Today, artificial plants and flowers are used for both their beauty and the benefit of their low-maintenance upkeep. In fact, the manufacturing of artificial flowers has become so advanced that the real thing can be difficult to differentiate from their faux counterparts. The current day realistic versions of artificial plants and flowers are just the latest installment in an artistic practice that is hundreds of years old.

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Early Artificial Flowers

Although it is impossible to pinpoint the very first artificial plant or flower, it is easy to determine that the art of making artificial foliage is at least a few hundred years old. Ancient Chinese, Romans, and Egyptians all manufactured artificial flowers. The Chinese opted for silk and race paper while the Romans adapted a method of making extremely intricate and realistic-looking flowers out of wax. Egyptians used an entirely different material to craft their artificial wreaths — painted horn.

In the beginning, displaying artificial flowers was a sure sign of wealth. These handcrafted artistic flowers were painstakingly crafted out of an assortment of materials, including glass, painted linen, gold, sliver, silk, ribbons attached to wire, feathers, plastic, and more.

Producers of Artificial Flowers and Plants

It is widely believed that China was the first to make these artificial beauties but many other countries followed suit, including England, France, America and Japan. This list would be incomplete without the three reigning three largest producers of artificial plants: Thailand, Honduras, and the still champion China. China alone has built hundreds of artificial plant factories since 1980.

The Industry Today

Artificial plants and flowers has become a multi-billion dollar industry that is supported by millions of homes and commercial buildings in the U.S. and around the world. New technologies such as Permasilk and Permastem are continuing to advance the quality of these products, with some that feel and even smell just like the real thing. It is their realism that has fueled the current trend of using artificials in wedding bouquets, dresses, and veils, and to create elaborate toppers for wedding cakes.

Benefits

Artificial plants and trees are so popular because they require no sunlight, water, pruning, or soil. They are also allow you to enjoy out of season blooms and to combine two of your favorite flowers that would not naturally be blooming at the same time of year. As our lives continue to get busier and busier, these realistic looking plants allow you to enjoy all your favorite trees and flowers without working in the time to carefully tend to them. Personally, I choose them because I have horrible allergies to grasses and pollens and with silk versions, I can bring the outdoors in without the hassle of swollen eyes and a bright red nose. Once you invest in your first beautiful artificial arrangement, you will be able to experience all of these benefits for yourself, and understand why this industry is here to stay.

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Today, for their versatility, faux flowers are prized and are used by florists to enhance live plants and blend with cut blossoms. Sola wood and other artificial flowers created today are breathtakingly real and if they are to be differentiated from nature's own, they must be touched.

For a relatively small investment, silk and sola wood blooms carry the outdoors into sterile offices, and flower arrangements to change the color and feel of a space. Hobbyists find them a pleasure to work with and enjoy completing arrangements that create lovely, lasting gifts and ornaments.

Most people do not exactly choose them over the real thing, but when the real thing is impractical, they turn to fake blooms. Winter weddings, permanent floral shows, and crafts are just a few of the examples of faux floral displays.

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Materials used to make artificial flowers

Depending on the market the manufacturer hits, artificial flowers are manufactured in a wide variety of materials. In quantity, due to lower costs, the fabric's ability to accept dyes and glues, and longevity, polyester has become the fabric of choice by flower makers and buyers.

Plastic is also the most frequently used material for the market for stems, berries, and other sections of flowers that includes picks, small clusters of artificial flowers on short plastic and wire stems that can be inserted into shapes to produce simple, inexpensive floral decorations, and also less expensive bulk sales of longer stems of flowers.

Paper, cotton, parchment, latex, rubber, sateen (for big, bold-colored flowers and arrangements), and dried products, including flowers and parts of plants, berries, feathers, and fruits, are made of artificial material.

Historical background

The Chinese, who perfected the skills of working with silk as well as making intricate floral replicas, is believed to have started this practice hundreds of years ago. For artistic expression, the Chinese used artificial flowers.

·       Chinese history of artificial flowers

Most of you will not be shocked, but most of the world's supply of artificial plants comes from China because, according to historians, China is where it all started with the discovery of harvesting silk from silkworms. The silk-making process was much more comprehensive at the very beginning than it is today and for many reasons; that's because initially, more than three thousand years ago, silkworm rearing was developed to provide the softest, most luxurious silks.

What you may not know, however, and that sometimes comes as a shock to most, is that silkworms - from their reproduction to their own survival - are 100% fully dependent on humanity. In reality, without the assistance of humans, they will not live in the natural term; from rearing to feeding.

Silk was once made, woven into luxury clothing, or used for medicinal purposes. The Chinese started using silk around 1,500 years ago to design artificial flowers, too. The masses did not appreciate such exquisiteness. The Imperial Palace ladies ordered silk flowers to be worn in their hair early on. The pattern spread to the well-off outside the palace, and it gained prominence in those nations and beyond as trade routes to Japan and Korea opened. The pattern would grow in favor and spread across the continent and beyond as trading routes opened up to the rest of East Asia.

·       European history of artificial flowers

Quick forward to the 12th century, when Italian merchants even started using silkworm cocoons to produce artificial flowers. While on the European continent, the Italians were the originators, their French neighbors soon followed suit.

The French started to contend with their neighbors in Europe, and by the fourteenth century, French silk flowers were at the top of the craft. The French continued to develop both the fabrics and the quality of the flowers they made, mastering the art of producing artificial flowers, and rapidly surpassing the skill of the Italians to create flowers.

By the 15th century, the best were called French-made faux flowers. Many artisans fled to England after the French Revolution, distributing their craft to the British. Eventually, silk flowers were brought to America by English settlers.

·       Victorian Era and artificial flowers

For a couple of decades, the silk flower industry simmered until the Victorian Period was established in the late 19th century. The Victorian Era, with both living and artificial types, was the setting for a true explosion of floral art.

An overdone type of decoration was preferred by Victorians in which every table and mantelpiece bore flowers or other ornaments. Flowers were so adored that "the language of flowers" rose to cult status in which messages and meanings were borne by floral bouquets. Many of them were made of silk, but a variety of other materials were also used by craftsmen to make them, including satin, velvet, muslin, cambric, crepe, and gauze.

By 1920, to make up for shortages when flowers were out of season, florists were supplementing live blooms with silk flowers. Today, the materials of polyester and plastic used to create silk flowers give them longevity and vibrancy unheard of in previous periods. Instead of being an artistic rendition of the real thing, modern silk flowers so closely mirror live blooms that without a really close glance, many can't tell the difference. Don't be afraid to give silk varieties a try if you'd like flowers with a little staying power!

Importance of artificial flowers today

Faux flowers today allow us to defy the seasons. Seasonal blooms are no longer restricted or early wilt or discoloration must be feared; regular maintenance has been replaced with minimal no-upkeep required, removing the everyday needs of those who are actual.

 In reality, some find a better cost investment for false counterparts than the real thing that they are often incorporated into larger-scale décor systems and environments such as office buildings, hotels, and restaurants. Fake plants have seen a rise in popularity today, expertly detailed to represent a natural look.

 Their natural realism, versatility, and, most notably, elegance have been praised. In addition to giving every world perpetual color and freshness, rest assured that the beauty of Mother's Nature is impeccably flawless.

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