The idea for this piece came to me years ago, during a sketching session. I loved the idea of encasing the human form in an ethereal landscape of delicate flowers, but at the time I wasn’t quite sure how I could do this. I recently revisited the old sketchbook and I knew I wanted to create this piece, and I knew how! I combined a wired crown with two long floral tattoos. I chose a mix of delicate yellow and white flowers for this design, because I wanted the piece to look light and airy. After a little light research on auras, I discovered that yellow auras symbolize creativity, awakening, and inspiration.
STEP 1: Create an intricate wired crown using some of the acacia, the spray roses, some of the pale yellow ranunculus, feverfew, rose sumac, star carnation, pale yellow carnation petals, and lilac. (For detailed instructions on wiring, see “Wiring Techniques” on page 28. For a detailed crown tutorial, see “Full Flower Crown” on page 155.)
STEP 2: Use 24-gauge floral wire to secure the wired flower crown to the headband base.
STEP 3: Place the crown on your head form.
STEP 4: Insert appropriate lengths of floral wire into the stems of a few of the paperwhites and the butterfly ranunculus to strengthen their stems and prevent wilting. Trim any excess wire, and dip each stem in floral adhesive before tucking them into the wired structure of the crown.
STEP 5: Prepare for applying the floral tattoos by cleansing the skin with alcohol and allow to dry.
STEP 6: Tear the kinesiology tape into manageable lengths and press it onto the skin, tracing a line from the base of the ear down to the fingertip on both sides of the body.
STEP 7: Prepare the flowers by trimming them to size. Cut the strawflower, pale yellow ranunculus, astrantia, gomphrena, feverfew, and some of the narcissus flush, and trim the rest of the materials, retaining a bit of stem length.
STEP 8: Squeeze a small amount of floral adhesive into a bowl. The flowers are added in layers, from heaviest and largest to lightest and smallest. You can work on one side of the body first, or add each floral layer to both sides—this is more likely to give you a balanced result. Start with the largest flowers, the ranunculus. Consider the most flattering placement for the largest blooms; the ridge of the shoulder and upper arm are good places to cluster them. Add tiny dots of glue where you’d like to place these.
STEP 9: Add a dot of glue to the back of each ranunculus. Wait a moment for the glue to get tacky, then press each flower onto the tape. Hold each bloom down firmly for 10 to 15 seconds to secure it to the tape.
STEP 10: To add the strawflowers, add dots of glue to the tape and to the underside of each bloom, press the two together, and hold until they are secured in place.
STEP 11: Add the acacia florets in the same way. These aren’t the next in line size-wise, but they will cascade off the tape and help to conceal the mechanics, so they are best added now before the smaller and more delicate flowers.
STEP 12: Add the remaining gomphrena, feverfew, astrantia, and paperwhite, and the clematis. Dip them into the glue reservoir or add a small dot of glue to each before pressing them into place. These light, petite flowers need a little less adhesive to attach securely.
STEP 13: Finish with the most delicate materials—the agapanthus florets, begonia, individual paperwhite blooms, and star carnation petals.
STEP 14: Place the crown on the head and inspect the entire design. Add any necessary materials to join the crown piece to the neck portion of the tattoo on both sides of the body to create one cohesive, continuous-looking design.
