Stamens

All stamens are well over 30 years old, many much older. You can purchase these in a mix of a multitude of different stamens, all suitable for dolls – I did not sort them. Use them for making flowers with the loose, die-cut and hand-colored petals, either using single petals or stacking several rounds of petals on top of each other. The stamens can also easily be colored with acrylic paint or youmay want to add a pearly look with nail varnish. They are also very effective woven into a bouquet without adding any petals for splashes of color and added interest, or as tiny flowers for miniature bouquets or wreaths.

Petals

These are all very old petals punched in layers of 8-10 using antique steel die-cuts, after which they are hand-tinted, some also painted. They are usually made from fine cotton, sometimes silk, some paper and velvet. For the tiny cup-like petals tinted to make heather, the petal is just glued to the tip of a stamen, leaving the bottom of the stamen for a sepal, as seen in # 23-lpx. You can make lovely violets using the velvet petals (# 16-lpx), the yellow/red stamens (# 37-st ), tied to a length of thin paper-covered wire ( # 30-lpx) with sewing thread and glue and then covering the wire with a stem (# 29-lpx). Petals can also be used in paper crafts like decorating greeting cards.  

 Sepals

These are about 30 years old and were die-cut especially for the Gildebrief using antique dies in one of the oldest Eastern German artificial flower making company. The round petals are mostly in layers of 8 (hard to tell) and the ¼  sun-ray style petal is in layers of 12. These are great when you make your own small ribbon flowers since they are easy to glue in place and save a lot of effort, covering the base of the flower.

 Leaves

All leaves are over 30 years old, some even antique. Some antique ones are fragile and, if you like, you can remove the old wire and glue a new length of paper-covered wire in place (# 30-lpx). Many leaves we (the Gildebrief) had made in the early 1990s, soon after the fall of the Iron Curtain, at the above-mentioned flower making company. All were die-cut using old specially prepared fabric (waxed or lacquered cotton). Some other leaves are tinted velvet that are over 30 years old and come from an unknown source.

You can always cut up the leaves to the desired shape. I often cut up the multi-leafed rose petals and used the tiny petals for small doll wreaths or bouquets.  It is possible I miscounted some leaf bundles. I apologize but it shouldn't matter - the prices are very low.

You will be hard-pressed to find anything of this nature nowadays, unless it is made from non-natural materials (made in Asia) and I am offering all these items for unbeatable prices, because I am retiring from some aspects of my business, leaving me free to pursue some other ideas, also in the field of  dolls.