Ghost Violets

or the first time. My wedding was in October, but I had always loved wild violets, which are primarily around in the spring. I wanted to do something beyond the obvious candied violets to combine these ideas and I also wanted to do something special to honor those people who were so important me. My earliest experiments with flower preservation had what I first thought of as bad results. The violets would hold their shape beautifully, but as time passed the color would slowly drain from the petals. The flowers would become white and then continue to fade and become translucent. But the colorless violets, or ghosts, as I thought of them, had a beauty all their own. Since each flower went through this process differently, ghost violets could truly represent the journeys of the people who wore them. From there I went on to experiment with tinted and painted flowers. It was during this time that I realized every violet when viewed from behind is an angel. I began painting the flowers to accentuate the flowing robes and sweeping wings of these angels. The angels appealed to a whole new audience-people who could see the magic that surrounds us in the tiniest of ways and people whose eyes were first opened to this magic by seeing the angel in the wild violet. The survivor angels are of particular appeal. These are angels whose flower is less than perfect. For those of us who have needed an angel, the battle scars, both physical and emotional, are very real. The imperfect petals of these survivor angels tell those stories beautifully.