Making of Flower Shelter

Installation Sketches

thrifted fabrics

TIME LINE

September – October 2023

Initial idea and commenced sourcing fabrics from thrift stores.

November 2023

Many hours were spent researching how to make fabric flowers.  I wanted the flowers to be elevated over mass-produced artificial flowers.  This led me to research the last remaining couture flower makers – M&S Schmalberg’s in New York and Parisian Atelier, La Maison Legeron.  Watching their technique I realised I needed moulds and heat tools, both prohibitively expensive.  I then researched more and discovered artist Mariko Kusumoto, who utilises shibori techniques to create fabric sculptures. Mariko occasionally creates her own moulds, which inspired me to create my own flower moulds out of ceramics.  I gathered masses of flower images from online and collated them down to 2 pages covering different petal shapes and petal amounts.  I then hand-sculptured 25 ceramic flower moulds.

TOTAL MONTH TIME: 17 hours

ceramic flower moulds

December 2023

Whilst waiting for the ceramic process (clay drying and firing) I started researching more flower-making processes which led me to the local library.  I reserved five flower-making books from the library and started following the steps laid out.  The first step was starching the fabrics, following the recipe from the book Adornments.

Adornments by Myra Callan is a beautiful book but all of the techniques require heat tools. I thought I could bypass the tool buying using items I had at home (spoons and a candle flame) but my experiments failed! Potentially could have kept trying (saw another online tutorial using a melon baller and flame) but I decided to move on.

Creating Couture Embellishment by Ellen Miller was my top pick flower-making book. The techniques laid out in the book involved stitching to create flower shapes over using heat. I spent a week starching fabrics, hanging them on the fence to dry, cutting up strips, and trying out almost every flower technique listed in the flower-making chapter of the book.

During December I also finished my ceramic mould experiements.  I wrapped the fabric around five of the moulds and boiled them in a starch mix.  I found either my moulds didn’t have enough impressions or my shibori technique failed.  Decided from here on, I’d stick with the stitching method over using heat.

TOTAL MONTH TIME: 47.5 hours (64.5 total)
FLOWER TOTAL: 72

library books

starching then drying out the fabrics

fabric strips cut

rose pattern

first flower attempts

creating my own pattern off an anthurium from the garden

cut petal flower

failed shibori technique

January 2024

Created a flow chart system to help me work out which flower to make out of what fabric
Continued to collect material from thrift stores, starch and cut fabrics.
Tried out new flower variants, and looked at flower inspiration online
Worked out how to construct fabric flower centers and tried using tassels (used a tutorial from On The Loom book)
Poked my fingers excessively this month – tried a plastic thimble, but no luck
Bought a second-hand fishing net and constructed a temporary hoop out of pipe and bamboo (left over from a previous project). The net was too short but I decided to start sewing on the flowers already made, whilst looking for more netting. It was important to start sewing the flowers on now, rather than at the end, to see if I needed to change flower shapes or colours and gauge what was working and what wasn’t. Plus I wanted to break down the mammoth task of sewing thousands of flowers onto the netting.
Worked out how to hang the shelter from my living room light, being the only space in the house flower shelter would fit.
Initially, when I started sewing the flowers on, I had fears of the overall look but after a few days, I could see the final vision coming together. At this point, I also had delusions that it wouldn’t take as many flowers as I had first calculated.
Found a solder iron at the op shop to attempt to cut out flower shapes.
Spent a day making flower templates and cutting out flower shapes. I would still need to purchase heat-shaping tools to give the flowers depth. I also found the flowers cut from templates were much smaller and lost when placed against my sewn flowers and took substantial time to create. The smell of some of the polyester fabrics burning whilst cutting was also a major concern!
Went back to using the sewing method and found my speed of creating flowers increased by the end of the month – was able to create 10 flowers a day as opposed to 5.
Established a fairly consistent rhythm of flower-making by the end of January. I’d cut out the flowers, the evening before, make 10 flowers during the day + enough flower centers, and then sew those flowers onto the netting.

TOTAL MONTH TIME:    125.5  hours (190 total)
FLOWER TOTAL: 254 (326 total)

FB Marketplace Cast Net Listing

Flower centers using fabrics

Base of flower shelter – with a temporary bamboo/pipe top and second-hand fishing net over the top. 

Box of flowers made at the start of January, before the net structure had been hung

Solder Iron

fabric flowers cut using solder iron

completed solder iron flowers

adding flowers to the netting

The first nine days of Feb, I was consistently making 10 flowers a day.
With an upcoming show at the end of March, I needed to switch gears and make new work.  I decided to make one intricate flower a day for a specific sculpture, with the idea to dismantle the sculpture after the show, stealing back the flowers for Flower Shelter 😛
I had wanted to make a few feature flowers for Flower Shelter but was hesitant because of how time-consuming learning a new flower each day would be.   This exhibition gave me the green light to stop the fast-paced productivity mode I’d previously been in and to ultimately elevate Flower Shelter with intricacy.
I made the following intricate flowers: birds of paradise, bluebells, roses, wattle, grevillea, daffodil, trumpet flowers, calla lily, frangipani, baby’s breath, hibiscus, orchids, tulip, morning glory, star lily, fox gloves, anthurium, peony, hydrangea, petunia.  Not all flowers were a success and all took at least a day, some taking two.  I used a bunch of templates online, with the majority coming from the book, Handmade Flowers from Paper and Fabric by Steve and Megumi Biddle.

TOTAL MONTH TIME:  82. 75 hours (272.75 total)
FLOWER TOTAL: 149 (475 altogether)

baby’s breath made from white fabric and embroidery thread

bird of paradise pattern pieces

bird of paradise

cutting out a rose

grevillea flower

trumpet flowers

calla lilly progress

frangipani progress

frangipani

bluebells and red rose

making of lily flower

making of hydrangea

morning glory and star lily

peony making of

March 2024

March was spent continuing the intricate flowers.  The artwork was going to use mainly white flowers so that’s what I focused on this month.
I learned and made: daisy flowers, lily (with french knotted stamen), magnolia, bougainvillea, anemones, snowdrop, tulip, poppy seed balls, gerbera, kanzashi (diff varieties) allamanda, orchid, peony (with french knotted center), oriental lily, calla lily, water lily, bell flowers.
Since I was prepping for an exhibition, I didn’t reach my flower goal but I’m happy to have put energy into intricate flowers that will then be donated back to flower shelter 🙂
I also tried an internet tip I’d found of heating tweezers with my solder iron to shape petals – the method worked immediately (looked great!) but unfortunately, the petals didn’t hold their shape long-term – maybe a technique error or the wrong choice of fabric?!

TOTAL MONTH TIME:  51 hours (323.75)
FLOWER TOTAL: 94 (569 altogether)

magnolia making of

magnolia making of

magnolia

sewing petals

lily making of

calla lily making of

puff ball making of

daisy with french knotted stamen

march progress

April 2024

Start of April, I was finished with intricate flowers and back to making my regular flowers.  Unfortunately the exhibition required daily gallery visits + time devoted to the various events, so I wasn’t able to get back into my fast flower production pace.  We also had Ben’s family stay.  One of Ben’s brother, Mick is an engineer and Paul (the oldest brother) welds so together they were able to talk through my metal support structure and even design a plan.  Off their discussions I think I can put this structure together myself.  During the exhibition my friend Ardleigh, offered (unprompted) to help me make flowers and then Leah also put up her hand.  I spent a week off from making flowers to put together a workshop (including a 10 page document) to teach them.  During the workshop Ardeligh and Leah made four flowers each.  My low flower count this month was also a result of remaking the stamens of the first batches of flowers I made.  I had previously experimented with wool, twine and other fabrics for stamen making that now don’t fit into the aesthetic of the shelter.   I also spent time gathering materials for the workshop and starching and prepping fabrics.  

TOTAL MONTH TIME:  46 hours (369.75)
FLOWER TOTAL: 93 (Ardleigh: 4 Leah: 4) (662 total)

workshop

fabric strips

workshop

workshop

shelter progress – end of April

May 2024

Nothing new happened in May except a repetition of starching fabrics, cutting fabrics, sewing flowers, and sewing the flowers onto the shelter.  As more art projects have popped up, the trend is for flower shelter to get pushed to the bottom of priorities.  This month, I had meetings with 2 different collectives, a collab, worked on two separate small-sculpture prize submissions, and a tonne of prep work for an upcoming project in June.

TOTAL MONTH TIME:  36.75 hours (406.5 hours total)
FLOWER TOTAL: 127 (789 total)

colourful fabrics

Shelter progress – end of May

cut fabric strips

JUNE – JULY 2024

June was a total write-off, I managed to sew only eleven flowers, in between many other art projects, including a boots-on-the-ground social art project (24 June – 14 July) that required a bunch of prep work before starting.  July was also a write-off until 18th of July when I managed to make my first flower. It was challenging to get back into the swing of making after a long absence but I’m glad I pushed through and finished with 60 flowers sewn in July.  I’ve also been scouting for more fishing line to finish my shelter.  In July I came across some free shade cloth on FB marketplace.  I was having some structural issues with the fishing line, so I made the decision to undo all the previous flowers sewn onto the shelter (700+) and create a series of panels of shade cloth.  I sewed 6 triangle roof panels and 6 side panels using doubled-over shade cloth.  These panels are sturdier, will hopefully make transportation and storage easier, and will mentally give the satisfaction of finishing panels rather than seeing one overwhelming structure.  Re-sewing all the flowers is tedious.  It’s taking one day to transfer the flowers onto a single roof panel.  I’m currently typing this recap with bandaids on my fingers.  The absence of flower making in June and most of July meant I lost the callouses previously built up on my fingers and I’m currently going through a painful reinitiation process!

TOTAL MONTH TIME:   31.5 hours (438 hours total)
FLOWER TOTAL:  11 + 60 (838 total)

fb marketplace lisiting and the yellow shade cloth hung on the clothesline after being cleaned.

cats loving the shade cloth

cats loving the shade cloth

back into flower production mode at the end of July

adding flowers to the cut and sewn roof panels

re-sewing past flowers onto the new shade cloth panels

AUGUST 2024

I nearly completed all 6 roof panels (a small section to finish on roof panel number 6).  As I was transferring the flowers from the fishing net to the new shade cloth panels I fixed up any sub-par flowers I had previously made.  This involved cleaning up frayed edges and replacing old tassels with my new stamens to keep aesthetic consistency.  Lots of sunny weather for fabric starching and a bunch of red fabric donated from Karen Lynch after she heard about my project. One week I managed to make 81 flowers but the other weeks were less productive due to having a week of mentoring and working on my Artisan exhibition for the end of the year.  I decided to incorporate textile leaves into my Artisan exhibition that I can hopefully repurpose for the inside of Flower Shelter.  I compiled all my leaf photos (photographed during the Tree Auditor project) that I then printed and cut out to create templates. Initially I envisioned only gold leaves inside the shelter.  I experimented with gold leaf upon fabric but I believe using gold fabric dispersed with green fabric will work the best. I’m still in the early learning phase of leaf making.

TOTAL MONTH TIME:  53.25  hours (491.25 total hours)
FLOWER TOTAL: 168 (1006 total)

resewing past flowers

red fabrics from Karen

spools running low

cutting out flowers

starching fabrics

leaf templates

early stages of leaf making

wip leaves

SEPTEMBER 2024

I finished the last roof panel, only to discover that I didn’t want the roof to be covered in flowers but rather rows traveling up the metal support structures.  To solve this, I stitched the roof panel to the first side panel and will work on the flowers rows later.  I’m now 75% finished the first side panel – another 5 to go!  I’ve had a few visitors ask if I will be adding fabric leaves to break up all the flowers, with comments like “it’s becoming too much of an old lady’s potpourri bowl”.  I’ve also had these fears.  The plan moving forward is to continue making, continue educating myself on the art of floral arrangement and to make observations of flowers in nature.  I may or may not add leaves.

Mid-month, I made a record 102 flowers in one week!  I’ve also been contemplating the act of making.  In August, my friend (and psychologist) Kirsty, highlighted that this repetitive daily work is a nervous system regulator.  I always knew it was a meditative process but I now see it as an important daily activity for my physical and emotional self.  I’m worse off for not making flowers.  As I’m making, and especially when I’m stitching the flowers onto the panels, I’m trying to embed the energy that I want people to feel when the work is complete.  I’ve been dabbling with listening to 432 hz music on YouTube as a fun experiment.  I also noted this month that there’s a lot of my energy and physicality going into this project – literally blood when I poked my finger with the needle.  The blood spot is tiny and hidden (no one will ever see it) but I’m aware that I’m embedded in the work.

TOTAL MONTH TIME:   61.5 hours (552.75 hours total)
FLOWER TOTAL:  262 ( 1268 total)

starched fabrics

starched fabrics drying on fence

roof panel sewn onto side panel one

cut stamen strips of fabric

roof panels finished

OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2024

I was on a roll during October until I realised I needed to put flower shelter on hold.  With an exhibition at Artisan starting in mid-December (involving making many ceramic objects) I found pushing myself to work on flower shelter at the same time was becoming impossible.  So I stopped making flowers on the 19th of October and only resumed on the 23rd of December.  At the end of the year, I did manage to disassemble the fishing net (hanging in the lounge) and nail the shade cloth panels to our walls to keep them away from our cats (there’s a small patch where the flowers are indented from a cat nap). It’s now over a year since I first started the project.  I had naively hoped this was a year-long project.

TOTAL MONTH TIME:   44 hours (632.25 total hours)
FLOWER TOTAL:  210 (1478 total)

Peach the cat and her constant desire to be involved.

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

Completed final video edit

Final Megan mentoring

TOTAL TIME: 2 hours

Night Body filmed in artist backyard

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Megan Williams, who through RADF, was able to provide mentoring for the project.

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