Yearning for the colors of spring after the recent stormy weather, but your garden isn't ready to bloom, yet? Sola flowers, also called wood pulp flowers, may be a welcome addition. Sola flowers were originally made from the pulp of the Sola plant (Aeschynomene aspera) but depending on sourcing locations they may be made using the starch of the Cassava/Tapioca root. These ‘flowers' can be purchased in a natural (wood brown) or treated (cream) finish. The petals have a spongy, almost pool noodle squishiness to them, but they are also a bit brittle and can split.  However, a quick soaking in water will make them pliable and forgiving to reshaping and restoring.

I found a collection of treated sola flowers in the back of my closet where they had been poorly packed away and after a rough closet purge, they were no longer looking their best. I decided to reshape them with a quick dip in water (squeezing out the excess) and then water colored them while damp.  I applied color via brush initially to the bottoms of each petal and watched it spread to fill all the dampened areas. Additional color and details were added to the top of each flower petal and the stems. The flower petals were rearranged as they were painted with some slight tweaking at the end.  When fully dried the flower color was slightly muted and the petals were rigid and fixed in place. The flowers in the vase are 6-weeks post-painting.  Even with her limited visual color spectrum, Buttercup (the dog) preferred the painted versions or possibly she just liked the smell of the paint/ wet material. Regardless, I am counting it as an artistic win!