DANDELION-STEM POSIES

Floratillexis

“Flora (noun) - the plants of a particular region | Tillexis (verb) - to pick or pluck
1. The desire to pick or pluck flowers
”

When you pick a dandelion, notice the way that the stem is hollow, made up of vertical fibrous strands... If you are to run your fingernail down the dandelion stem, you will find it breaks quite cleanly in two (unlike a daisy stem, which is a much more solid thing).

Sometimes, I like to pull apart the stem of a dandelion, winding each half around my wrist until it becomes a kind of ephemeral bracelet. Other times, I will pick a bunch of small flowers and thread them into the hollow dandelion stem, making a bouquet or a posy. 

Traditionally, posies were given as gifts in the Middle Ages, and were bound with cloth or with silver to be worn around the neck or waist. My posies are bound by nature, and I leave them as gifts to be found by any wandering spirit.

EXPECT MAGIC

Expect magic from life;
watch the world with glittering eyes,
look in the corners,
and in the smallest of places.
Simply by gazing with earnest intent,
you may find what others overlooked all along...
The world is full of magic.

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“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

— W. B. Yeats

EPHEMERAL JEWELLERY

Ephemeral

“/ɪˈfɛm(ə)r(ə)l/
1. Lasting for a very short time
1.1 (Chiefly of plants) having a very short life cycle”

— Oxford Dictionary

&

Ethereal

“/ɪˈθɪərɪəl/
1. Extremely delicate or light in a way that seems to be not of this world
1.1 Spiritual”

— Oxford Dictionary

The words ephemeral and ethereal have always interested me. Not only are they beautifully put together with all those 'e's and 'l's and things, they also convey a sense of beauty and magic. The word ephemeral applies to those things that are transient in this world - fated to live only a short time. The word ethereal denotes a thing of great beauty and fragility; something so delicate it is almost otherworldly. Put these two together, and you have a description for life itself: fleeting, delicate, and beautiful.

All of life seems to fit inside these words - animals, plants, humans, stars. All things are transient in their own way, ever-changing, momentary. And in that sense, life is delicate. Hanging by the threads of the three fates, life will be snipped away, and then rewoven anew.

It is that balance of being and non-being that makes life beautiful, ethereal even.

Other things may be ephemeral and ethereal: 
Experiences, for instance.
The scent of cherry blossoms, caught on the wind.
Dreams and wakening.
Our own shadow.
Bubbles and seafoam.

It is the nature of these things that interest me, and this is my motivation behind my ongoing artwork using living plants to create bodily adornments.