Artificial flowers

Artificial flowers are imitations of natural flowering plants used for commercial or residential decoration. They are sometimes made for scientific purposes (the collection of glass flowers at Harvard University, for example, illustrates the flora of the United States).

Materials used in their manufacture have included painted linen and shavings of stained horn in ancient Egypt, gold and silver in ancient Rome, rice-paper in China, silkworm cocoons in Italy, colored feathers in South America, and wax and tinted shells. Modern techniques involve carved or formed soap, nylon netting stretched over wire frames, ground clay, and 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.

The industry is now a highly specialized one 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.

Five main processes may be distinguished:

While the material most often used to make artificial flowers is polyester fabric, both paper and cloth flowers are also made with origami.

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.

...
Wikipedia