If you think the flowers and plants at The Silk Thumb Ltd. in Highland Park look too good to be real, you`re right. Virtually everything in the store is 100 percent artificial.
Owner Vicki Fine was born with what she calls a black thumb; a disability that ultimately led to the untimely demise of dozens of houseplants. Turning to artificial foliage, she soon discovered that she had a real talent for flower arranging. Her new found hobby eventually blossomed into a career.
Twelve years later Fine, 45, divides her time between residential and commercial customers, including Amtrak`s Union Station and Beatrice Foods`
corporate offices. Most of her pieces are custom-designed, although prices are based solely on the cost of materials.
For a small fee, Fine even makes house calls. ”Seeing a setting firsthand can be very beneficial,” she observed. ”Then I know exactly where the arrangement is going and what kind of mood the customer wants to create. Some of the plants look so real that the only thing missing is the aroma. But others are pure fantasy, stylized blooms with only a tenuous link to nature.” According to Fine, the artificial flower industry uses ”silk” as a generic term for a wide range of fabrics. Though a large percentage of her flowers are made from cotton, rayon, satin or silk blends, she also carries items fashioned out of ultra-suede, brushed cotton and patent leather.
Some of the more life-like blooms are among the most reasonably priced. And with individual flowers and stems priced from $2.50 to $55, even limited budgets are easily accommodated.
Fine often combines real and artifical plants to achieve a desired effect. Along the same lines, one particularly attractive protea (a flower variety) uses a mix of dried and silk petals, and blooms made from a variety of fabrics frequently wind up in the same arrangement.
Unlike the real thing, artificial plants can be custom-colored. Fine regularly works from fabric swatches, and changing or intensifying the color of a stock item is routine.
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The Silk Thumb Ltd., 1822 2nd St., Highland Park. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Phone 708-432-7171.
