Season 5 of Paper Talk is here, and it’s all about focusing on your why. 

What does that mean exactly? This is your underlying purpose, the reason you keep going. Your why will bring you balance and happiness. It will help you understand whether to say yes or no to a new project. When you focus on your why, you can destress your work and get back to the joy that you first found in paper flowers. 

Everyone’s why is different, and it takes time to really uncover what the heart of your why is. That’s why Jessie and I will be spending all of Season 5 of Paper Talk chatting with a variety of guests about it. 

You won’t want to miss out on any of our fantastic episodes. Here’s a little peek of what we discussed this past month.

Episode 116: Over Coffee with Jessie and Quynh

We kicked off the season diving into Jessie’s why. 

Jessie shared how she got back to her why this past year. You can hear the entire story in the episode, but...

On June 3, 2021, six paper florists walked into a brand new museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When we finished our work, we’d compiled lilies from more than fifty people around the world into an art installation to honor those who died a century ago in a hateful, racist massacre. 

How did this commemoration endeavor come about?   

It all started when Jessie Chui and I were approached by Amy McGee of Botanical Brouhaha and Sue McLeary of @passionflowersue via the Palmers sisters of The Wild Mother from Oklahoma City. They asked if we wanted to be involved in the centennial commemoration of the Greenwood Massacre that happened in my hometown of Tulsa. 

Why did I say yes? I grew up in Tulsa and was never taught this important history. Only in the past year and a half did I learn about this sad event that occurred 100 years ago. I asked my high school friends, and we all agreed that we were never taught about it at all. It was upsetting that a huge piece of...

Have you ever browsed the competition and been shocked to find that other paper florists are charging way more than you are for similar products? How are they able to make such a higher profit? Why are customers swayed by their offerings? 

Caroline Tran of Caroline Tran Photography sold her own creative goods, once upon a time, and was puzzled by the price discrepancies she found. After some sleuthing, she figured out the reason why and let us in on it in our latest episode of Paper Talk. Here’s a clue from Caroline: “The way you present your stuff is going to make the difference between whether someone’s willing to pay $80 for it or $8 for it.” 

She also provided extremely useful information about photographing your products to showcase online. Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to her episode:

• Tricks and tips to photograph your products in their best light (both figuratively and literally).
• The best apps and programs...

Have you ever found yourself in a creative rut? Found yourself no longer joyful with your work, but simply slogging through? Maybe you’re having difficulty even imagining a different way to do things. Maybe you have a dream to chase, but the risks seem too big.

If that sounds familiar, we have the perfect inspiration for you! 

In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we chatted with Ann Wood of Woodlucker studio. She is the amazing mixed-medium artist behind a plethora of hyperreal insects, feathers, vegetables, fruit, and flowers. These incredible creations have been featured in many publications including Martha Stewart Living, as well as NPR’s Cultivating Place podcast. Her dream to create a massive botanical wall led to her current exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag in the Netherlands.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you tune in:

Our conversation also touched on the beauty of slowing down and connecting with nature. Ann spoke beautifully...

Does the idea of submitting your paper flowers to a gallery strike fear in your heart? Or maybe you’ve tried in the past with little success and have become disheartened. We have heard so many paper florists express apprehension about exhibiting their paper flowers as fine art. There’s a lot of unknowns: Where do you begin? How do you deal with rejection? Is your creation really worth it? 

We’ve all felt those doubts. But what if we told you that we know the secret behind finding success as an exhibiting artist? The best news is, it’s totally something you can do.

On our latest episode of Paper Talk, we chatted with Ceres Lau, a paper artist in Malaysia, whose incredible work has been exhibited around the world and extensively online. She literally cuts, carves, sculpts, and creates elegant works of art from paper. Needless to say, she understands the way a blank sheet of paper can make the heart sing with possibilities.

Listen to our conversation, and...

You want to connect with more clients. You want your amazing creations to be enjoyed. Spending time to promote your work is not what you imagined doing when you became a paper florist. Well, we’ve got your back. There is strength in numbers, and the paper florist community is about to get a whole lot stronger, together. 

Paper florists are scattered all over the world, which is why you’re reading these words! You want to connect with others in our industry. That’s always been the heart and soul of Paper Talk and the Paper Florists Collective. This is why we are so excited for some big projects coming down the pipeline. These projects will include all paper florists who want to participate, and they will help us all to promote and grow our industry.

In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we delved into some of the specifics, but here is a brief intro:

• Quynh has had a dream to create a gigantic paper flower installation for art gallery use for sometime now, but...

Let’s face it: our paper floral industry is strong, but still has lots of room to grow. To get our work out there and to help our community flourish, we need to collaborate with other industries. Getting featured in the magazines or blogs of other groups is a fabulous way to grow your business. An obvious one is the fresh florist market. We can create pansies with long stems or an iris for a dried bouquet. The possibilities for collaborating with florists are endless!

You may wonder if a fresh floral magazine or blog will feature your paper flowers, and the answer is yes! On our latest episode of Paper Talk, Tonneli Grutter— a marketing expert and writer at the Florists’ Review magazine—spoke eloquently about the amazing collaboration that can happen when we choose to look outside of our immediate industry and connect with others. She would love to see our community’s work, either by submitting on the Florists’ Review website or tagging/direct...

Like us, you’ve probably been isolated at home for months now. So you can imagine our surprise when scrolling through Instagram and seeing that our friend, Jasmine Sing of Merremade, has already resumed in-person paper flower workshops! The pandemic is in a very different state in South Korea where she lives, but hopefully, we are headed in that direction here in North America and the rest of the world. So, we took the opportunity to chat with the lovely Jasmine in our latest episode of Paper Talk about how she eased back into teaching face-to-face in the age of Covid-19. 

To keep herself and her students safe, Jasmine follows these rules:

 Asks students beforehand if they have been sick, visited a hospital recently, etc.

• Sanitizes the entire workshop before class: tools, furniture, doorknobs, etc.
• Sets up the space so that tools and materials are 2 meters (a little more than 6 feet) apart, and keeps students 2 meters apart at all times.
• Limits the number of...

 

Like us, you’ve probably been isolated at home for months now. So you can imagine our surprise when scrolling through Instagram and seeing that our friend, Jasmine Sing of Merremade, has already resumed in-person paper flower workshops! The pandemic is in a very different state in South Korea where she lives, but hopefully we are headed in that direction here in North America and the rest of the world. So, we took the opportunity to chat with the lovely Jasmine in our latest episode of Paper Talk about how she eased back into teaching face-to-face in the age of Covid-19. 

To keep herself and her students safe, Jasmine follows these rules: 

• Asks students beforehand if they have been sick, visited a hospital recently, etc.
• Sanitizes the entire workshop before class: tools, furniture, doorknobs, etc.
• Sets up the space so that tools and materials are 2 meters (a little more than 6 feet) apart, and keeps students 2 meters apart at all times.
• Limits the number of...

Have you ever been asked to work for free? For those of us in the creative fields like paper flowers, this happens all the time. Seriously. All. The. Time. If you haven’t encountered it yet, you will. We’ve been there, and we know how tricky it can be to navigate.

Sometimes, working for free can bring valuable exposure. It can open doors. You can make lasting connections with clients and vendors. Other times, working without pay brings only headaches and resentment. Those of you who have had one of these negative experiences are probably nodding your head in agreement and shuddering with the memory of long, thankless hours of work that netted basically no gain.

Figuring out which situation you’re heading into is a difficult task. In the latest episode of our podcast, Paper Talk, we delved into this subject and agreed that deciding to work for free is a highly personal choice that should be examined on a case by case basis. 

One way to ensure that your...