Mother nature offers people flowers as a gift to make their life more beautiful and fresh. Naturally, flowers bloom and fade over time. As such, people make artificial flowers from different kinds of materials, such as silk, paper, plastic and even clay.

Originating in Japan, the art of making clay flowers is widespread in the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.  First introduced to Vietnam in 2007, the art has attracted much attention from Vietnamese enthusiasts.

According to Huong Thuy, owner of Huong Thuy clay flower shop, material, or says clay, plays a decisive role in making the flowers beautiful and durable. The colour will be best matched with the clay with good quality. It will also be easier for the artisans to form petals with this clay, she added. Therefore, to ensure the quality of clay, Thuy often use clay made in Japan and Thailand to make the flowers. 

The art of making clay flowers requires makers’ delicacy, dexterity and creativeness as there are many steps, from mixing clay, moulding the petals, the leaves, painting, kneading the bud, to assembling the various pieces into whole flowers to make them look realistic. It is the artistic skills of the makers that turn lifeless clay into beautiful flowers.

Huong Thuy told reporters: "Every step, such as mixing colours, kneading buds or forming the petals is equally important. If each piece of the flower is not beautiful, the whole flower won’t be either. The artisans must pay attention to each step, especially creating the petals and mixing colours."

As an experienced clay flower maker, she said to keep the flower’s durability and avoid humidity’s influence, each petal is coated with a thin layer of paint. The supported steel wire is replaced by a stainless one to keep the flowers more eye-catching.

Thanks to their durability which can be last up to seven years, clay flowers have been chosen as decorations in houses or workplaces as well as for presents to friends.

Nguyen Thi Thao, a customer in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi said: "I would like to buy a jar of lotus flowers as gift for my friends who are now living in the US. Lotus is  a typical flower of Vietnam. It will remind them of their home country."

The attractive, affordable, easy-to-maintain and permanent clay flowers have contributed to refreshing people’s lives.-VNA.