Interview with Sarah Samsel , WWPFG member

Look Carefully my friends at these pictures. They are all made by pressed plant material . If that is not enough check out the age of this talented artist. Pressed Flower Art is only one of many of this young lady's talents!She is a Mixed Media Artist , when you finish reading this wonderful interview , go see her blog .

Name:

Sarah Samsel

Where are you from?

Clarkesville, Ga.

How Long have You been doing Pressed Flower Art and/or using Pressed Plant material in your art and crafts as a medium   ?

 

Since I was 10, which was 6 years ago.

Do you remember the first thing you pressed ?

 

I remember pressing spiraea for bookmarks as one of my first pressed-flower projects.

What’s your favorite mediums /materials?

 

I really like banana peel, money plant, maple leaves, birch bark, pampas grass and plenty of others.

What is your favorite glues ? 

 

All I use is basic Elmer’s school glue unless I’m adhering sanwa paper. Then I use spray adhesive.
 
Do You use sealers on your pressed flowers.

 

I seal with glass, nothing liquid.

What is your favorite Flower to Press and How do you do it?

I don’t use them much but I enjoy the process of dissecting a passionflower to press. You can see how I do it by visiting this blog post:

http://sarahslavenderblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/passionflower-pressing-procedure.html

Please feel free to tell us about your work, inspiration, and thoughts with us too.

 

I think a lot of my pictures are done on whims. If I thought through them too long many of them probably would not have come to be. Sometimes I’m inspired by a piece of plant material. Once I found a mushroom that reminded me of a bear’s nose so I built the rest of the bear around it.

Where  can we find your work ? web ,blog , shops ,etc   

 

My website is www.sarahslavendercottage.com 

My blog is: www.sarahslavenderblog.blogspot.com

Please share tips ?

 

I like making templates to glue my plant material to before I attach it to the picture.

 

I like using ground kitchen herbs for grass, bushes and streets.

 

I like gathering tiny oak and maple leaves in the very early spring, before they grow big.

 

Tell stories that You want people to know about working with pressed flowers and plants .

 

I found out about WWPFG through our now deceased neighbor, Darlene Millard Spratlin. Soon after I joined she hosted a WWPFG conference in Georgia, walking distance from my house. I attended my first conference and was thrilled with the artwork in the competition room, asked questions and saw faces that up until then were only yahoo group names. The next year I actually got to go to the California WWPFG conference! My dad took me and I learned so much and met even more amazing people! It was a dream come true!
 
Okay everyone,  I hope you enjoyed the blog and will leave comments and Please click the Share buttons ! 
Till next time Peace and Happy Pressing !

YourOttawaRegion Article: Pressed flower artist blossoms on world stage

Just had to share this ! Conrad is one of my heroes ... and a WWPFG member too.

Conrad Stoltz. Barrhaven resident Conrad Stoltz displays a pressed flower scene made of flowers, weeds, bark, banana peel and other plant materials. Stoltz regularly wins awards for his craft around the world. Emma Jackson

YourOttawaRegion Article: Pressed flower artist blossoms on world stage

also check out all these fabulous images
http://www.google.cz/search?q=pressed-flower-artist&biw=1272&bih=550&tbm=isch

Interview with Dorothy Marie Wark from 'Flowers Pressed by DeeMarie"

 I was so excited when I saw the interview from my friend Dee. I have never met Dee but have shared many flowers and leaves with her along with a wonderful Email-friendship. We met at a pressed flower group at yahoo. One day we will get her in our guild I hope ! 
The UK guild will be trying to get her too I am sure soon too! 
She has a true passion for nature , her photography is amazing ! I am honored to have some of Dee's nature shots I have hung proudly ! 
Her eye for detail is shown in both her works ! 

If you Click the picture it will get bigger

Name: 

Dorothy Marie Wark
alias Dee and/or DeeMarie


 
  Where are you from?
Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Canada and I love it here.

How Long have You been doing Pressed Flower Art and/or using Pressed Plant material in your art and crafts as a medium   ?
I went wild in 2009 planted over a hundred pansies and violas and did not have many other flowers and went overboard pressing autumn leaves too that fall.


Do you remember the first thing you pressed ?
Not really except I always had a passion for beautiful autumn leaves so would place a few in books over the past several years.


What’s your favorite mediums /materials?
There isn’t a flower I do not love as well any leaves and grasses.
  I really love designing my own backgrounds be it on the computer and this spring I learned to marble on paper, silks, cotton and satin and really love the rich look the silks and satins give as a background.

What is your favorite glues ?
  I only use a tad of Elmer’s glue

Do You use sealers on your pressed flowers?
  Only on greeting cards as I am not fond of the artificial look but do cover some with stitch witchery material I get at a fabric store.

What is your favorite Flower to Press and How do you do it?
Well I find the pansies and violas the easy ones to press by any method I use either in books or microwave oven press and do like the homemade screw-down presses so use all these methods.

Please Feel free to tell us about your work, inspiration, and thoughts with us too.
I do not ever like being idle and do many different things like pressing ,creating with pressed materials, making backgrounds,computer generated artworks, doing scrapbooking, tons of photography in the spring, summer and fall,and have just learned to do marbling and there are so many things I’d still like to try but am afraid I’d need another 20 years so fear I’ll run out of time.Lol


 

 
Where  can we find your work ? web ,blog , shops ,etc
Some framed artworks are in our local gallery and my blog is at  
http://pressedflowerdelights.blogspot.com
Note:  this link was updated March 2012

Please share tips ?
I find drying time to be very quick when I place a blue shop towel in the pages of my catalogue or phone book, place the plant material on half of towel and fold over and close the book and place under weights, usually fill gallon milk jugs full of water for weights

Tell stories that You want people to know about working with pressed flowers and plants .
Once you have decided to start pressing flowers remember it can get to be very addictive so you’ll need lots of proper storage area or move to a larger house.Lol ; I have about 50 medium sized pizza boxes with pressed material in my small room and still pressing and likely wont live long enough to use it all up so if anyone needs anything just give me a shout, ok?  

Thanks for filling this out .
 It is a pleasure, a very special thank you Terica as well to all the great friends I have made on this wonderful pressed flower group I belong to ; Your help and inspiration has made the world of difference to me.
Take care and may your blessings be filled with good health, happiness and much pressing and creating
Dee.

here is the link to the group on Yahoo , Dee and I mentioned we are a part of , if you are interested .

pressed-flowers 

Many of the WWPFG members visit there often too.

I do hope you enjoyed this interview . Please leave comments and click the share buttons too.

Till next time Peace and Happy Pressing !