Just look at this stunning blossom piece from the Ruthin Retreat!
Wow, what a weekendI I arrived home from Ruthin spent - exhausted in the best possible way. The kind of tired that comes from three days of colour and concentration and real creative joy. Twelve people, twelve branches, twelve entirely different framed paper blossom creations - in fact, more, as some people made both apple AND cherry. And all entirely unique - that's the thing about teaching that is always so fulfilling.
Apple blossom on the Tip Path
🌿 Nature Notes
Blossom is a very defined season, and just as the retreat started we were coming out of that narrow window when both apple and cherry are in bloom together. Two very different flowers, both pink, both brief. We focussed on ornamental cherry where the blossom is all drama: deceptively delicate clusters of pendulous flowers, more than thirty petals in each, vivid against the dark branches and those elegant green leaves which arrive at the same time as the flowers. Apple is softer, its petals slightly cupped, flushed deeper at the bud, softening to blush as it opens. They require completely different techniques to make them in paper, too - which is exactly what made the weekend such a rich exercise, and also exactly why it worked so well with two tutors.
✂️ From the Studio
The worktable is piled with the remnants of a retreat, pressed petals from my research, fragments of papers dyed to convey leaves, bark and blossom. Ah well, memories! I’ll file it all away for now, but I am back in the studio and already thinking ahead to September. Seed heads, autumnal foliage, dahlias in their full late-summer glory - the Norfolk masterclass is going to feel very different from Wales.
Playing with ideas for Exploring Autumn, September 2026
🌸 Come and Find Us
May Flowers Giveaway - Hannah Nunn's Open Studio, Hebden Bridge 16th May 2026 · Hebden Bridge
I'll be joining Hannah Nunn at her open studio in Hebden Bridge - something I've been looking forward to for a long time. Hannah and I met online, on Substack where we both write about our relationships with nature, and finally met in person at the Great Northern Craft Fair last year and knew immediately we had to do something together.
To mark the occasion, we're running a giveaway - details and how to enter are here: hannahnunn.co.uk/pages/may-flowers-giveaway. You'll need to be signed up to both our newsletters - so if you're reading this, you're already halfway there! Head over to enter before 16th May
✏️ Learn With Me
Evening Classes start on 14th May! Block one is all about Roses (with a Hibiscus thrown in for good measure). 4 weeks, Thursdays 7 – 9 at my Hoylake Studio. Block two (peonies) starts on 25th June. Limited spaces left, book here - £120 per block, and save £35 if you book both blocks.
Form and Freedom – 20th May 2026 at my studio in Hoylake, 10 – 4, £95pp including lunch and cake. Join me for a day of botanical exploration, we will be making a series of iconic British Wildflowers using nothing but paper, wire and glue. It will all start with looking at the real thing – I will be sharing all my secrets with you!
Paper Garden Masterclass: Exploring Autumn - Norfolk 18–20 September 2026 · Keswick, Norfolk · From £290. After the blossom weekend, we're turning to autumn: seed heads, turning leaves, and a spectacular seasonal bloom. Four spaces remaining. If September in the Norfolk countryside making paper dahlias and seed pods sounds like your kind of weekend, book soon. 4 spaces left
The shop is always open for wildflower craftkits, plant dyed paper and boxed sets with everything you need to start slow-making at home:
"You'll never look at a flower the same way again."
I'm Ling Warlow — artist, educator, and wildflower obsessive based on the Wirral. I teach paper flower making in my studio and at workshops across the UK, and I write about creativity, nature, and the making life over on Substack. If you've ever looked at a poppy and wanted to understand it from the inside out, you're in the right place.
