Emily Paluska admits she was introduced to the art of paper flowers in a rather unusual, roundabout way. According to Paluska, after the birth of her oldest child, she was searching for a creative outlet that would have nothing to do with her new role as a mother. Looking for something physical to hold onto, she started creating flowers out of paper.
“I was never a crafty or DIY type of person so I’m not sure why I thought doing something like this would be fun,” admitted Paluska in an interview with Paper Talk. “I had first stumbled upon paper flowers when I saw Lia Griffith’s website,” she notes. “I found them appealing initially because I hated spending money on fresh flowers and thought paper flowers would be a fun alternative for me to have flowers around my home that I wouldn’t have to take care of.”
Crafting paper flowers became a sort of ritual, and Paluska recalls creating a flower every day for a year—a practice which she calls “the ultimate self-care”. Now a full-time botanical artist and educator, based in Washington, DC, Paluska sells her paper flowers and teaches workshops about the craft.
Her brand, Revery Paper Flora, celebrates the meeting point between nature and paper, believing in the value (and beauty) of one-of-a-kind pieces made by hand rather than mass-produced objects.
“I found my style through a lot of practice,” says Paluska. “I make a lot of my flowers over a hundred times and through all those renditions, they evolve into something better, not just because of the practice but I am able to see it more clearly.”
One important criteria for her is having her flowers look realistic. “Color has also become integral to my achieving realism,” says Paluska. “For the majority of my custom projects, I will always start with white paper so I can achieve the exact shade necessary.”
