Design Indaba Expo

Freshly Found will be at The Design Indaba Expo later this week.

See you there!

Strelitzias

I've been working like crazy to list all the paper flowers in the online store before leaving for the Design Indaba Expo.  

The range of  strelitzias are going in this morning - 
Hand painted, 

Natural Rooibos and red cabbage dyed, 

as well as a batch made from packaging. 

Packaging Proteas.

A bunch of these were delivered to Nampak Sacks this week, to thank them for passing on some of their packaging waste, so that we can make beautiful proteas.  

 

A whole bunch of these will be at The Design Indaba Expo next week too. 

 

Prehistoric Proteas

The paper proteas that we have been making have been such fun to design.  This ancient flower, which has been around since the days of Gondwanaland is also known as the Sugarbush or Suikerbos, because of the sweet syrup that can be harvested from some of them.

Using sticker backing paper, which is unrecyclable, because of its paper and plastic layer has been a challenge, as the plastic wax side resists all glue and paint. 
But the paper side has been a wonderful canvas to work on.  Some of the proteas have had their petals painted pink.
Christy Kiggan has worked to colour the petals of others in a different and more exciting way too.  She has used beetroot to make dye, and has dipped the petals in this dye, until the colour shows right through to the wax layer. In this closeup you can see the difference between both treatments [and the faint logo on the recycled paper]

These are all part of the new Freshly Found Recycled Paper Flower range, which will be launched at the Design Indaba Expo at the beginning of March.  
And this is where it has all been happening.  Here's the work table.  Although it could be classified as messy, I had to take a pic .  I found the colours and rhythm of the petal shapes quite pleasing. 

Agapanthus

The Agapanthus is another one of my favourite South African flowers that grow in my garden.  The simple purplish blue funnel shaped flowers suspended by green stalks in a botanical pompom give me so much pleasure. 

It's been a delight to artistically represent these lovelies in recycled paper and to find out the meaning of the flower name too.

Although they are not from the lily family, they are known as African Lilies.  Their name comes from the Greek words Agape, which is usually used in talking about the Love of God for Man and Anthos, which means flower. That's certainly something I am plan to remember when I come across these stately blooms.

Birds and Crosses...

  White Paper Strelitzias

Painted  Cossstitch Box Bird with more Strelizias

Over the past few weeks, I have been working on a new range of recycled paper flowers.  Today I am introducing you to the Strelitzias
These South African blooms have been created from packaging waste and wax sticker backing paper.
We've created a lovely Freshly Found Cross-stich bird from recycled paper boxes too. 

 

Strelitzias are also known as Crane Flowers or Birds of Paradise.  Their bright striking bird-likeness makes these flowers a favourite of mine. Over the next few days, I'll be showing you some more of the range.

 

Launcning online and at the Design Indaba Expo very soon! See more in the Facebook Photo Gallery.

Coming this Week...

 ... A series of blogposts on the New Freshly Found Recycled Paper Flower Range

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I'll be introducing you to some of these blooms prototyped here.