There are many types of Artificial Flowers including those made from glass, paper, porcelain and plastic, just to name a few, but the most popular artificial flowers are made from silk. All petals are made from white silk cotton and rayon fabric, regardless the finished colour. The fabric is die-cut into many petal shapes and sizes for one single type of flower. In the first process the petals are dyed using cotton balls and paint brushes to touch colour onto the petals beginning from the edge of the petal working towards the center. The dyeing of one petal can take up to an hour of concentrated work.
The next step is to give the petal their distinctive look, with wrinkles, curves lines and other sorts of shapes needed to create a real and live look. The petals are then placed into molds where heat is then applied to press them into there unique and individual shapes. After these petals are pressed, some of them are stiffened with the use of very thin wire, which is covered with floral tape to hide the actual wires. The wires are inserted into the petals by hand and glue is pasted on to keep the wires in place. After this is done the petals are made into flowers by the use of glue or by running a wire through them to give them the desired shape.
The separate flowers and spread of leaves are each assembled individually but several of them may be joined together to create one single stem. Another process of the work is to take wire precuts of specific lengths and properly cover the entire length of wire with floral paper or with waxed coated tape to make it self sticking. And finally the assembler has to take the individual flowers and the set of sprays of leaves to the stem to complete each flower.
This is the last and final step in the Artificial Flowers making process. All of the completed flowers are then taken to the packing department. Each flower stem is wrapped in floral paper and then the flowers are placed into boxes as if they are real flower bouquets that are to be delivered. These boxes are then sealed and stored for shipment.
Artificial Flowers are also made by individuals who like this sort of thing as a hobby. Their method is much simpler that the manufactured products and some of their finished products can be quite impressive. They acquire the necessary materials from their local craft shops, such as a clear fast drying glue, scissors, wire, wire cutters, floral tape, paint brushes and craft paints. They also have to purchase the materials with which the flower is going to be made, such as paper, stockings, or cloth; some even use dry flowers and berries to use in their creations. After collecting all the necessary materials, they then create a mold of the flower they would like to make with a stencil or some such tool, after which each petal has to be made individually and colored and then they are joined by a wire stem which is covered in floral tape. The petals are not as intricate as the manufactured products and instead of placing wire in the petals they just usually draw the outlines of them onto the petals before painting.
