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Creating a beautiful impression using real botanicals

I’m Susan and I’m based in the beautiful city of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. The small city is famous for its cathedral and is surrounded by countryside which provides endless inspiration for my work.

My love of the natural environment led me into botanical bas relief* sculpture. Whilst my background is in ceramics and glass design, I love that my work has no need for kilns, and therefore has a much less harmful impact of the environment.
(*bas relief, meaning low relief, is a type of sculpture where images appear slightly raised from their background).

Making these casts involves a lengthy process. After gathering the plants and flowers (only real ones!), I carefully arrange and press them into prepared clay. Once all of them have been pressed in, I gently remove them to reveal the impression in the clay. This is a very delicate process as seeds, petals and pollen all have to be removed using tweezers. When the clay is clean, I pour wet plaster over the impression and leave it to set. The plaster I use becomes very hard when fully dry. Once set, I separate the plaster cast from the clay, and clean it before applying any pigments.

I don’t produce ‘a series’ of a design like many other plaster artists. I really love the process of collecting plants and composing them in a way to illustrate their beauty, so I have no reason to make reproductions. Every piece I produce is completely handmade and unique.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me - I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for visiting my store
Susan

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