DECORATIVE DETAILS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 340, 28 April 1928, Page 20

DECORATIVE DETAILS

FLOWERS IN HOME THE ARTIFICIAL VARIETY Once the house has been furnished and equipped the note of variety mus. be introduced by attention to details. Modern taste inclines toward a scheme that can be varied easily. If the walls are plain, either painted, distempered, or covered with a texture wallpaper, and if the carpet is almost patternless, it is very easy to introduce the attractive note of change. Even flowers in season can be pressed into the service. Many people, however, find it is an expense they cannot afford to buy fresh flowers frequently to replenish the flower vases. Then art steps in to-day to aia Nature, and it is really astonishing what wonderful rivals to Nature we find in so-called artificial flowers. There is an unpleasant sound about the word “artificial.” We associate It with pretence and a false character that is unpleasing. Yet so lovely in tnemselves are many of the forms that now find expression as flowers, etc., that even the most artistic eye finds pleasure in them. Glass flowers are extremely dainty and decorative, and are less fragile than their delicate appearance would lead us to expect. Even rubber flowers, delicately scented and coloured to closely resemble Nature, are very attractive. Feathers, too, and wax are used with artistic effect, and muslin and silk are to-day employed to fashion plants in pots that require close scrutiny to reveal their origin. Among the most popular of artificial flowers are those composed of shells. Very beautiful effects are achieved by the skilful use of shell flowers, which are made in exquisite colours and various sizes.