Pressed Flowers as Sculpture: Madrid Artist Creates 3D Floral Objects

Spanish artist Ignacio Canales Aracil creates vessels reminiscent of upside-down baskets using nothing but pressed flowers.

The art of flower pressing dates back thousands of years; pressed flowers were reportedly discovered in a 3,000-year-old coffin of Tutankhamun’s mother in Egypt, and both Greek and Roman botanists were known to preserve plants using techniques that continue today.

Aracil’s method is a bit different, relying on large cone-shaped molds into which carefully woven patches of hand-picked flower stems are placed. The pieces dry for up to a month without the aid of adhesives and are sprayed with a light varnish to protect the sculpture from moisture. The final pieces, which could be crushed with even the slightest weight, are rigid enough to stand without support.

Aracil currently has work as part of a group show at Lucia Mendoza gallery in Madrid through the end of February. http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/01/delicate-vessels-sculpted-with-pressed-flowers-by-ignacio-canales-aracil/.


Limonium statice flowers work well for dried arrangements. 
Statice bloom in spring and summer.