Artificial plants
Artificial flowers and imitations of natural flowers are sometimes made for scientific purposes (as the collection of glass flowers at Harvard University, which illustrates the flora of the United States), but more often as articles of decoration and ornament.
A large variety of materials have been used in their manufacture by different peoples at different times - painted linen and shavings of stained horn by the Egyptians, gold and silver by the Romans, rice-paper by the Chinese, silkworm cocoons in Italy, the plumage of highly colored birds in South America, wax, small tinted shells. More recent production methods use carved or formed soap, nylon netting stretched over wire frames, ground clay and mass produced injection plastic mouldings.
Early history
At the beginning of the 18th century the French, who originally learned the art from the Italians, made great advances in the accuracy of their reproductions, and towards the end of that century the Paris manufacturers enjoyed a world-wide reputation. About the same time the art was introduced into England by French refugees, and soon afterwards it spread also to America.
Production
The industry is now a highly specialized one with several different manufacturing processes used.
Cloth and Paper Flowers
Five main processes may be distinguished:
- The first step consists of putting the fabric in gelatine in order to stiffen it.
- The second consists of cutting up the various fabrics and materials employed into shapes suitable for forming the leaves, petals, etc.; this may be done by Scissors, but more often stamps are employed which will cut through a dozen or more thicknesses at one blow.
- The veins of the leaves are next impressed by means of a die, and the petals are given their natural rounded forms by goffering irons of various shapes.
- The next step is to assemble the petals and other parts of the flower, which is built up from the center outwards;
- The fifth is to mount the flower on a stalk formed of brass or iron wire wrapped round with suitably colored material, and to fasten on the leaves required to complete the spray.
Origami methods may also be used to produce paper or cloth flowers.
Soap Flowers
Two methods are used:
- A bar with layered colored soap is mounted in a lathe and a chisel is used to create circular grooves. This is the carved form of soap flowers, the finished flower is very symmetric and regular, but the flowers are not identical and thus hand made.
- An oil-less soap is milled to a powder, water is added and the paste is used as a modelling material. Stamps and rollers are used to emboss leaf and petal textures onto the soap. This is a very expensive, labour intensive process which requires huge skills and patience.
By the time of this writing there is only one known manufacturer, selling their products under the brand names of DecoSoap - Soap-Porri in Europe and Soap-Porri in the United States.
Clay Flowers
Clay is dried and ground to a powder, water is added and coloring and the finished paste used as a modeling paste. A skilled crafts person then models the flowers.
Plastic Flowers
Mass manufactured injection moulding is used, the plastic is injected into a preformed metal die resulting is identical flowers in high volumes.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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