The Weight of Words – floral collection

As we now reach for the internet to answer our queries regarding spelling or definition, our household dictionaries are valued more for their bulk and weight than their contents. This series explores how these heavy tomes may be used as makeshift flower presses to preserve flowers. The flowers have been picked from secondhand clothing, adorned in stitch and cast in papercrete formed from old dictionaries to show it is their weight that is now key to their usefulness.This series explores how household dictionaries may be used as makeshift flower presses to preserve flowers. The flowers have been picked from secondhand clothing, adorned in stitch and cast in papercrete formed from old dictionaries to show it is their weight that is now key to their usefulness.

Sauveguarde (27x 39 x 5 cm) A flurry of stitched flowers rescued from an old blouse flow out of a makeshift book formed from a pleated blind offcut with bookends cast from papercrete made from a French dictionary.

Enchasse (Each frame 28 x 36 x 6 cm. Choose from just 1 up to all 5) Flowers found in discarded clothing are stitched and preserved in papercrete pages and mounted in wooden boxes like a museum display of pressed flowers.

Almanac (Approx. 15 x 103 x 24 cm). Plants and flowers that featured in an old dictionary have been recreated through applique & stitch, then cast as papercrete pages formed from that dictionary to show that these days, its weight as a makeshift flower press is more valued than the information it holds.

Originally created for the 2026 Prism Textiles exhibition “Dictionary” at the Art Pavilion, Mile End, London 2026.