Botanical Prints Taking Form from Paper Dolls
In the early 1980s, a professional paper doll artist, Darlene Jones, designed a custom print utilizing delicate silhouettes, couture-like gowns, and imaginative floral forms. Decades later, that same print found its way to my studio. This time, the dresses won’t remain illustrations. They will be made from real botanicals.
This botanical print transformation is currently in progress, as I press and reconstruct fresh flowers into a custom mixed-media artwork that blends vintage paper dolls with archival pressed flower art techniques. Stay tuned as I document this journey!
From Illustration to Living Textile
The original paper doll design featured floral-inspired gowns. My interpretation replaces ink with pressed blooms: Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Nora Barlow. A layered, ruffled columbine in soft blush. GreenIberis (candytuft). Airy white clusters for structural lightness. Echinacea purpurea ‘Bright Star’. Bold centers anchoring movement and dimension. Each flower will be pressed, stabilized, and carefully reconstructed to mimic the drape of fabric. Petal by petal forming bodices, skirts, and movement. This isn’t simply gluing flowers onto paper. It’s botanical couture.
Pressed Flowers as Mixed-Media Fine Art
Botanical prints traditionally capture plants in static form. But this piece blurs the line between:
- Archival printmaking
- Collage
- Floral preservation
- Sculptural reconstruction
The flowers must be pressed with structural integrity in mind, preserving not just color but curvature. Because here, petals function as silk. Centers act as embellishment. Green sepals become seam work.
The Romance of Latin Names
There’s something poetic about naming.
- Nora Barlow becomes Aquilegia.
- Candytuft becomes Iberis.
- Echinacea becomes a coneflower with centuries of botanical lineage.
In botanical art, naming matters. It roots ephemeral beauty in scientific permanence.
A Personal Piece, Not a Product
This project is not a commission. It’s a personal exploration, gifted by the daughter of the artist (and an actual friend I made on Instagram). There is something full-circle about honoring a paper artist with real botanical texture.
It speaks to:
- Nostalgia
- Craft lineage
- Women in art
- And the quiet power of reinterpretation
If you are searching for botanical prints, pressed flower art, or custom floral collage artwork, this mixed-media paper doll project showcases how real pressed flowers can transform vintage prints into heirloom botanical wall art. The same archival methods used in bridal bouquet preservation are being applied to this mixed-media botanical print.
Custom botanical print transformations and pressed flower preservation commissions are available from our Pacific Northwest studio, located in Vancouver, Washington (it is a hop, skip & a jump away from Portland, Oregon.