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Friday 2 August 2013

Albizia Flowers

We have a lovely Albizia tree in our garden which, amazingly, has survived -17 degree winters and heatwave summers - but I must not speak too soon as we are in the middle of another one! 36 degrees yesterday and nearly there again today.
While I was weeding around the base of the tree the other day, I noticed that not only is it shedding dead flowers, but also fresh, vibrant pink ones (could this be a warning!).


They are fascinating little pink brushes - suprisingly strong. So I picked up a handfull and thought I would see if I could dry them to add to some of my work.

Here at the flowers



I gave them a short blast in the microwave


Then left them to cool down before opening.


They had lost some of their vibrancy but are still very attractive.
After a short while I had a nice collection.



So now, what to do with them? I find that making postcards is always a good way to experiment with new techniques and materials so I cut a couple of pieces of pelmet vilene to size and had an odment left so cut that into two.

I laid painted bondaweb on the vilene, a few flower heads, covered with baking parchment and then ironed.


The baking parchment is peeled off when everything is cool.

I added a layer of pale green sheer fabric to the two postcards to protect the flower heads as I do like to post my cards as postcards.

So here are my finished results - two cards and two postcards.



When I opened the box today I found that the left over flower heads had deteriorated slightly - possibly I had not dried them enough in the microfleur. However, by ironing the ones I used, that completed the drying process and they are fine.
So I went and picked up a few more to dry. This time I have used evolon as my backround and again added painted bondaweb and topped it off with the sheer fabric.


I intend to try some hand stitching into this piece.

Hope you all have a good weeked - I am off to 'batten hatches' and move delicate plants as we are forecast storms with hail and strong winds tonight!

Happy stitching

Lin

3 comments:

  1. Hello Lin,

    We had one of these beautiful trees at our previous home and planted one here and it only survived a few years. They are just magical flowers.

    Like what you did with the flowers.

    Have a lovely day, hope it cools down for you.

    Bev.

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  2. A bit cooler here where I am at the moment (Iceland). I can't stand over 30, so I'm happy here with 12. It is also very hot in Luxembourg. Love how you dried the flowers, I didn't know one could use the microwave. Have to try that. Your book wrap looks very pretty.
    Have a nice week.
    Pala

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  3. I hope that your tree survives just fine. It's been so hot here, but I'll start whining about it so I won't carry on about the heat ;-) What a creative idea to dry the flowers and to incorporate them into your postcards. How lovely!
    Enjoy your week and stay cool,
    Judy

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