My favourite method is creating marble-like designs that are achieved by wrapping raw eggs in layers on onion skins. The designs can be enhanced by pressing small leaves, flower petals and other tiny objects against the egg before layering onion skins around it.We would often use maiden hair ferns, dill, jacaranda leaves and other delicate  interesting shaped herbs and petals from the garden.The trick is to choose cuttings that are not so solid in form, so their silhouettes make interesting patterns.Even things like lace and fabrics would work. Be sure not to pick anything poisonous.

The second method is putting bare, raw eggs into onion dye baths to produce plain, dark colors that are prefect for scratch-carving Latvian folk art symbols on the shells.A number of Latvian folk art symbols can be used. The sun represents the bearer of life and began as a simple circle, later evolving into eight separate circles around a center. The auseklis is an eight-sided star that guards against evil at night. The Austra’s tree of light or dawn is often combined with the sun symbol. The fire cross represents fire, life, health and prosperity.

To prevent the eggs from cracking during the dyeing process, take them out of the refrigerator a few hours before you’re ready to begin.

Press your botanical leaves and floral finds onto uncooked eggs. Carefully cover the eggs with onion skins. Then wrap them tightly in material -old T-shirt scraps work well – and secure them and bind with string so everything stays in place.

For a marble effect without the botanical print, wrap eggs in thick layers of onion skins – no white should show through. Cover with a piece of material and tie securely.Natural dyes need not be limited to using brown onion skins. Use carrot tops, moss and spinach for green; coffee grounds for brown; and beet juice and red onion skins for red.

Put the pot on to boil. Boil the eggs for about 15 minutes, or until they are completely dyed. Remove them with a slotted spoon. Take care not to scratch the plain ones.

Place the eggs in cold water until they are cool enough to handle.

After they have cooled down, it’s time to unveil them! The most exciting part of all! This is where it gets competitive, My cousins and i would often claim our own were the best!

Often the eggs are beside a vase of pussy willows, which are traditional in Latvian homes at Easter.

On Easter morning, the most beautiful eggs are given to friends with wishes of “good luck and prosperity”.

Wish me luck on Good Friday, i will be making these with my sisters, mum and my nieces and nephew. Will upload pictures shortly of some of our results.

Happy Easter!

Image credit: http://www.jeanamarieblackert.com

The lovely Kate and her gorgeous bridal party back in October 2011.Photography by The Simple Things Studio

A Spring bouquet i made for the Launch of Coast, London’s Sydney Wedding Collection 2011

My last wedding of 2011! Flowers for Amy and Josh’s Mid summer nights dream-esque wedding at Flying Fish restaurant in Pyrmont, Sydney.Table top Styling by Oscar and Ruby. Lots of gorgeous mossy, green and rich peachy earthy  hues, for an intimate dinner-party style wedding for 16 guests…

Veronica and Sebastian tie the knot at the beautifully scenic Catalina, Photography by gm photo graphics. Veronica’s love of red and garden roses, featured throughout their wedding,from her beautifully painted nails to our extraordinary ruby red garden roses!

A Romantic wedding with Oscar and Ruby , Jessica and Andrew’s Wedding was magical. It featured a magnolia branch with seating cards hung by the branches at the entrance table of Catalina, Restaurant, Sydney. Despite the rain, the wedding provided a cosy nook for guests to stay dry and admire nature’s drama and swell of the ocean.

Photography by The Simple Things Studio

And our most recent,  Bianca and Roberto’s colourful wedding! Bianca is one half of Liana Raine Artisan Pops, and it was such a joy to work with her! The popsicles are made by 100% natural and seasonal ingredients, and let me tell you they are delicious!!! I was lucky enough to taste a few after our meetings together, devouring them on my car ride home! I did manage one time to offer one* to my man, his favourite being the Pineapple and Chilli- ( to be “dipped” with salt ), and was extremely disappointed when he knew i had been a popsicle monster  and trailed most of the flavours without his help. ( WHOOPS!!) At the wedding, it was also Liana Raine’s chance to show off their super cute, new popsicle cart!! i mean, how could you resist a summer popsicle party without this?!!

Ahhh, goodbye summer- it was awful not having you around properly. Autumn, i hope your better to us.

A wonderful flower-full year gone by ..a few snippets for your enjoyment.

Thank you for being part of the journey and for your support in 2011.

Please don’t forget to join and follow me this year on Facebook for my daily flower diary AND Instagram (aleksandradiary) for fun flower compositions!

Peonies -single yellow ones… November could’t come any sooner?!

summer hydrangea – my growers- am forever grateful for.

handwritten and handmade penmanship pieces

corsages and buttonholes

Spectacular sunsets i have worked amongst in the studio!

RED ROSES… arms full and thorns full… velvety and en masse.

Christmas wreaths sold to bring in the festive season!

Spring time colours enjoyed and admired!

reflections of life and nature

creativity

amazement and love

left overs

2012… lovely to meet you!

From $150, they are perfect for your Christmas Party, to hang on your front door and to enjoy at home with family over the festive season!

Beautiful homewares, fashion, garden and christmas gifts available in store.

3/29-31 Redleaf Ave, Wahroonga NSW 2076

Open 9.30-5pm,

Hope to see you there!x

“French artist Rachel Lévy photographs flowers that are past their prime: wilting, fading and revealing visible signs of decay. Nonetheless, captured in the last fleeting moments before perishing, they are strikingly beautiful.

She sources only specific types of flowers from horticulturalists, to ensure that the plants have aged naturally and have been exposed to the elements. Myriad factors combine to create the (im)perfect specimen, from climate and sunlight to the varied lives of the flowers. Her practice is a kind of portraiture with each flower being entirely individual, each with its own temperament. Printed onto cotton paper, her limited edition photographs have the painterly qualities of watercolours. Lévy’s work is an unusual and modern take on a classical genre.”  -www.stephaniehoppen.com

I must admit that the worse part of my job is cleaning out old arrangements and old flower buckets. The smell is absolutely hideous. A mixture of rotten dead carcus and other repulsive scents  to be exact. Often dry reaching from the intoxicating smell, i don’t quite deal with it very well but it’s amazing what great compost it makes. Do admire  the end  textures of the falling, crimpling and scrunching specimens  but be warned of the fading decaying scents!

Whilst i am knee deep in green, and balancing buckets on top of my head, juggling blooms in my arms and getting thorns in my fingers….  i decide to buy house. YES some would think i was crazy. i just got the keys today and i am now a homeowner. (pinching myself**)

In this post i really wanted to apologise for my blog disappearance over the last couple of months and look forward to sharing my new home and new flower studio with you!!

now… off to pop on the overalls and start painting away.. very very excited.

Chat soon , Aleksandra x

I have been surrounded by Camellia’s my whole life.  Watching them grow and cultivate  through my family’s nursery, to my Omite’s rambling camellia beds in her garden, placed for decoration on Latvian sweet breads at family events and enjoyed in vessels amongst the homes of my extended family. I always looked beyond them  never really taking in their  true beauty, until i became a florist. As a florist you really get up close and personal with flowers. You admire their unique character and qualities, and as you pick each bloom you work out it’s “best side” or what is unique about each specimen and arrange it’s beauty accordingly. So we had a connection the Camellia and i … and from then on it’s been love.

Last sunday i visited the private home of Bill Fleming, in Galston NSW (round the corner from my house, in the hood..) His 5 acre property “Elegans” is part of  Open Gardens Australia and is open to the public on certain dates of the year around July  and October. I was taken aback by his array of different varieties of Camellia, well over 200. I spent an hour fossicking about, and in awe of many of his 30-40 year old Camellia trees. What amazed me was each variety portrayed such a difference in appearance, especially in their form.

The Camellia flower forms are:

Singles( One layer of up to 8 petals surrounding a central stamen)

Semi-doubles (Two or more layers of 9 or more petals that surround a central stamen)

Anemone form (One or more rows of large outer petals, lying flat or undulating)

Peony form (Informal Double Many layers of irregular and waved petals)

Rose form double (Many Layers of petals, the flower opens as a formal double but when fully open it shows stamens in the centre)

Formal double (Many rows of petals building up to the centre and never showing their stamens)

Being a florist, Spring is awaited for the “Peony’s” arrival in November. It’s a shame few wedding take place in Winter because this fine specimen is truely  Winter ‘s Peony. The “Japanese Rose” as one might also call it was famous also with Coco Chanel creations. “There are a hundred ways to wear a flower” -a symbol of carnal desire, the immaculate flower so voluptuous yet radiant in beauty accentuated the beauty of women.It  flattered their decolletes and adorned their hair in the mid 19th century when Camellia’s first arrived in Europe.They were part of the socialite scene, and became an emblem of women seeking to seduce as they donned the flower as a sign of seduction.The Camellia became an symbol of the Chanel brand and featured strongly in her Haute Couture collections.

They take my breath away every time. Desirable?  Absolutely. The craft of mother nature once again inspires to say the least. Designed by nature to be a timeless jewel.

Join the NSW Camellia Research Society Inc- Please visit www.camelliansw.org

A sea of snowbells..local peach orchard..skelaton leaf discovery..camellia admiration..latvian “mid-summer” soltice flower crown..swift house ceiling..plant stand garden..