On my online workbook this week: A good September Soaking

Dear

This week's inspiration is soaking up colour.

I like things neat and tidy. Which is probably why I dislike artificially coloured plant material. They are messy to make and usually messy to have around. One exception for me is when the flowers are left to stand in pigments (fancy way of saying food colouring) so that it soaks up the colour. You can get some amazing results! And it is fascinating to watch.

This is my go-to if I want to introduce a colour (even those not necessarily found in nature) without it being too obvious. Just a tiny hint of colour. Something that makes you lean in closer to make sure you saw what you thought you saw…

This is also a great way to study how flowers remain hydrated. Simply follow your basic conditioning rules for each flower. Fill a deep container with warm-ish (if you place your hand in the water it should barely feel warm) water and add a few generous drops of food colouring. Give the flower a fresh cut and place it in a container and let it condition. You should start to see a change in colour in about 20 minutes and it will continue to develop.

Try it with white flowers first. And then experiment with mixing colours.

Note: The pigments clogs the vascular system of the plant and changes how the flowers mature. Some flowers will be suspended in whatever stage they are (great for keeping lilies in bud) while others mature quicker. For best results remove the flowers from the dye before designing, give it another fresh cut and design in freshwater.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine

ps: just a quick note about the grid. If you find the stem snippets slip down and you struggle to keep it upright, place a few loose standing glue soaked snippets here and there in the general direction all round the container before going around to stack and glue the rest of the snippets. It's easier to place the stems if they have something to stick to. And you will also be reminded in what direction you need to place the stems if you are crafting them in a glue pattern.