(Yevheniia Kudriavtseva)
The Flowers Just Got Smaller and Smaller
by Pam North
Yevheniia Kudriavtseva’s miniature world couldn’t be lovelier - she is surrounded by exquisite tiny flowers and bouquets, all in scales of 1:12, 1:24, or 1:6, and all made by her own talented hands. As if that’s not enough, when she isn’t making mini-flowers, she likes to sew teddy bears. Flowers are her primary love, however. She has been making them from polymer clay since 2012, using them as decorations for objects such as watches, glasses, and boxes.
It was a 2015 visit to an artist’s personal dollhouse museum that made Yevheniia set her sights even smaller scale-wise for her flower-making. It was there that she noticed a bouquet of tiny roses in one of the rooms, and she realized that realistic tinyness would be her next focus. After initially trying her hand at it, she quickly evolved in her artistry, constantly learning and improving her skills.
While she uses polymer clay (Sculpey and Fimo) for the larger flowers used for decorating accessories, she prefers Japanese clay (cold porcelain) for her miniatures because it allows her to make thinner petals and eliminates the need for baking to set the clay. “I first shape the petals, then I glue them to the wire. The process of creating miniature flowers is much the same as creating realistic flowers in ceramic floristry, but the difference is that I don’t use any molds or cutters. After the flower dries, I tint it with dry pastels and oil paints. The number of petals in each flower is different; for example, an ordinary rose has about 15, and an English rose more. For a long time I could not figure out how to make very tiny flowers, such as lilies of the valley, as the diameter of the flower is 1mm, but after a year of reflection this spring, I did it!” She buys vases, cans, and jugs for her bouquets from sources around the world. She immediately shares her creations on Instagram, and sells her products on Etsy, with the prices ranging from a single flower at $4.00 to more complex creations at $20.00 and up. She also is planning to show her miniatures at international exhibitions this year.
Sometimes she makes special items, such as custom-made replicas of bridal wedding bouquets from photos. She also has made flowers for the Miniature Flower Show at Nybelwyck Hall, the miniature mansion on permanent view at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York. Miniaturists from around the globe are brought together to decorate this extraordinary 24-room dollhouse built by Mark O’Banks (1956-2002), and gifted to the Hudson River Museum in 2006. Artists are inspired to create flower arrangements to complement the historical architecture of the dollhouse, which uses floriography (the language of flowers) to connect with the whimsical story of the Van Nybelwycks, the Lilliputian-sized dollhouse occupants. The flower show is scheduled for viewing April 30th through June 14th, 2020.
A programmer by education, Yevheniia grew up in a large family in Russia. She was very fond of drawing, and dreamed in childhood of attending art school, but her parents did not have money for that. Early adversity didn’t stop her dreams, however, and she has been able to turn her hobby into a job that she loves. “I really found something that gives me great joy in life. There were many problems, disappointments, and failures in my life, and when I opened my store with miniature flowers on Etsy, some of my relatives were not supportive. Looking back, I understand and I’m thankful for it; if not for these trials, I never would have done my tiny, cute flowers!”
Yevheniia finds her inspiration in beautiful photos on the Internet and from fresh flowers, which she often buys just to examine them closely to better learn their realistic details. She prefers to part with her creations by selling them, saying, “Otherwise, I would constantly want to remake them.”
Her daughter is delighted with Yevheniia’s flowers, and has become a great fan, often sitting close by and sculpting cats or food for her dolls, making it easy for Yevheniia to combine her work and her family life. She works at home at her desk, in front of which is a large window that provides a great view of the park from her space on the 17th floor. She always tries to keep fresh flowers in the room, and enjoys listening to quiet romantic music as she works.
She knows what she enjoys most about miniatures: “The moment of creation. I always have to come up with something new. I love the process of crafting flowers, and the final tinting with paints most of all, as it’s then that the flower comes to life.”
Yevheniia is looking ahead to creating more wonderful things. “There are many new projects that I want to bring to life, and my goal is to show my work at exhibitions in different countries of the world. I hope that the field of miniatures will grow, develop and improve. We live in a great time of technology, new inventions, and opportunities.” She also has plans to create a tutorial on making clay flowers.

Contact information:
Name:  Yevheniia Kudriavtseva
Business name:  FloralDecorMini
Email:  decor-evgenia@mail.ru
Website:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/FloralDecorMini
Address:  Davydkovskaya 5, 120. Moscow, Russia
Phone:  +79859719397
Instagram:  @floraldecormini