In the past two years, because of the indecisive workflow through COVID, I decided to start drying my leftover flowers. And over time, I began to appreciate them and use them to make a design stronger and different from the normal.
Contrast for an Appealing Design
I always loved drying leaves and flowers by using the very classical pressing technique. However, in the last 2 years, there were days that I had lots of left-over old flowers because of the indecisive workflow, and most of the time I didn't want to throw them away.
So, I began to make experiments to dry any kind of flower by wrapping them with tissue papers and leaving them in a cardboard box. Some had rotten but some had dried well. Some turned very brown, but some just faded their colors. In the end, I had a few boxes of dried flowers.
Design Quarantine Life
Right at the beginning of this year, I was in quarantine for ten days at home. It was the very right time to work with dried flowers since I couldn't get fresh flowers to work with. I created a fan-style construction with wires and hard cartoons. Sorting flowers and gluing them on the cardboard was like a daily meditation that helped me to enjoy my quarantine life.
During the creative process of a design, I love to analyze textures and this habit usually leads me to an inspiration of creating a tension-like contrast. Having an already made dried flower construction motivated me to use it as an emphasizer of fresh, cheerful flowers like tulips, muscari, roses, chrysanthemums, and alstroemerias. This way I'd be able to attract attention to think about the cycle of life; anything natural is not eternal... let it be a flower, fruit, tree, or a human being we will all change over time, but the crucial thing is that any change should lead all to a better version of oneself. Dried flowers can help fresh flowers to show their beauties and older people can help the young ones to grow better and wiser.