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March 3, 2020

Preserve your Wedding Flowers

Capturing the beauty of flowers in clay is my favourite thing to do!

When I first thought about the idea of preserving wedding flowers into a ceramic piece, I wasn’t sure how well it would work or if it would take off.

Much to my enjoyment, after advertising my flower preservation service a few years ago and gaining lots of happy customers, I find myself now always working on wedding flower pieces. This means I am constantly surrounded by clay AND beautiful flowers in the studio! What’s not to love?!

It’s always an exciting day when I receive new flowers. Being given special flowers to work with from such a memorable day is such an honour. Each bouquet has a story…

Arranging the composition of flowers onto a rolled out sheet of clay is a crucial part of the process. I try to use at least one of each stem from the bouquet or arrangement of flowers. Depending on the size of the piece being made, a bigger surface area usually works better, although the effects from small delicate flowers work beautifully on a smaller surface area too.

I offer four different approximate sized vases, which can be round or square. If there are any in between sizes preferred, I am always happy to work to the clients requirements. Each piece is completely unique and handmade to order, after all. Personalising your keepsake ceramic piece with your names, wedding date and/or special quote is a lovely touch to add.

The blue hydrangea glaze effect on this square vase above worked really well. It is such a delicate flower to work with, and I found it to be really popular in recent bouquets I have received.

The collection of pieces below were made for clients who hand delivered their flowers to me. It was really nice to be able to chat about what they wanted face to face, and show them other examples in progress in the studio. They decided on a large square vase, a small square vase, and a trinket tray. The panels pictured below were the sides of the larger vase before it was constructed.

I receive flowers in the post in lots of different ways – in lunch boxes, wrapped in layers of tissue inside jiffy bags, layered in between pieces of card. Depending what you are having made, some people take their bouquet apart and send just a few stems, others send their whole bouquet.

How ever the flowers are sent to me – fresh or dried, and how ever many there are, I always get so excited to open the package to see what I will be working with, since the flowers are my ‘tools’.

The colours used on the finished pieces don’t have to match those in your bouquet. If you have a blue colour theme in your living room and want a vase to match your decor, I can do that 🙂

Speaking of dried flowers, I received this dried bouquet from a client who had it sitting in her loft gathering dust. She came across what I do on social media, and sent me photos of the dried bouquet as well as when it was fresh from her wedding day. I assured her that something beautiful could be made…

She wanted to go for a set of three wall panels, and here they are below. The roses that were once pink, are now pink again, preserved into ceramic keepsake tiles that can be enjoyed forever.

See more wedding flower preservation ideas in my other post.

About Charlotte
2 Comments
  1. Hello Charlotte,
    I came across your site when looking into ways of preserving my (upcoming) wedding bouquet and think your creations are absolutely beautiful!
    I’d love to commission a keepsake from my wedding on 21st August if that works for you?
    I’d ideally be looking to get a medium round vase and maybe a trinket tray, although it depends on cost.
    Please could you share a rough outline of what this might cost?

    Thanks very much,
    Lauren

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