Making Silk Flowers: Tulips with Anne Tomlin

Tulips are the theme for this three day workshop, coinciding with The Hampton Court Tulip festival which gives you a unique opportunity to get up close to hundreds of tulips planted within the courtyards and gardens. You will study and construct all the elements of the tulip from the pistil to the velvety stamens in the centre of the flower, the petals, and leaves.

We will look at varieties of tulip, from the simple to the parrot. There are many skills to learn here including working with paper clay, a useful material for many elements of flowers. You will also learn how to stiffen silk, mix dyes to make the perfect shades, learn to layer colours, painting with them to create a naturalistic look, and seamlessly adding other fabrics for texture.

Shaping petals involves a wide range of heated French and Japanese tools to create texture and form. Hiding wires between layers of silk for the leaves helps create a support for the structure, and binding stems with flat silk create a fabric-like effect.

There will be lots of tips and tricks and hands on individual help, enabling everyone to understand and create beautiful flowers. Each element will be broken down in to clear, and easy to understand stages, interspersed with demonstrations. You’ll be provided with templates, a worksheet, photos for reference, and a kit. By the end of the workshop you will have gained the skills and knowledge to go away and experiment with making many other flowers observing for yourself all the intricacies that nature has to offer.