Fantastic Floofy Flora

A lot of what I have been creating as an Atmospherist at Warmhouse Story, while fun to look at, have a thoughtful, considered, and wild aesthetic. For Marshmallow World, it took me quite a while to channel the whimsy and delight of a hot cocoa moment. I think I reworked the elements from the natural world five times to land on something that would be sufficiently unusual, yet not too serious.

I played around with a variety of evergreens, dried and live botanicals that might fit the bill. I was a bit frustrated. One day, I was rearranging the dried flowers on my hanging pulley system in the Atmospheric Workshop and moved a bunch of something or other and BAM! A little bundle of dried feather top grass appeared, and I was off to the races with a new idea.

I had recently been searching for vintage department store winter wrapping paper and fell in love with a few patterns on eBay that shouted out 1950’s vintage poinsettia realness. The illustrations, on a foil base, had a lot of detail and the groups of flowers were positioned with a lot of negative space around them. Was this tacky? Whimsical? Poorly positioned or perfect? I. Don’t. KNOW! However, I knew that I needed to translate these floral clumps into the ultimate floofy flower element on branches.

What followed was not exactly fun. The evergreens, hydrangea and feather top grass were all a bit fragile and finicky. As I carefully wired them together, bits of feather fluff and hydrangea petals fell like snow. In the end, I had the exact amount of nature that I needed to replicate the nostalgic look of 1950’s floral print inspiration. I was really sweatin’ it for a while.

In the end, I am so pleased in my floral poofs. They are a little fantastical yet beautiful. I’ll be sad when it is time to take them down from the Inspiration Parlor of my studio space. I am anticipating a dandelion fluff moment that will require a lot of sweeping afterward. Nonetheless, it will have been entirely worth it. They have made me smile on many mornings as I open the studio.

I love what the natural elements add to the fun fantasy of a Marshmallow World. I pushed myself and learned a lot along the way. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do!