Kate Chu's Pressed Flower Art
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Pressed Flower Art Backgrounds Backgrounds for pressed flower projects are only limited by your imagination. Material that can be used ranging from paper, fabric, to candles, cups, and etc. There are no set rules about background colors and designs either. To start, I want to introduce an easy and fail proof way to obtain professional results to anyone who has not much experience with painting. It is called "dry wash" method in pastel painting. Dry wash provides an easy way to create soft blending colors that would complement pressed flowers. Another benefit about dry wash method is that you do not have to wait for it to dry before putting flowers on. You can buy student quality soft pastel relatively inexpensive in your local art supply stores. 12 colors are fine for this purpose. Select the color you want to work with. Use a small knife, scrape powder off the pastel. Work slowly to ensure powders is fine. A small amount would cover a large area. You can mix colors to make new color. Use a cotton ball, dipping the color powder and rub it into paper. This will create a smoky or cloudy effect. Blending two or more colors is very easy too. Work the colors from two separate areas on the background paper, gradually toward each other. At the edge where two colors intercept, you should reduce the intensity of the colors to create a smooth smoking effect. Pansies from Adult Pressed Flower Art Class I is an example of blending two colors. You can use a pencil eraser to correct mistakes. Another effect I want to show is focus and fading shown in Snapdragon from Adult Pressed Flower Art Class I. Here we use the pastel stick sideways and paint an oval shape (smaller than the desired size) on paper. Use a cotton ball to soften the edge to create the fading effect. This type of background is applied when your main idea is memory, recall, etc… Another type of background often used in pressed flower art picture is fabric. Velvet, silk, lace, and any type suitable for your main idea are fine. One thing to notice is when selecting background, choose the ones that would compliment the flower. Fancy prints or lace patterns would direct attention away from the flowers. You will need a backing to the fabric. We can use water color paper (140 lbs.) for the backing small picture. Use mounting boards for larger picture packing. Press out of any wrinkles from the fabric. Spray adhesive (sold in art supply stores for photo mount) evenly on backing paper, make sure it covers the entire area (especially the corners). Wait for a minute for adhesive to settle and then put the fabric on. Working from the center, make sure there are no trapped air bubbles. Stretch the edges to make the fabric tight. Glue the edges of fabric to the back to ensure tightness. Lay on flat surface to allow dry. When using lightweight paper such as gift wrapping paper or Japanese paper, you would also need to place it on backing material first. Apply backing in the same manner as for applying fabric. Other types of surface such as candles, cups, wood, and etc. are different subjects. We have other classes to cover those. Throughout our classes, we will be working on flat surfaces that can be framed. |
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Copyright 1998 - 2008 Kate Chu |
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