You get what you pay for

In this posting we will examine the second lowest grade,  #2, of artificial flower. Our example here is a daisy. Its overall appearance is superior to the poinsettia examined in my previous post. We don’t need to discuss the anatomical details. However, it is interesting to note that the daisy blossom  has a unique kind of petal. There are the familiar ray florets that give the flower its distinctive color: white, yellow, red, etc. These radiate from the center and are usually referred to as the petals. Then there is the central disk, which comprises the “eye” (as in ox-eye daisy). However, in the daisy (and the sunflower), the eye is also made up petals, but these are a different kind of petal, called disk florets. These fine, hair-like filaments are actually another kind of petal. Each of these petals contains the organs for producing seed.

This daisy looks better than the
previously examined poinsettia,
but numerous flaws are revealed
in close up images.

Our faux daisy suffers from a crude production process. The ray florets, upon close  examination, are not very attractive. The edges are severely frayed. Again, as with the poinsettia, the color has no subtlety. Here the red is overly bright with no variation in tone. In the business of paints and dyes, this is known as saturation. I don’t know if saturation actually occurs in the organic world, where colors are blends of shades and tones. The beauty of real flowers comes from the way they reflect light. Our daisy looks unnaturally bright and flat. Further, the ray florets, the petals, have no structural character. They are too obviously imposters.

Here you can see the tattered look
of the daisy and the cheap attempt to
reproduce the blossom's "eye".

In the close up below, I have cut away some of the florets to reveal a clearer view of the central disk. You will see that it seems to be a round plug, probably cut from a longer cylinder of some kind of plastic. The surface has been colored and then deeply scored to approximate the appearance of the disk petals. It is a very crude production technique and is not at all realistic.

The last photo further illustrates the lack of finesse in making this specimen. This is a tight close up with petals cut away to reveal the application of glue that holds the blossom together. The glue has been slathered on in a heavy-handed way that shows the lack of care applied in making this reproduction. If you were holding this stem in your hand, the glue would be conspicuous without enlargement.

The excessive use of glue makes this
artificial stem look like a pre-
school project.

These fabrication standards result in an inexpensive product, which is probably the intent. They also consign this daisy to the second lowest grade on the scale of quality. Next week we will see the improvements that elevate a stem to quality grade 3.