#random Games Week 6 - Bookmark : finally using dried flowers ...
Here's my entry for the bookmark contest. I would like to thank @kristyglas for organising this creative activity. We've been given 'freedom' to experiment with any technique from paper to yarn. I appreciate the challenge of making something new and explore different crafts beyond my comfort zone.
I don’t have a flower press so when I find flowers or leaves I want to 'preserve', I put them sandwiched in grease-proof paper in between pages of my craft books. They normally act as bookmarks like this:
I then find them and keep them like that. To be honest, sometimes they fall out and ‘break’… This activity gave me the chance to make something with these dried flowers : a proper old-fashioned bookmark !
So I had last year’s primula flowers and fuchsia I rescued before they died. They dried quite well in between the grease-proof paper and even kept some of the colour. The tiny little flowers were still quite 3 dimensional so they wouldn’t lie still… A bookmark has got to be flat so it doesn’t ruin the book, I thought.
My materials consisted of the dried flowers, scissors, PVA glue, a brush, water, a paper serviette I found with nice bird designs and toilet tissue paper. Tissue paper like the one you get in presents or new shoes is better but I didn’t have any.
I cut around my chosen paper designs and laid them on a piece of card together with the dried flowers I thought I could use.
I played around a bit with the layout but as you can see the birds are out of scale anyway so… I just put them randomly and I really wanted to incorporate those small white flowers...
I put the length of (toilet) tissue on top and started applying, wetting and glueing a mixture of 50/50 PVA and water.
That’s when it became totally clear that the little white flowers wouldn’t make it in my collage. I rescued some of the remnants when they broke off.
I nearly panicked at various points, but managed to keep calm. It just looked like a very sticky mess.
The toilet tissue disintegrated too quickly which is why I believe the better quality tissue is more suitable. I managed to break down bits of the white flowers too; they looked like mini flowers.
Uncertainty - will it work ? will it dry transparent ?
Thanks to the record high temperatures we’ve been having everything dried quickly and thoroughly overnight.
I punched a hole and found twine for the characteristic finishing touch.
It worked ! in any case not as much texture as I expected but it was good to see it worked and now those dried flowers have a ‘forever home’.
The closeup…
The activity has inspired me to continue to keep drying flowers using my ‘grease-proof paper method’ …
Thank you again to @kristyglas for organising this fab activity.
All photos and work by @cryptocariad
Great craft project and wonderful post. I love the step by step pictures! I shared the apprehension about how it was going to come out when you applied the glue :)
Thank you very much, @steven-patrick... It was quite scary actually, particularly when the tissue began to disintegrate... 😂 !
I think this is brillant. Lovely use of a recycled materials and preserved flowers.
Thank you very much @gmatthe2... it certainly took me away from my normal comfort zone that includes threads and yarns 😂 - and it quickly became very sticky ...
I have never seen this technique before, very creative!!
I guess it's like decoupage, @phoenixwren, which I've never tried properly 😄...
I don't think I have, either!
Really cool! I love how the paper has a texture in the end a bit like a parchment ^^ But it's good that it's white not yellow so that flowers are visible :D
I love drying flowers and I never thought of baking paper xD thank you haha I would use a bunch of regular paper and squash the flowers under the books to not grease them.
Thanks @kristyglas... I've used normal paper in the past but the flowers used to get a bit stuck onto the paper - perhaps that was because it's normally really damp where I live 😄
Wow.. your bookmark is so pretty and dainty @cryptocariad! I love how the paper turned out and the combination with the little birds and dried flowers look really nice. The middle dried flower looks like a dancing ballerina angel :) This is a very clever idea and it turned out beautiful. I've always wondered how to do this tissue paper effect. Thank you @cryptocariad! I must try too. It is so exciting to wait and see how a drying process turns out after an experiment.
Thank you @marblely... I also think that fuchsia looks like a ballerina ... 😂... Please give it a try (but use the better quality tissue so you don't half panic) and share the results !
It's been a long time since I dried any flowers @cryptocariad.
I used to have one of those wooden flower presses years ago. The biggest issue I think was the colours fading but I'm sure there is a way to stop that.
Good luck with the contest! 😁
Thank you @gillianpearce !
I thought the fading may be an issue at some point. I do like the old vintage look though and would prefer the fading to having to use a strong chemical to preserve the colour. I will investigate the options 😊
I found a similar issue when I used coloured tissue paper in my art @cryptocariad. That faded really quickly but I never got round to investigating if there was any colourfast choices, before I stopped using it anyway.
I'm not sure how colourfast my paints are either.& #128522;