Greetings Cards x 5

Gypsy flowers are part of our cultural heritage, made by the gypsy travellers of old, who moved with the seasons. The gypsies harvested crops from spring to autumn and made crafts, such as these carved flowers, to sell door to door in the winter.   Hand carved from a Hazel wood pole, these flowers make a beautiful gift. They look great alone in a vase or as an addition to a fresh floral bouquet, yet these ones need no water & go on living indefinitely! I carve several flowers from one Hazel pole. Clamping the pole in the mouth of my ‘shave horse’ I sit on the saddle and use a drawknife (a long blade with 2 handles) to carve out the petals. The sweep head variety is carved when the wood is fairly ‘green’, meaning that it still contains moisture having not long been cut. The wetness in the wood means the petals come out with a long sweeping curve, rather than the curly headed variety that is more of a corkscrew curl. Making Heritage Crafts helps to keep our cultural heritage alive. When I attend a craft show I sell gypsy flowers and sometimes I demonstrate the making of them. People are always interested in the Gypsy Flowers & usually say that they have never seen them before, it feels good to be amongst the greenwood crafters helping to revive the awareness of our cultural heritage. Includes P&P Dimensions: Variable: Flower heads are 15-20 cm diameter, height of flower and stem 40-60 cm. Stems are cut to different heights so that a bunch of 3 sit well together. Please note that the flower stems are shorter (to allow for p&p) than those I sell from my studio.