mix viva magenta colour

Let’s mix Viva Magenta, Colour of the Year 2023

by | posted in: colour of the year, hand painted flowers, hand painted silk, hand painted silk flowers, hand painted silk rose, how to dye fabrics, how to make flowers, silk lfowers uk, silk painting., silk roses UK, silk wedding flowers, viva magenta | 0

How can we mix Viva Magenta, colour of the year 2023?

viva magenta colour
Silk Rose Chokers in Viva Magenta

 

Pantone’s Colour of the Year has been going for 24 years, influencing products across fashion, home furnishings, and industrial design.
For 2023 Pantone has chosen Viva Magenta, a nuanced crimson red tone that presents a balance between warm and cool.
Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, a pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, it is assertive yet not aggressive.
It is a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family, Viva Magenta is a perfect colour for many flowers and since we are going to live with it for the whole of the year 2023, I thought it would be helpful if I shared my ideas on how to mix Viva Magenta colour using Procion MX dyes for fabrics.

 

How I have mixed Viva Magenta using Procion MX dyes by Jacquard and Colourcraft

 

Please feel free to share your questions, ideas and successes in mixing Viva Magenta colour in the comments below this blog post.

 

Other blog posts on dyeing you might find useful

 

Colouring stamens for flowers

3 ways to dye silk petals to achieve the intensity of colour

 

How to dye silk flowers: white flowers

How to dye velvet leaves

 

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colouring stamens for flowers

Colouring stamens for flowers

by | posted in: hand painted silk flowers, handmade silk flowers, silk flowers | 0

colouring stamensColouring stamens for flowers made easy!

Although ready made stamens come in a variety of colours and sizes is is often difficult to find ones in suitable colour for a project in question. That’s why I find it easier to colour white stamens myself. This way I make sure that the stamens match my flower in colour and size.

For dyeing stamens we’ll need:
– non porous surface (plastic or glass)
– some vodka (or even better spirit)
– Procion (acid) dyes in chosen colours
– a receptacle (a porcelain dish)
– a pair of tweezers
– a bunch of stamens

Vodka evaporates quicker than water which means the dye will dry before the stamen heads dissolve in the licolouring stamensquid. Water is not as good for this task and even with vodka one should act really quickly.

 

Pour a small quantity of vodka (10-15 ml) into the dish and dissolve some powder dye in it. I find intense colours work better, that’s why I put a generous amount of powder dye into the dish. colouring stamens
Using a brush dissolve the dye well in vodka. It will take a bit longer than dissolving the dye in water, so make sure all the dye grains are dissolved.

 

Now using a pair of tweezers ( and possibly disposable gloves) dip several stamens at a time into the prepared dye and dye them evenly. Do not try to put all of the stamens at once. This will only dissolve all the stamen heads and ruin the stamens.

 

colouring stamensHaving dyed a small bunch of stamens put them onto a prepared non porous surface like glass or plastic and leave to dry. It is important that the stamens are separated (see the photo). Otherwise they will stick together as they are drying.
In this way, portion by porting a small bunch at a time dye all the stamens and lay them out tocolouring stamens dry on the non porous surface. Please do not use paper as the wet stamens stick to it.

 

I hope this information on colouring stamens for flowers is useful for you and you’ll be confident to dye white stamens for your project now.

 

 

 

 

Video tutorials on flowers from £39

 

 

EXPLORE FLOWER MAKING PHOTO TUTORIALS
EXPLORE FLOWER MAKING VIDEO TUTORIALS
Bridal garland headpiece

A bridal halo with double cherry blossom

by | posted in: bridal accessories, bridal garland, bridal halo, bridal silk flowers, bridal tiara, bridal wreath, cherry blossom, diademe, Drayton Old Lodge, hand painted silk, hand painted silk flowers, sakura, Wedding fair | 0

Well, you have probably noticed that recently I have created quite a number of wedding designs. Although, I love to create bridal accessories as much as flowers for other occasions and even for every day, the reason I am concentrating on the wedding theme is because in a month (exactly a month from today!) I am taking part in a large Wedding fair in this new for me area. The Drayton Old Lodge Wedding Fair is held on 17 March at this elegant Edwardian manor house just 10 minutes drive from central Norwich. I have been placed in the Vintage room, which is another reason to concentrate on bridal floral accessories with a vintage feel to them.
Here is the creation of the last week: an open bridal wreath with double cherry blossom in soft pinks and mellow yellows. I used habotai for flowers and pongee for twigs (all 100% pure silk). As always I hand painted all the elements using colours for silk. The size of the wreath can be regulated with a silk ribbon at the back which is useful because you can wear it higher or lower depending on how you like it.

A similar wreath can be made with just white flowers or maybe only pink depending on the colour scheme of a wedding. The bridal wreath can be purchased from my Etsy shop.
I do find this floral garland very romantic i must say. And what is your opinion?

Bridal hat with a gorgeous silk rose and a birdcage veil

by | posted in: bridal fascinator, bridal hat, habdnade silk rose, hand painted silk flowers, hand painted silk rose, millinery, millinery flowers, millinery roses, wedding fascinator, wedding hat, white fascinator, white hat | 0
When I finished assembling this rose I immediately thought of it as a millinery flower. Called Bride it is a gorgeous large silk rose of nearly 70 petals and is indeed meant for weddings.
I had the hat idea in my mind as well, I just needed some time to get hold of all the necessary supplies to start creating. And the supply list is rather extensive: sinamay base, viscose velvet, hat elastic, crin, coque feathers, dupioni leaves, birdcage veil with spots and of course the silk rose.
Here is  the picture of the finished hat:

And to give you an idea of how it looks on a head I acted as a model 😀 in these pictures:

The bridal hat is available for purchase at at my store on Etsy

Preparing for Christmas. Not long to go

by | posted in: broche fleur, Christmas, Christmas decoration, Christmas holly, Christmas jewelry, Christmas Star, fleur en tissu, hand painted silk flowers, Noel 2012, poinsettia, textile holly brooch | 0
Now only lazy can ignore all the preparations for the coming Christmas: decorated shops, Chrtistmas cards everywhere, butchers taking order for Christmas turkeys etc.
Despite Remembrance poppies,a couple of craft fairs and some orders I need to work on Christmas designs have not been forgotten. So far I have tried two iconic Christmas plants which are holly and poinsettia. And yes there is a way of making fur trees out of velvet but I am not just sure I will have time to try it ☺ It looks a very time-consuming adventure!
I created poinsettia out of pure silk satin which I hand painted in rich reds and hot pinks. The flower is rather big (about 15 cm across) and is finished with a brooch base.

For the holly corsage I used cotton poplin in dark green and some hand painted pure silk satin for the little berries. The brooch looks very sweet and immediately reminds you of Christmas!

I am thinking about making other fantasy flowers which can decorate festive outfits at parties and corporate celebrations. Should stock on beads and feathers then! 🙂

Bluebells

by | posted in: bluebells, bridal flowers, fabric flowers, flower girl flowers, hand painted silk flowers, handmade silk flowers, high quality silk flowers, pure silk, pure silk flowers, silk bluebells, wedding silk flowers | 0

Another inspiration from one the Japanese flower making tutorials is this stem of fantasy bluebells. I made them in intense blue, but would like to recreate in white and soft pink later on. I think they will look very nice in a bridal or a flower girl’s head wreath when made in white (or even pink!). Here is the original piece I made:

silk bluebells, artificial flowers, faux flowers, handmade flowers
silk bluebells, artificial flowers, faux flowers, handmade flowers
And how do you see these bluebells? Maybe as a little corsage? Or…? Please let me know ☺

Another take on bluebells are my stylised velvet bells (see below):

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What’s new?

by | posted in: hand made silk rose, hand painted silk flowers, hand painted silk rose, handmade flower, silk flower making books, silk petals, small silk roses | 0
After having received 3 books on silk flower making by world famous Japanese masters in the post I was thinking with what to start. Well, I must admit, the lack of Japanese does not help when I try to understand sophisticated instructions having just a couple of photos at my disposal. So I decided to start from a stem of tiny little roses or even rosebuds. They seem to be OK to make, and besides i have been approached before by my friends who were interested in very small roses.
So far the petals are ready and they are tiny! Here is a photo of a pile of silk petals featuring Fimbriata our new garden rose as well ☺

handmade petals, silk rose petals, hand painted silk rose petals, handmade flowers, silk flowers

Butterfly morning

by | posted in: butterfly bridal accessories, butterfly hair accessories, hand painted silk butterflies, hand painted silk flowers, handmade silk butterfly, lace butterfly, papillon en dentelle, papillon en soie | 0
Good morning to everyone! What type of morning is it for you? Well, for some it is a Butterfly type of a morning ☺ And our hand painted silk butterflies have been featured again, now in this turqouise treasury full of these fascinating creatures!
Have a peek at my other butterflies here

hand painted butterflies, butterfly decor, butterfly hair clip, butterfly brooch, wedding butterflies

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