Rudbeckia Sahara Stained Glass Flowers

Rudbeckia 'Sahara' Everlasting Flowers

There's a particular stretch of towpath where the cottage gardens spill right up to the water's edge  hollyhocks leaning over fences, bees drunk on lavender, and always, somewhere in the mix, a rudbeckia holding its ground against the wind. The Sahara variety caught my eye for its colour alone not the brash yellow of a sunflower, but something warmer and stranger, apricot fading into rust, like the petals have been touched by late afternoon light before they even open.

This piece is hand-cut and copper-foiled to hold that colour layered amber and burnt-orange glass for the petals, a rippled golden centre that catches the light the way real pollen does, and soft sage leaves trailing beneath. Hung in a window, it does what the real flower does on the towpath pulls your eye across the room and asks you to stop a moment.

Each flower is made individually here on Willow, so the glass tones shift slightly piece to piece no two Saharas are quite the same shade.

Hang it where the morning light finds it, and let it do the rest.