The art of making artificial silk flowers has not changed much throughout history as the basics of this craft have remained the same. These basics, however, only provide a framework for the art. It is the artists' creativity which make a silk flower special and lead to the diversity in construct around the world. Knowledge about the real flower which is being imitated is vital in this art and the best craftsmen painstakingly dissect flowers and recreate the whorls of the flower accurately. The petals are then cut and either glued or sewn to the other petals which recreate the flower. The basic process for creating silk flowers is listed below:
Raw Material Selection: Silk flowers' texture is highly dependant on the raw material used for making them. Real silk, silk blend, polyester fabric (such as rayon), and cotton fibers are usually used in making silk flowers. Many online florists and silk flower wholesalers prefer cotton blend fabrics that are easy to produce and retain their color for a very long time. At the start of the manufacturing process, the fabric is white. Depending upon the process (detailed hand work or mass production) the fabric is either dyed after cutting the petals or after the heat molding process.
Design: Real flowers are taken apart and studied carefully by trained craftsmen. The petal arrangement, color and structure are all taken note of and molds are made from this study. These molds also contain distinctive curves and textures from real flowers that help in recreating it in the form of a silk flower. Leaves are also made with this method. This is a time consuming process that determines the end result and thus a lot of man hours are used up on this process alone.
Cutting: The fabric is now cut into the desired shape. For a hand-made flower, scissors and knives are used. This requires a lot of patience on the manufacturer's part and care is to be taken to ensure that there are no frayed ends in the flower. For mass production, dyes are used. More recently, laser beams have been used to cut flowers into the desired shape. This method is very fast and its accuracy is ensured by a computer that controls the laser. Laser cutting also ensures that there are no patched or frayed ends. Often, it still requires a human hand to assemble the petals into the finished flower product.
Coloring: The petals and stems (made of a wire with plastic or cloth wound around it) are colored using dyes available. These dyes should be non-toxic and long lasting. Very detailed flowers are dyed by hand in the exact color as their real counterparts. Thus this method is quite time consuming to ensure that the real colors are recreated faithfully.
Heat Press: The penultimate step involves heating the petals, leaves and stems in the molds created in the designing step. The petals are then pressed onto the desired shape, leaving them looking realistic.
Assembly: Finally, the petals are assembled and sewn or glued together by skilled workers. These are then attached onto the stem by wires and/or glue. Thus a silk flower is created.
| Dana Plazyk of http://www.flowers-by-design.com is typically awe-struck every time a new shipment of silk flowers and plants arrives in her wholesale facility, Flowers By Design. She considers a privilege to be able to share with the world the beauty of high end artificial flowers as they recreate nature. In her video series "How To Design With Silk Flowers" http://www.flowers-by-design.com/how-todesignvideos.html she demonstrates how to design with silk flowers. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dana_Plazyk Our next article will discuss the topic : Silk Flowers - Care, Benefits & Arrangements. follow us.best regards. Hand made blog team . http://silkflower1.blogspot.com/ |  |
