Floral cards
Over the last year I've been experimenting with using real plants and flowers in my digital designs. Last year, I collected and dried a variety of plants, some of which had been used previously for cyanotype printing, and were very much dried. Over time, their colours had faded. I liked the muted tones that these produced, and for the local Arts Trail in 2024, I exhibited these designs, as prints and then later as cards.
This year for the Arts Trail I still used pressed flowers but experimented with flowers so I would get more vibrant tones. For many I only left them for a few days so they kept their colour. For some flowers, such as some amazing, bright yellow double petal tulips that I grew, they started to go mouldy after only a few days and I wasn't able to use them. I've been learning more about how long I can leave plants in the press, and whether they need to go into the press at all. Bulky plants do otherwise the scanner doesn't like them. This year's exhibition has resulted in a few more cards to add to the 'Beyond Bloom' collection. All of which are available to buy here.
