Modem Artificial Flowers

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 992, 7 June 1930, Page 23

Modem Artificial Flowers

Wonderful Variety of Materials Artificial flowers may come to be as characteristic of our age, as were the wax flowers of our grandmothers, yet how little there is in common between those Victorian blossoms, so carefully cherished in glass cases, and the wondrous flowers of today. There is no doubt that artificial flowers can be used most successfully ia modern rooms, and there seems to be no end of the ingenuity of theii creators. They go from wonder to wonder, and are made of almost every material one can think of—glass, crystal, china, enamel, mother-of-pearl, tin, copper, feathers, and of every kind of fabric from velvet to sheerest muslin. It is possible to find artificial flowers that are so life-like they seem absolutely alive—some merely suggest a blossom, and others make no attempt to imitate anything that nature has created. One of the most lovely mediums the flower artist is using in his craft is mother-of-pearl. Some of the miniature trees made from this substance are really exquisite. They are especially lovely on the dinner table, for iheir shimmering transparent branches reflect the rays of lamp or candle, and the ever-varying colours—sometimes softest purple sometimes lucid azure, of the mother-of-pearl are uniquely fascinating. Sprays of honesty, recently fashioned of mother-of-pearl discs, are very beautiful, and marvellously life-like. Glass flowers are having a vogue at the moment —and certainly they are alluring. The garlands or crystal roses in natural colouring, soft pink or yellow blooms, and delicate green leaves, are a work of art, and if the hearts of some of the roses are illuminated, a spray of these across a small dinner table, and used with two or three candles in tall candle-sticks, make ones’ table a joy to behold. The crystal posies made for putting into bowls are useful, and very realistic. IN FEATHERS The airy grace and soft colouring of the new feather flowers appear just right in many dainty modern rooms, and one can buy a feathered chrysanthemum so lifelike as to be almost the flower. Among the feathered variety are many frankly conventional blooms. Some of the glorious feather blossoms are so exquisitely fashioned it is hard to believe human hands have touched them. Muslin flowers can be very charming, and though not always life-like in their imitations they yet seem, perhaps because of their very lightness and daintiness, to hold imprisoned the spirit of the flower they represent. Arum lilies created of delicate silk muslin have an allure all their own.

Even the ultra modernist creations, though often bizarre, and certainly like no flower that ever bloomed in garden or hedge row, have an appeal; and in their right setting can be pleasantly striking and harmonious.

Some of the newest of these weird flowers are fashioned in coloured china, with a heart of enamel — usually the centre is of a deep, rich shade.