Saturday 27 August 2016

First Petunia Trial




 OK, this is the first attempt at a petunia plant; it needs way more leaves, but I thought I'd hold off with that until I try the other idea I had for reproducing these. The leaves are very tiny and each is shaped individually; there are 60 of them on this plant, and it probably needs that much again!

The blossoms were made with white, light-weight computer paper, on which I drew a star-shape (4 intersecting lines) with a purple  non-waterproof marker pen. I wanted to see what would happen when the coloured 1/4" (6 mm) circles were dampened; my hope was that the colour would "run" in interesting ways. That part worked well, and I may try it with alcohol inks, as some people have suggested to me. Apparently, that is a technique taught in art schools.Also, the blossoms will not need to dry if using alcohol inks.

The colour variations add to the realism of the flowers. They are also flared differently, giving the appearance of flowers wide open and others still to open completely. The friend who wanted the plant components has decided it is too time-consuming and fiddly; unfortunately, that is the case with any and all petunia plants, they require lots of flowers. so this experiment is over.

Update (Posted August 30): I won't be trying the other idea I had, as the plants aren't needed now. Some day I may try to make some petunias for my own use, but Tudor medicinal gardens didn't have any use for petunias!




11 comments:

  1. I would be willing to try the kit. Are the instructions in the kit or need to be printed off your blog. What gel pens do you use? Marilyn

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    1. Marilyn, for this I used a GellyRoll 8 by Sakura, which I probably picked up at an office supply chain store.

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  2. I certainly would be willing to try this kit. I do clematis vines in 1:48th scale that take even more work than these do, also geraniums, hydrangeas, and other flowers in 1:48th scale that take a lot of work to do, so if I achieved a realistic finish in 1:12th scale with these, it would be worth it. Would you also consider doing the kits in smaller scales?

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    1. Smaller scales are, sadly, beyond me. I hugely admire anyone who works smaller than 1/12! The kits themselves are being made available to fellow campers at Camp MiniHaHa, but there will be a full tutorial on the blog for anyone wanting to try them for themselves. Stay tuned, and thank you both for taking the time to respond.

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  3. I would probably buy a kit but I don't want to do a test
    as I usually take too much time to finish. Elise

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  4. Your petunias turned out really well and I appreciate your detailed explanation of your process. I would also consider buying a kit since I enjoy making flowers anyway, but it is the way that the color bleeds into the paper that makes the flowers looks so real, so trying to find the right felt pen with the right kind of tip would perhaps be the most challenging.

    elizabeth

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  5. Elizabeth, I used a Crayola marker pen for this, they are readily available.

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  6. Hi Mom! I was just thinking that something you could experiment with to try to get more petunia colours, if you were so inclined, would be permanent markers. They're soluble in rubbing alcohol and you might get some really interesting colour effects using them. Just do the same thing with the purple but use rubbing alcohol instead of water. Added bonus: they'll dry a lot faster because the rubbing alcohol will evaporate more quickly than water. :)

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    1. You can get rainbow packs of Sharpie markers at the Wal-mart here so you probably can in Fredericton, too.

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  7. Those petunias look Wonderful to me! Mine always look a bit "Thin" of leaves by summer's end! I think your method with the color is brilliant! I will have to try this someday.

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  8. Great petunias Marijke. Another one to add to my list to try. Maybe later this fall I can talk you into a full day of nothing but flower-making together. You got me hooked so now I'll make you suffer by putting up with my efforts and endless questions! ;) - Marilyn D., Oromocto, NB

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