The perfect way to recycle an old bouquet
By Morgan Hannah, Life & Style Editor
Art is an expression of creativity or the imagination; it gives life beauty and oftentimes purpose too. There are many different kinds of art—painting, drawing, music, literature, sculpture, performance art, printmaking, film, and architecture just to name the most widely recognized forms. Since the arrival of modern times, new types of art have emerged and taken centre stage. If one takes a look to the past, they’d notice a much older and underrated art form—flower art. From the most obvious to some less recognized forms, here are a couple of creative ways that flowers are used in art or as art.
Flower arrangements
This art is as simple as that. An arrangement of flowers is a form of art—it takes a florist some time and careful consideration in creating the most appealing bouquets of flowers to catch one’s eye. Not just anything can be placed together and then tied up with a bow. This art form is practiced worldwide and strives to convey how nature and art relate to daily living. Floral arrangements also teach us to take some time to stop and notice the beauty in every day.
Dried flowers
Dried flowers don’t only preserve one of nature’s most beautiful gifts, but they can be used in a large variety of crafts and projects too. Dried flowers are an inexpensive art form and hobby to take on. While any flower can be used, certain types of plants will take longer to dry out than others. For a super cool and beautiful project, check out the blog A Practical Wedding and learn how to make luminaria with dried flowers!
Flower moulding and stamps
Did you ever create your own DIY stamps growing up? Carving shapes into potatoes and dipping them into paint was great fun—and flowers make a delicate and gorgeous stamp or mould as well! Gently press the flowers into some smoothed out clay and hold them in place until the clay takes the shape of the flower. This will work better with more hearty and textured flowers like sunflowers. The flower itself can also be used as a stamp: gently apply a layer of paint to its petals and press them against whatever surface you wish to transfer the pattern to.
Ink
Ink was used only for
art for more than 35,000 years, and later was used by Egyptian and Chinese
people for writing in 2,500 BC. Making
ink out of flower petals is actually quite a simple process that can yield a
variety of beautiful colours. The inks made from these flowers can be stunning
and dark, or light and paler like watercolour and, depending on the colour and
the shelf life is around one month.
Dyeing Bouquets
Simply add colours to the water of the flower bouquet and watching the xylem of the flower work like an elevator in moving the coloured water to the plant’s petals!
