About 4 years ago photographer Ted Mishima and I talked about doing a photo shoot with botanical wings. Over the years the conversation came up many times, we imagined several concepts and gathered many pictures. A couple of years ago my friend Sheryl Tynes told me that she would love to collaborate on that idea. As she lives  in a different state, it took us a while to move forward. Two weeks ago she came to Portland and we simply had a blast! We learned a lot in the process and used so many tubes of cold glue from Oasis to cover 3 sets of wings with gorgeous spring flowers and textures. Sheryl chose to use a lot of wispy tree ferns and  and decorated the back with yellow, orange and white blooms. The 9′ wing span for Aidan’s wings were covered with chocolate brown ti leaves and my favorite burgundy spring flowers and textures. We decided to also do a woodland set – 6 foot long moss covered branches made for perfect wings and were attached to bark shoulder pads.

Models Aidan Burns and Azelle Chang, who both are accomplished ballet dancers, were the perfect models. Ted Mishima did his usual magic with the camera and we were so appreciative that Jamie Bosworth took behind the scenes images while we were setting up.

And a huge thank you to Sheryl – I could not have done this project without you. This was collaboration at it’s best and we plan on teaming up for more ideas in the future!

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A year ago the River Oaks Garden Club in Houston invited me to do a presentation on Woodlands & Botanical Couture and teach a jewelry workshop. I was very excited and honored to have this opportunity to share a lot of information with the members of this Garden Club -which dates back to 1927 and was admitted into the Garden Club of America  9 years later.

Late morning I arrived in Houston and after a delicious lunch we went to Mayesh where we bought a fantastic selection of flowers and textures.The next morning I did a power point presentation and in the afternoon about 20 members came to class to learn mechanics of botanical jewelry. They created beautiful rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

Thank you Oasis for your generous sponsorship and thank you Maudie for taking some of these pictures!

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Earlier this month my friend Gwen suggested that we do a photo shoot at one of the greenhouses at Portland Nursery on Division. It was a great alternative to shooting outside as it was drizzly and quite cold. I had made some necklaces and we played around using them as hairpieces also. Our model Christina’s amazing curly hair totally made that easy.

The magical spring flowers: fritallaria, hellebore, muscari  and pieris, along with succulents and other textures were such perfect ingredients – and yes, the mini phalaenopsis are another favorite to make the jewely.

Thank you Christina Provincio (@lilbean77) for modeling and Gwen Severson(@botanicallyinspired) for the great pictures!

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A few weeks ago Brannan Street Wholesale Florist in San Francisco hosted a 2 day botanical couture workshop. It was the first time that I taught a botanical dress and jewelry class and the results were fantastic! Using wire mesh from Smithers-Oasis, students worked in teams to design each dress, as it is such a time consuming project. Here are some of the unique and diverse designs that they made!

Thank you Elisa Cicinelli for the fabulous pictures!

design: Mindy and Mary Ellen

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For quite a while I have wanted to design a woodland arrangement within a frame – I finally found the perfect structure at an art supply store in the neighborhood. They come in many different square and rectangular sizes. Artist and Craftsman Supply is a fascinating employee owned store where I have spent many, many hours in the last 2 months – and I don’t even draw or paint. So many interesting supplies that can be used in design – I am beyond excited that this fabulous store is within walking distance from where I live.

But I regressed…Originally the framed designs were intended to be wall hangings. I figured out how to secure pieces of wood or small terra cotta pots into the frame and design the rest of the space. While we were doing the photo shoot, the photographer suggested that they would also make great centerpieces and she was so right!

Thank you Gwen Severson with @botanicallyinspired for capturing these images at the beautiful venue Tendue.

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Last month I had the opportunity to go to New Orleans to teach a 2 day workshop, hosted by Diane Mouton with Fat Cat Flowers. The day before the workshop we went to the flower market and visited several plant shops and got back to the studio with a plethora of fabulous flowers, textures and houseplants. We also had the opportunity to go forage fabulous pieces of woods.

8 very enthusiastic and talented designers attended the workshop. On the second afternoon photographers Marianne and Steve Sabrier with The Red M Studio  took pictures of everyone’s designs. Thank you Allie and Babs for modeling all the fabulous botanical headpieces and jewelry! And thank you Holly  Grace Manders for the beautiful hair and make-up for the models!

As always a huge thank you to Oasis for sponsoring the workshop!

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 It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that for quite a while I have been somewhat obsessed with botanical dresses. Never mind that I do not wear dresses – I only love to create the botanical kind!  I’ve marveled at so many pictures on social media over the years and have often fantasized to design several dresses for a runway show.

As you can imagine they are very time consuming and expensive projects – however, it has been fun to experiment with ideas and create some miniature versions. This week I designed the first ‘woodland dress’, using some textured birch bark that I had brought back from Grovfor in Wisconsin last summer. The next step will be to make one for a model later this spring.

I have been fortunate to be hired on a few occasions to make botanical dresses:

The first one was for a window display during the holidays here in Portland at a bridal gown shop Divine Designs. A couple of years ago Milieu Magazine  in Houston dreamed up a magnificent dress for the cover of the magazine. A few months later I designed a dress for the grand opening of the most exclusive in women’s luxury ready-to-wear store Neapoliotan Collection in Chicago.

Last November I taught the mechanics on how to make a dress to students at Cohim in Beijing. The results were stunning and after posting images on social media, many designers expressed interest to take such a class. I am offering 2 workshops, one in Portland next month and one in San Francisco in March.

If you are interested to learn the mechanics for this exciting trend,  check out my upcoming workshops schedule  or contact me for private instruction and editorial design.

Thank you Gwen Severson for the fabulous pictures!

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Last spring I was contacted by Lauren Kimble, editor in chief of Fil Magazine. She was interested in documenting one of the workshops in the studio. Lauren attended a 3 day wedding workshop last June;  the article that she produced for last month’s edition is rich with photos and commentaries.

‘Fil Magazine is the 1st Vegan Event Planning Magazine. It redefines event planning by inspiring others to tread lightly.’   Lauren publishes her beautiful magazine twice a year on line  but you can also buy a hard copy.

A few days ago I received some of the favorite photos that she had taken; take a look!

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Each month I’ll share a current trend I’m seeing in floral design, or a new passion I have with materials and pieces that inspire me.

Botanical jewelry is very hot right now and inquiries for my work in this have grown. It was 5 years ago that I started to make botanical jewelry and all because a student asked to see the mechanics on how to make a ring. Talk about being put on the spot! I figured it out and the rest is history.

Curiosity drove me to start designing earrings, necklaces and bracelets too. As I love details so much I like to piece together deconstructed flowers, tillandsias, succulents and textures along with sedums, tendrils and berries. Depending on the materials that are used, this jewelry will last 1 day up to several weeks.

If you are interested in this exciting floral trend, check out my upcoming workshops schedule, my online jewelry courses or contact me for private instruction and editorial design.

Photo credit: Ted Mishima

Last month I went to Beijing for the 5th time to teach a 6 day woodland/botanical couture workshop, hosted by Cohim.

As always the students were eager to learn new mechanics and techniques and they splendidly interpreted them in their designs. They experienced how curiosity is a driving force to look at flowers through different eyes or to look at pieces of wood or bark as unique vessels. Deconstructing flowers and textures opens up so many options to design with unusual elements, especially when making jewelry.

Students made splendid woodland centerpieces, bouquets and wreaths and learned a foolproof system to decorate shoes. They learned how to create the basis for any shape of purses, jewelry, headpieces and flexible fabric and embellished them with flowers and textures.

On the last day, they worked in teams to make the dress form for a mannequin and collaborate on the design and application of leaves, flowers and textures.

I wanted to extend my gratitude to assistants Jo and Kevin and my translator Tina.

Photos are taken by photographer Kurt at Cohim and myself.

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