Our import buyer recently took a trip overseas to start purchasing for the Christmas 2013 season. One of the stops was a silk flower factory. If you’ve ever wondered how a silk flower is made, here’s an example.
Materials start in one room where they are cut into the shapes of flower petals and leaves. Next, they are transported to the room where the petals and leaves are hand painted for production. They are then sent into a room where they are pressed into their form. In this room, they put the leaves onto a molding machine one at a time, close the mold, and inject hot liquid plastic to form the stem of the petals and flowers. They are then moved to another room for assembly of the flower petals and calyx. The finished flower head is then attached to the stem. Finally, they enter the last area where they are boxed and cased for shipment.
Most people do not realize how much work and labor goes into the assembly of each artificial flower. With modern factory techniques, it is often assumed that the work is done by machinery. Modern machinery has a difficult time producing the detail of hand painting for the current selling price of aritifical flowers. So the next time you are in the warehouse and walk down our rows of silk flowers, you will have a better appreciation of how much work went into their creation.
