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How to make Plasticine Flowers

29 November 2009 in Bits and Blogs, How To Make | 3 comments

plasticine flower

After James May’s Plasticine Garden at Chelsea, I was tempted to make my own plasticine flowers.  If you fancy having a go yourself there’s a step by step guide below to make a rose suitable for kids or big kids.

You will need a few colours of plasticine including green for leaves and some heavy gauge florist wires. (If you don’t want to let children use wires a pencil will do) The plasticine will need rolling a little to make it pliable. Start by rolling the colour for your petals into a thin sausage shape. Cut several small pieces of the plasticine and press flat into oval shapes.  These are the small petals for the centre of your rose.

Take your smallest petal and loosely roll it up to make the centre of your rose.  The next petal is placed around the open edge of the centre petal.  Continue adding more petals always placing them over the open edge of previous petals.  When you have used all your small petals, roll another long piece of plasticine.  Make this piece slightly thicker than the first and cut into pieces, which should make bigger petals.  Press them into flat ovals again and add to the rose.  Each layer of petals should be slightly looser to make a nice open rose.

plasticine flowers

When you are happy with the number of petals on the flower, you can make the flower stem.  Take your green plasticine and roll it until pliable.  Gather together about five wires and mould the green plasticine around them leaving a little wire showing at the end to place your flower head on.  To make leaves follow the directions for making petals and then pinch at one end to make the tip of the leaf. If the leaves are too heavy you can push a short wire through up centre to support them.  Place the leaves along the stem and push the flower head on the top of the stem. You should be able to make several flowers from one pack of plasticine.

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Trouble in Plasticine Paradise?

27 May 2009 in Bits and Blogs | 1 comment

plasticine garden

Anyone with a remote interest in gardening will have heard about James May’s plasticine garden at Chelsea Flower Show last week.  An insider at the show said “it was touch and go. Some thought it would damage the RHS and what it stands for.”  Love it or hate it, it has certainly provoked a reaction in people.

Thousands of people crowded round May’s child like garden complete with apple tree, stream, rockery, veg patch and grapevines.  The garden was made entirely out of plasticine models of fruit, flowers and plants.  2.5 tonnes of plasticine in 24 colours was used to make it.  The team behind the garden labelled it “a sculpted art installation, not constrained by the rigours of season, climate or geography”.  The models were made by hundreds of volunteers including school children, war veterans and professional model makers.

I can’t decide whether I think it’s a very clever piece of art designed to highlight gardening for all age groups or a stunt to gain publicity for May’s new television show about children’s favourite toys.  The question that sticks in my mind, is how it could it be judged as a garden if it contained no real plants? The Chelsea judges obviously knew they couldn’t judge it as a normal garden and therefore it was awarded a plasticine medal instead.

plasticine medal

While I’m sure there are many true gardeners whose distaste for the garden will linger long after the plasticine has melted.  The people have spoken and voted for it in their thousands.  It has gained the much coveted Peoples Choice Award for small gardens.

The lovely photos were taken by Geoff Hodge

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Fairtrade Flowers

20 April 2009 in Bits and Blogs | No comments

Why don’t many independant florists sell fairtrade flowers?   The ethos behind Fairtrade flowers is to provide better prices and working conditions for the farmers who grow and harvest them in developing countries.  Which is a noble cause, but the vast majority of flowers in florist shops are grown in Holland.

Although many people assume all flowers are from far flung places and sold via Holland.   Holland actually grows many flowers itself such as orchids, syringa, anthurium, freesia, chrysanthemum, roses, lilies, amaryllis, anemones and hyacinths.   Holland is obviously not a third world country, it has fair minimum wage and proper health and safety laws etc.  Dutch flowers also have the benefit of less air miles than flowers shipped from Kenya or Ecuador.

You may have noticed that most suppliers of Fair Trade flowers are large companies such as supermarkets and the big online businesses; there is a good reason for this.  The certification process to be a supplier is arduous and expensive, therefore not feasible for small independent companies.

If you are interested in flowers grown in Africa or Kenya there is no shortage of supermarkets offering these.  But since Holland and the UK grow many beautiful flowers, I prefer to get flowers closer to home where possible.  British flowers are exquisite and I love to use them when they are available.

english peonies, alstromeria, snap dragons and lisianthus

A lot depends on the weather but they are generally available May to September.  With spring flowers such as tulips and daffodils starting from February onwards.  I can source English peonies, stocks, dahlias, asters, lisianthus, alstromeria and freesia.  With a bouquet of English flowers you can take comfort in the knowledge you are supporting the British economy and your flowers have not been transported half way across the world to reach you.

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How to make a Lavender Heart

6 April 2009 in Bits and Blogs, How To Make | 6 comments

heart

My love of pretty hand made things prompted me to make our first non floral handmade gifts.  They looked lovely nestled in bouquets and make a lovely scented gift.

To make a lavender heart you will need some vintage look fabric about 50cm x 50cm, dried lavender, narrow ribbon, stuffing and an old button from the bottom of your sewing box.  I prefer Cath Kidston and Laura Ashley fabric, but any good quality fabrics will do.  The fat quarter pieces a lot of craft suppliers sell on the internet will make one heart each.

The easiest way to draw a heart is to draw two semi circles side by side, using something like a china cup the appropriate size to draw around, then follow the outside ends down to meet at the point of the heart.  This will make your pattern for your heart.

heart pattern

Draw your pattern into your fabric ensuring you will fit two hearts on the fabric, for fabric with flowers or lines on, check which way up the pattern lies before you cut your hearts out.

Once you have cut out the heart shapes line them up, pattern side together and use a few pins to keep the pieces together while you sew them.  Leaving a good centimetre hem, sew them together using short stitches leaving a gap of about 3 inches on a long side so you can fill the heart easily.  Make little cuts around the hem so the fabric will stretch easier when turned out, be careful not to cut through your stitches.

Carefully turn the fabric the right way out and iron flat.  Fill with stuffing around the edges and then add your dried lavender to the centre, once you have put all your filling in and you are happy with the shape pin the last open edge together and finish with neat stitches.

Cut your ribbon to the desired length for hanging the heart.  Cross the ribbon over and position where you want the button to be, stitch onto the heart and then sew your button over the stitches on the ribbon.

Hang your heart and admire your handiwork. 

hearts

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