Behind the Print with Lisa Davis
Welcome to the latest episode of Behind The Print, where we bring you the creative stories of industry leaders shaping the world of professional printing. In this episode of Behind The Print, we’re joined by Lisa Davis of Wallflowers and Cards, who uses an innovative artform to create intricate and awe inspiring worlds from nature. With a deep passion for art and nature as well as an unlimited supply of inspiration, Lisa goes into detail about how she uses a photocopier, a graphic design program, and flowers to create fantasy worlds and creatures.
Below, you’ll find the transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity to ensure easy reading. If you want the full, authentic experience, make sure to check out the video attached below.
Connor Shields: Welcome back to Behind the Print Podcast, where we feature industry leaders and uncover the creative minds and their businesses within the world of professional printing. Our mission is to provide you with inspiring actionable resources that elevate your business projects and accelerate your journey to excellence in profit and in print. Today’s episode is Create the World You Wish Existed. And joining me here today is the owner of Wallflowers and Cards, Lisa Davis. Welcome to the podcast.
Lisa Davis: Thanks for having me.
Connor Shields: So if you’re ready, let’s just dive right in.
Lisa Davis: Okay.
Connor Shields: So what can you tell me about your regular customers?
Lisa Davis: I get all sorts of customers from little kids to old ladies, basically anybody who likes flowers or some kind of fantasy or nature.
Connor Shields: That’s a pretty broad audience.
Lisa Davis: Yeah.
Connor Shields: So as I’m looking through your website, it looks like most, if not all of your work is created entirely by hand.
Lisa Davis: It is. It’s created with three things: Fresh elements of nature, usually flowers, but it can be feathers or mushrooms or whatever. A flatbed scanner used in place of a camera and a graphic arts program to finalize the image.
“It’s created with three things: Fresh elements of nature, usually flowers, but it can be feathers or mushrooms or whatever. A flatbed scanner used in place of a camera and a graphic arts program to finalize the image.“
Connor Shields: Why the photocopier not just a regular camera?
Lisa Davis: It gives a really unique look. A flatbed scanner gives you an image that almost looks like a cross between a photograph and a painting, and people who see it for the first time have no idea what the medium is. When I saw it for the first time, I didn’t know what the medium was. It is limiting because you can only scan what will fit on the scanner and not crush it.
Connor Shields: Seeing as how you create all of this entirely by hand, how do you go about handling multiple orders?
Lisa Davis: Most of my orders are cards, which are easy to do. I do most of my sales at art fairs and craft fairs, so I can, I can do as many or as few as I want. And the orders I get online usually are sporadic enough that I can keep up with them. Obviously, like at Christmas it gets busier and that kind of thing and, but yeah.
Connor Shields: Would you say Christmas is your busiest season?
Lisa Davis: I would say it is.
Connor Shields: I can see that was being very good Christmas cards. I also noticed on your website you have fairies for every season of the year.
Lisa Davis: I do. When I first started out, I was just doing floral images and then, one day I thought, “well, gosh, that flower looks like a little dress and that flower looks like wings, and that could be a head”. And then I started incorporating pieces and parts of flowers into little fairy figures. When I first started, I thought, “oh, I bet I could find a fairy for every season”. Well, I got carried away, and over the years I started to create fairies for each season – even winter.
“When I first started, I thought, “oh, I bet I could find a fairy for every season”. Well, I got carried away, and over the years I started to create fairies for each season – even winter.”
Connor Shields: So during winter, there’s obviously not that many flowers you can choose from. What do you use instead?
Lisa Davis: There’s always things like seed pods, dry I shelf mushrooms, and believe it or not, you can make fairies from house plants. I have a Christmas cactus fairy, I have kalanchoe fairies. I have all sorts of flowers that bloom in the house that you can make fairies out of two.
Connor Shields: Okay. Can you walk me through your creative process a little more?
Lisa Davis: I’m an avid gardener and that’s how I got into this art form. I grow all my own flowers and there’s the woods behind our house. I purposely go out sometimes just to scan to see what’s interesting out there. I’ve found dead butterflies on the roadside that I pick up and carry home to use their wings. I’ve also used dead grasshoppers that, believe it or not, have beautiful wings if you spread them out and dry them. I can create individual little things that I scan and then I incorporate them into a scene. I think my current favorite are the woodland scenes – working with the bark and the lichen and the moss and the shelf mushrooms, and creating a little woodland scene with the fairies in them.
Connor Shields: I bet cicadas would work well
Lisa Davis: I have cicada wings. They are intriguing, they’re beautiful. I can scan a cicada wing and then use it to create something like a kaleidoscope. The way the light reflects from the scanner off the cicada wing makes it look like stained glass. It’s really pretty,
Connor Shields: So you’ve pretty much already answered this question, but aside from using a very unique medium of a photocopier instead of a camera, how else do you stand out from other artists?
Lisa Davis: The art form I use is called scannography. I first started playing with my flowers and my scanner in 2004, and it took me a whole year before I got anything artistic at all. It’s sort of a learning curve, by trial and error. It’s amazing what you can do with a scanner. If you scan something and you move while you’re scanning it, it leaves this color trail behind and creates a completely unique look, so no two art pieces are the same. There’s just so much you can do with this art form.
“It’s amazing what you can do with a scanner. If you scan something and you move while you’re scanning it, it leaves this color trail behind and creates a completely unique look, so no two art pieces are the same. There’s just so much you can do with this art form.”
Connor Shields: Can you tell me about any major milestones you’ve made as an artist?
Lisa Davis: I’ve won a lot of awards and I’m all self-taught. I got into this because I love my flowers and I love nature. All my work involves technology in some form or another, but I’m not the most tech-savvy. However, when it comes to the things I am passionate about, I’m always willing to learn.
Connor Shields: How do you maintain your creativity and avoid burnout?
Lisa Davis: There are an endless variety of flowers and endless variety of nature, so ideas just come to me. People also give me ideas. For example, the calendar I printed this year, has fairy houses, I got this idea when somebody came into my booth at one of the festivals and said, “have you ever thought about doing a fairy house?” And I said, “Hmm, well, not really, but I think I’ll try”. And I started working with different elements. I used shells for one and acorns and bark and all sorts of things, and I made different fairy houses in gardens and in woodland scenes and put little fairies in with them. But nature has endless inspiration and that’s where I get most of my inspiration from. I’ve been doing this 20 years and I haven’t run out of inspiration yet.
“I used shells for one and acorns and bark and all sorts of things, and I made different fairy houses in gardens and in woodland scenes and put little fairies in with them. But nature has endless inspiration and that’s where I get most of my inspiration from. I’ve been doing this 20 years and I haven’t run out of inspiration yet.”
Connor Shields: That’s a pretty much an endless supply.
Lisa Davis: Exactly.
Connor Shields: So a bit of a different question here: If you had a day completely free to spend however you want, how would you choose to spend it?
Lisa Davis: Probably wandering outside in the woods. Just wandering and looking, observing and taking things in. Just being surrounded by nature and birds and the sounds and the sights and the smells. Yeah, that’s what I would do.
Connor Shields: So, one last question for you. How can our listeners get in touch with you to learn more, collaborate on a project or place an order?
Lisa Davis: I’m always available by email, wallflowersandcards@gmail.com. They can go to my website and I think from every page they can get a hold of me. I always answer my emails usually within 24 hours. And if they’re interested in something, all they have to do is contact me. Okay.
Connor Shields: Well, did you have any other questions for me?
Lisa Davis: Not that I can think of.
Connor Shields: Alright, well, I’d say that’s a wrap on another episode of Behind the Print. Thank you, Lisa, for joining us and thank you to our listeners.
Lisa Davis: Thank you very much.
Connor Shields: Remember, having a strong vision, building the right strategy, and using tools like Print to Amplify your message will make your brand stand out from the crowd. If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to get your sample pack today from printing center usa.com and share it with your fellow business enthusiasts. Until next time, keep those creative sparks flying. And remember, there’s always more to discover behind the print.
Where a Passion for Nature Creates Art
With a deep passion for art and nature as well as an unlimited supply of inspiration, Lisa Davis of Wallflowers and Cards goes into detail about how she uses a photocopier, a graphic design program, and flowers to create fantasy worlds and creatures. If you’re ready to bring your art and your passion to life and discover how high-quality printing can help you elevate your business, Order Today!
