Artificial plants: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Imitations of natural plants used for commercial or residential decoration}}

'''Artificial Flowers''' and imitations of natural flowers are sometimes made for scientific purposes (as the collection of glass flowers at [[Harvard University]], which illustrates the [[flora (plants)|flora]] of the United States), but more often as articles of decoration and ornament.

{{Redirect|Fake Flowers|the song by Train|Fake Flowers (song)}}

{{broaden scope|date=November 2021}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}

[[Image:Artificial flowers bouquet oldfashioned.jpg|thumb|right|Artificial flowers made from plastic]]

[[File:HK SW 上環 Sheung Wan 差館上街 Upper Station Street CRIT Room green plastic leaves September 2020 SS2.jpg|thumb|A plastic bush]]

'''Artificial plants''' are imitations of natural plants used for commercial or residential decoration. They are sometimes made for scientific purposes (the collection of [[Glass Flowers|glass flowers]] at [[Harvard University]], for example, illustrates the [[flora (plants)|flora]] of the United States).<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Flowers, Artificial|volume=10|page=573}}</ref> Artificial plants vary widely from mass-produced varieties that are distinguishable from real plants by casual observation to highly detailed botanical or artistic specimens.

A large variety of materials have beenMaterials used in their manufacture by different peopleshave atincluded different timespaintedpainted linen and shavings of stained horn by thein [[ancient Egypt]]ians, gold and silver by thein [[Romansancient Rome]], [[rice-paper]] by thein [[China|Chinese]], [[silkworm]] [[Pupa#Cocoon|cocoons]] in [[Italy]], the plumage of highly colored birdsfeathers in [[South America]], and wax, smalland tinted [[animal shellExoskeleton|shells]].<ref Morename="EB1911"/><ref recentname=ea/> productionModern methodstechniques useinvolve carved or formed soap, nylon netting stretched over wire frames, ground clay, and [[mass production|mass-produced]] injection plastic mouldings. Polyester has been the main material for manufacturing artificial flowers since the 1970s. Most artificial flowers in the market nowadays are made of polyester fabric and plastic.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gachman |first1=Dina |title=No Natural Light? No Problem |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/style/fake-plants-decor.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 May 2020 |access-date=31 July 2021 |ref=nyt_faux}}</ref>

==Early HistoryProduction==

The industry is now highly specialized with several different manufacturing processes. Hundreds of artificial flower factories in the Pearl River delta area of Guangdong province in China have been built since the early 1980s. Thousands of 40-foot containers of polyester flowers and plants are exported to many countries every year.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

At the beginning of the 18th century the French, who originally learned the art from the Italians, made great advances in the accuracy of their reproductions, and towards the end of that century the Paris manufacturers enjoyed a world-wide reputation. About the same time the art was introduced into England by French refugees, and soon afterwards it spread also to America.

===Polyester and paper===

==Production ==

[[Image:Paper flowers in vase.jpg|thumb|right|Paper flowers]]

The industry is now a highly specialized one with several different manufacturing processes used.

Five main processes may be distinguished:

===Cloth and Paper Flowers===

Four main processes may be distinguished:

*The first consists of cutting up the various fabrics and materials employed into shapes suitable for forming the leaves, petals, etc.; this may be done by Scissors, but more often stamps are employed which will cut through a dozen or more thicknesses at one blow.

*The veins of the leaves are next impressed by means of a die, 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;

*The fourth is to mount the flower on a stalk formed of brass or iron wire wrapped round with suitably colored material, and to fasten on the leaves required to complete the spray.

===Soap Flowers===

Two methods are used:

* A bar with layered colored soap is mounted in a [[Lathe|lathe]] and a chisel is used to create circular grooves. This is the carved formed of soap flowers, the finished flower is very symetric and regular, but the flowers are not identicala and thus hand made.

* An oil-less soap is milled to a powder, water is added and the paste is used as a modelling material. Stamps and rollers are used to emboss leaf and petal textures onto the soap. This is a more expensive, labour intensive process.

With both methods, wire, wood and other mountings are later used to finish the products.

===Clay Flowers===

Clay is dried and ground to a powder, water is added and coloring and the finished paste used as a modeling paste. A skilled crafts person then models the flowers.

===Plastic Flowers===

Mass manufactured [[Injection moulding|injection moulding]] is used, the plastic is injected into a preformed metal die resulting is identical flowers in high volumes.

==External links==

*[http://www.soap-flowers.com/ Soap flowers]

* The first step consists of putting the polyester fabric in gelatine in order to stiffen it.

{{1911}}

* 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.[[File:Rosenstrauß aus Seidenblumen und präparierten Rosen.JPG|thumb|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.<ref name="EB1911"/>

While the material most often used to make artificial flowers is [[polyester]] fabric, both paper and cloth flowers are also made with [[origami]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Westland|first1=Susan Conder, Sue Phillips, Pamela|title=The complete flower craft book|date=1993|publisher=North Light Books|___location=Cincinnati, Ohio|isbn=0891345396|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0891345396|access-date=17 September 2016}}</ref>

[[Category:Flowers|Artificial]]

===Nylon stocking flowers===

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.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Jue Liu|first1=[translator, Dawn Wang]|title=The Art of Handmade flowers : step-by-step instructions for over 70 beautiful nylon creations|date=2009|publisher=New Sheer Creations|___location=Pleasanton, CA|isbn=978-0982410905|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no29ngEACAAJ|access-date=17 September 2016}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":0" />

===Silk flowers===

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/polyester|title=the definition of polyester|publisher=}}</ref> Moreover, textile items made of polyester but marketed as "silk" violate the US federal law – specifically the 1959 Textile Fiber Products Identification Act.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/303|title=16 CFR Part 303 – Rules and Regulations Under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act|publisher=}}</ref>

===Soap===

There are two methods:

* Carved: A bar with layered coloured soap is mounted in a [[Lathe (tool)|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===

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.

===Glass===

[[File:Murano Lüster - Blaue Blume.jpg|thumb|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.

===Plastic===

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

==Simulacraceae== <!--[[Simulacraceae]] redirects to this section-->

The journal ''Ethnobotany Research and Applications'' published a tongue-in-cheek paper that claims to be the culmination of a six-year project in the exhaustive taxonomy of artificial plants, and lumped the group into a single family called the Simulacraceae ("the family of simulated plants").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/vol5/I1547-3465-05-159.pdf|title=Ethnobotany Journal|publisher=Ethnobotany Journal|access-date=5 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401052249/http://www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/vol5/I1547-3465-05-159.pdf|archive-date=1 April 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==History==

[[File:Flores_de_papel_Enceradas.jpg|thumb|Mexican paper flower craftswoman]]

Floral wreaths made by the [[ancient Egypt]]ians were formed from thin plates of [[Horn (anatomy)|horn]] stained in different colors. They also sometimes consisted of leaves of [[copper]], [[gilding|gilt]] or were [[silvering|silvered]] over. The [[ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] excelled in the art of imitating flowers in [[wax]] and in this branch of the art attained a degree of perfection which has not been approached in modern times. [[Crassus]], renowned for his wealth, gave to the victors in the games he celebrated at [[Rome]] crowns of artificial leaves made of gold and silver.<ref name=ea/>

In more recent times, [[Italy|Italians]] were the first to acquire celebrity for the skill and taste they displayed in this manufacture. Later [[England|English]], [[United States|American]], and especially [[France|French]] manufactures were celebrated. The [[China|Chinese]] and [[Japan]]ese show great dexterity in this work. These early artificial flowers were made out of many-coloured ribbons which were twisted together and attached to small pieces of wire. But these first attempts were decidedly crude.<ref name=ea/>

In the first half of the 19th century, the Swedish artist [[Emma Fürstenhoff]] became internationally renowned in Europe for her artificial flower arrangements of wax in a technique regarded as a novelty in contemporary Europe.<ref>{{cite book|first=Wilhelmina|last=Stålberg|title=Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor|publisher=Rubenerg|year=1864|language=sv}}</ref> Wax flower sculptures were popular in the 1840s and 1850s in Britain, with noted sculptors including the London-based [[Emma Peachey]] and the [[Mintorn family]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ann B. Shteir |year=2007 |title= "Fac-similes of nature": Victorian wax flower modelling |journal= Victorian Literature and Culture |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages= 649–61 |doi=10.1017/S1060150307051698}}</ref>

In the 1910s, [[Beat-Sofi Granqvist]] studied the manufacture of artificial flowers in [[Germany]]. After returning to [[Finland]], she founded Finland's first artificial flower factory, next to her apartment at Pieni Roobertinkatu 4-6.<ref name=forum>[https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/560014?page=23 Suomalainen kukkaishaltijatar], Forum, 01.01.1939, no. 1, p. 23, National Library's digital materials</ref><ref name=astra>[https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/737775?page=12 Ett besök hos huvudstadens blomsterfé], Astra, 01.12.1938, no. 24, p. 12, National Library's digital materials</ref><ref>[https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/763352?page=51 Kukkia, jotka eivät tuoksu], Seura, 17.08.1938, no. 33, p. 51, National Library's digital materials</ref>

In the course of time [[feathers]] were substituted for ribbons, a more delicate material, but one to which it was not so easy to give the requisite shades of color. The plumage of the birds of [[South America]] was adapted for artificial flowers on account of the brilliancy and permanence of the tints, and the natives of that continent long practised with success the making of [[feather flowers]]. The [[London Zoo]] contains a collection of artificial flowers made out of the feathers of [[hummingbirds]].<ref name=ea>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Flowers, Artificial}}</ref>

==Gallery==

<Gallery>

File:Artificial flower-Iran 03.jpg|Artificial roses

File:Artificial flower-Iran 12.jpg|Artificial leaf display

File:Kerze aus Bienenwachs Rose.JPG|Rose-shaped candle

File:Artificial fern.JPG|Artificial fern

File:Alstad Inc. 1 100 0075.JPG|Fake tree and ground plants in an indoor display

File:Cellphone Tower Tree.jpg|A [[cellphone tower]] disguised as a tree

</Gallery>

==See also==

* [[Artificial Christmas tree]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Plants|Artificial]]

[[Category:Artificial objects]]