diy black botanical artwork...

Hope you all enjoyed a fabulous long weekend, despite the inevitable beginning of the end
 of summer. Fall is my favorite, and the sooner it arrives the better in my book. As promised,
 today I'm giving you the scoop on how we created the gallery wall of black botanicals.
 It's one of our favorite elements in my client's kitchen makeover, they're timeless and
 make such a dramatic statement against all the white in her kitchen. I originally suggested
 a book of Mary Delany's artwork after seeing this post a few years ago,
 and she became obsessed ran with it.

In 1771, at the age of 71, Mary Delany began to create amazingly detailed and botanically accurate depictions of plants.  From the age of 71 to 88, she created almost 1,000 of what she called her "Paper Mosaiks."  With the plant specimen set in front of her, Mary cut minute particles of colored tissue paper to represent the parts of the plant, using lighter and darker paper to form the shading, she adhered them onto a black background, she sometimes built up several layers, there might be hundreds of pieces to form one plant.

The British Museum maintains a database of the Museum's collection. The Mary Delany images
 (and thousands of others by other artists) are available to order free of charge for non-commercial use through the individual object pages.

 To obtain an image:

1.  Go to the Museum website, Research tab,  http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=mary+delany;

2.  Click on the grid view (there are 986 Delany images to chose from!);

3.  Click on the image you would like to order;

4.  Complete the online registration form to register with the museums free image service

5.  Select the use you will make of the image;

5.  The image will then be sent to you as an attachment to an email.  The image will be supplied in JPEG format, with the longest edge at 2,500 pixels, which will appear at a maximum of 21 cm (A5) when printed at 300 dpi.  Our images sometimes arrived within minutes and other times within a couple of days;

6.  After making arrangements in advance, email the digital image to your local Fed Ex Kinkos for sizing.

Framing Details:

Open frame size -  20" W x 24" H 

Glass - 16" W x 20" H

Image opening - 13 1/2" H x 10 1/2" W

Mat - 16" W x 20" H

Costs:

Frame - $23/each  @  Hobby Lobby 50% off 

Mat - $3.60/each @ Michael's (includes 40% off coupon)

Price per copy at Kinkos'= $7/each

Price per 16 x 20 non-glare glass $12/each (includes 40% off coupon)

Total:  $45.60 each

***TIPS ***

It's best to go to Kinkos late at night when they're not busy, have warm cookies in tow, and
 find a nice, knowledgeable person, it can be time consuming for them to figure out the sizing.

We took the mat to Kinkos and asked for the actual flora to fill most of the space.
  Due to the type of image there may be some irregularities around the border,
 we were fine with it, you can notice if you look closely at image #2 in the top row.

My client was concerned about the quality of the print being affected, she contacted
Kinkos and they were able to print copies directly from the image emailed from the
British Museum. They printed proofs and we approved before printing final copies.

Hobby Lobby doesn't charge for framing if you purchase your frames from them.

The black mat had a white bevel, she used a gold sharpie along the edge to lessen the contrast.  

Bright colors stand out better, we paid attention to choose a variety of shapes and colors.

If you're interested in a book about her art and letter writing, Mrs. Delany and Her Circle,
 is one you may enjoy.

Not only do we love the botanicals, but came to admire what a truly incredible
 artist and woman she was!