Researching Flowers

Sometimes I can't find the real flower I want to make or someone asks me to make a flower I don't have time to find. My only other option is to look it up on the Internet. There is a world of info out there from photos to oil painting and a lot in between. I tend to do a lot of research on the Internet even if I have the real flower. I can see the range of color, different species, close up shots, their leaves or buds, I can really find a lot out just with a bit of research.

Today I wanted to make a Freesia but I don't have a real one handy so I went on YouTube and looked it up. I found people post a lot on flowers and found a short video of a time lapse of the Freesia which I gave the link to.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI15fctUZRc&feature=related 

It is very helpful to see it this way and I even got to see the inside of the flower  showing what the stamens look like. I also googled Freesia flowers to find out what they look like and how they can be used in arrangements, the colors and whatever else I can find.

So, now that I have done some research I am able to figure out what cutters I need to make the flower, what types of stamens it has, how it grows, the colors, markings, pretty much everything I need to get started. As much as I would love a real flower in front of me it isn't always possible, but the next best thing are the posting on the Internet.

Here is one example of a Freesia I found to use as a model 



Real freesia to model after



Nothing but white flowers, please

I spent all last week making lots and lots and lots of flowers to fill an order. They wanted all white. I didn't have time to take any pictures of the process but will be making more of the same so I will next time.

It is hard for me to leave all these flowers in just white. When I looked at them scattered around the drying area I kept saying to myself.. just a little color. That is all they need. But, I left them alone. Or did I? I did add some color to the moth orchids since the throat just couldn't stay all white. And the Peonies have yellow stamens so there is the color.

White gumpaste flowers

When I laid all the white flowers out together to take the pictures I decided all white flowers do look really nice. I just looked at them for a while and realized they look very beautiful all white and they will be going on the cake and make the person very happy. They will be adding silver touches here and there to them so I will have to wait and see the pictures.

All the white gumpaste flowers together