Artificial plants

Paper flowers

Five main processes may be distinguished:

• The first step consists of putting the polyester fabric in gelatine in order to stiffen it.
• The second consists of cutting up the various polyester fabrics and materials employed into shapes suitable for forming the leaves, petals, etc.; this may be done with scissors, but is more often done with stamps that can cut through a dozen or more thicknesses at one blow.
• Next, the veins of the leaves are impressed by means of silk screen printing with a dye, 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.
  

  Flower bouquet with prepared rose blossoms and silk flowers
• The fifth is to mount the flower on a stalk of brass or iron wire wrapped with suitably colored material, and to add the leaves to complete the spray.[1]

While the material most often used to make artificial flowers is polyester fabric, both paper and cloth flowers are also made with origami.[4]

The art of nylon flower making is an easy to learn craft which uses simple tools and inexpensive material to achieve stunning results. Nylon flower making enjoyed a brief popularity in the United States in the 1970s and soon became very popular in Japan. In recent years, the craft's popularity has spread Asia, Europe and Australia. With the advent of new colors and materials, the art has expanded to infinite new possibilities of nylon flower making.[5]

The basic materials needed to make nylon flowers include: wire, stem wire, nylon stocking, nylon threading, floral tape and stamen. Some flowers require cotton balls or sheets (or batting), white glue, acrylic paint and paint brushes.[5]

Silk flowers are crafted from a protein fibre spun by the silk worm, producing lifelike flowers. Flowers described as being made of silk with a "real touch technique" are not made of silk, but rather are made of polyester, polymers and plastics.[6] Moreover, textile items made of polyester but marketed as "silk" violate the US federal law – specifically the 1959 Textile Fiber Products Identification Act.[7]

There are two methods:

• Carved: A bar with layered coloured soap is mounted in a lathe, and circular grooves are chiseled into it. The finished flower is symmetric and regular, but the flowers are not identical and can be called handmade.
• Moulded: An oil-less soap milled to a powder is mixed with water, and the paste is used as a modelling material. Leaf and petal textures are stamped or rolled onto the soap. This is an expensive, labour-intensive process.

Clay flowers are made by hand from special air-dry polymer clay or cold porcelain, steel wire, paint, glue, tape and sometimes paper and foam as a filler. With the help of cutters, where each flower has its own cutter set, the parts are cut from the still soft clay and then formed with specially designed tools. After drying, these parts are, when needed, painted with precision and then very precisely assembled into a whole flower. When made by a skilful artisan, clay flowers can be very realistic. From Thailand, where this art is very popular, it has spread to Europe, Russia and the US.

Flower in Murano glass

Glass is melted and blown by hand into flower shapes. Working with glass at high temperatures to form a flower is very difficult, which is why glass flowers are much more expensive than typical artificial flowers.

Injection moulding is used for mass manufacture of plastic flowers. Plastic is injected into a preformed metal die.