet tried this with other flowers) in their original, upright arrangement, as they begin to dry the petals and leaves form fascinating twisted shapes, both beautiful and macabre. This would never be possible if you dried the flowers by the traditional upside down method.

Once you judge them ready, using extreme, and we mean extreme care you can add extra enhancing colours, either natural, metallic or luminous. But, be warned applying these colours without destroying the flowers requires considerable skill and an exceptionally delicate touch! Having spent so long patiently preparing them, you don’t want to lose out at the final stage....

Once successfully enhanced, they’re ready to photograph, either individually or as part of a composition. And what magnificent, photographic subjects they make. Capturing their exquisite beauty in camera is a true joy. The end results justify all the months of patient preparations and our personal satisfaction with the final images is enormous. Hopefully this is just the first of many successful projects. Fingers crossed!

Thank you and enjoy

Christine and Alastair