A Path for Elyse to Follow

One day while walking the dogs, I discovered a dried weed with tiny brown flowers. The size of the weed and the flowers seemed ideal for a miniature project, so I took some home to experiment with.

I envisioned a field of flowers and my thoughts immediately turned to Elyse Bell, a former student of mine and the daughter of one of my best buddies. Elyse has worked hard to earn an above 4.0 grade point average and graduate ready to become an Oklahoma Sooner in the fall.

I think Elyse and I communicate best through flowers. We are both introverts, and in a classroom full of loud, excited students, it’s difficult for us to have one-on-one conversations. It’s especially true when one of us is the teacher, who is trying to answer questions and corral the students.

I was so touched when Elyse, her mom, and another of my work friends surprised me by decorating my room before the last day of school. Elyse drew the most adorable flowers on my whiteboard. I loved them so much that I told her mom I wished I could save them somehow. Unfortunately, a photo would have to suffice.

A month later, Elyse surprised me with painting of a field of daisies. Again, I loved it! It hangs in my kitchen and I look at it every day. It is by far the best gift I ever received from a student. I formed a plan to reciprocate. I would make a field of flowers for Elyse.

I wanted to create a miniature field of flowers, so I went through my weed harvest to find flowers with extended petals. Most of the flowers had drooping petals, so I had a lot of rejects. I used an airbrush and acrylic paint to paint the stems green and the petals a soft yellow. I wasn’t satisfied with the color, so I painted over it with a brighter golden yellow. I tried the golden yellow alone, but the effect was too flat with only one color. I ended up using a base of pale yellow followed by a more golden hue. I got the best results by brushing paint on the underside of the petals first and then painting the tops. Most of the centers could be left unpainted, but I did have to touch some up with a black wash of acrylic paint. I glued tea to a few of the centers for some texture.

The sixty flower stalks I painted would not look natural without some filler plants in the field. I found some dried grasses on the clearance table in the floral department that would do the trick. I also cut individual blades from some silk grass bunches.

The dehydrate setting on my air fryer worked great to dry some fronds from my asparagus plants. I also dried some sprigs of myrtle as an experiment. I didn’t plan to use them with the flowers, but they would work well in other projects because of their small leaves. After being airbrushed with acrylic paint, both types of plants were surprisingly durable. The paint makes them more flexible and less prone to losing leaves, and it also prevents fading.

I used a thin base of floral foam and glued fine sand to it using diluted Elmer’s school glue. The sand created a fairly durable coating for the delicate foam, but the base wanted to bow upward after the glue dried. I added layers of glue and sand to add dimension to the surface, reinforce weak areas, and repair cracks. The coating of glue and sand made it more difficult to push stems into the foam, so I created a tiny hole with a needle tool before inserting the stem. On larger diameter stems, I added a dab of glue to the stem before placing it. Smaller stems were generally secure enough without glue.

I used clumping foliage from Woodland Scenics for the undergrowth. I like the way it is fibrous, which allows me to stretch it around without having to glue down every tiny bit. For the dead plant material, I used tea, coffee grounds, and the fluff that collected in the bottom of the cellophane wrapping for the dried grasses. I am learning not to discard all those little bits!

I was hesitant to place material on the ground before inserting the plants into the foam because I feared it would make it too hard to poke the plant stems through the material and yet another layer of glue. Despite having to use a long dropper to place the glue, which soaked in quickly requiring me to work fast, I’m sure it was the right choice. I used a spoon straw to scoop the fluff then weave between the stems to place the debris on the sand, followed by a coffee stirrer to press it down. This hobby is good for keeping my fine motor and problem solving skills sharp!

My vision included a path for Elyse to follow into her future and a place to hang her graduation cap. I wanted a fence with an opening for the path, so I dug through the mulch in my flowerbeds to find the fenceposts. One fun aspect of miniature making is finding everyday objects that you can turn into a miniature. The downside of this is you can quickly accumulate lots of treasure/trash that needs storing until you find a use for it and you need to be able to find it later.

For the fencing, I used hardware cloth. It seemed like a simple solution but was actually quite tricky to attach to the posts. I used gel superglue and there was a good deal of trial and error, bending with pliers and tapping with a hammer to get the wire to hold securely. The assembled fence was also a challenge to attach to the foam base. I made sure the posts were mounted about 1/4 inch above the bottom of the wire so I could poke the wire into the foam to secure it and the posts would sit on top of the foam. The spacing worked well and the fence was held securely but there was a tiny gap visible between the post and sand. That would not do. Fenceposts are buried. I painted diluted glue over the area and sifted sand onto it. There was just enough flexibility that it continued to crack until I took the time to tape the posts down properly to dry and quit trying to rush the drying process. When the glue fully dried it was very solid and I was finally done. Elyse’s path was ready.

Elyse, I hope as you follow your path in life it leads you to great happiness. I thoroughly enjoyed making this one imagining you walking it.