At first my aim was not to make handmade flowers. I started my shop to sell a range of different fabric items, mostly bunting. I got a bit carried away with the details in the bunting flags and I began decorating them with wooden butterflies and small flowers.

I decided to made a small fabric flower head to decorate some floral bunting. Once I had sewn around the outline for the flower head I padded it to make it stand out. I then attached it to the bunting with a button for the centre.

I then began to play around by using multiple padded layers to create flower heads. I decided to add a stem which I made from pipe cleaners and straws. I didn't add the flowers to bunting and instead I displayed them on their own.

Without realizing it I had created my very first bunch of flowers!

The flowers had very big petals and the padding made the petals point in slightly the wrong direction. The stem was quite thick and the leaves were non existent.
Despite all these flaws there was something about them I loved.

I wasn't trying to make them look like real flowers, instead I wanted to create a beautiful handmade take on a completely natural resource.

I used floral vintage style material and I fell in love with the way the finished flowers looked with these intricate patterns on their leaves. So I experimented and created more and played around with using different materials and layers.

My art work throughout university was often ephemeral, throughout my second and third year I simulated weather effects such as clouds and rainbows. I loved the concept of trying to recreate nature from a completely man made perspective.

The flowers reminded me of a much tamer version of my previous weather sculptures however they were a solid product and not an experience such as a rainbow. I loved the way the floral fabric emphasized the man made look and although these flowers were shockingly inelegant they had given me an idea and a direction that I wanted to explore.

I decided to try this same theme of using man made floral fabric to create more flowers.....only this time slightly more elegant ones.