Remember <this blogpost> about Rachel Ruysch a little while ago?
We asked you which painting you liked most, so that we could turn it into wrapping paper.

Well... the votes are in, and the winner is: Painting number 3!
Over all, most people liked the bright colors and explosive composition in this painting most.

Out of the Rachel Ruysch painting, we created this lovely wrapping paper that fits perfectly around the Flower Constellations. 

The Netherlands is historically known for quite a few things.
Of course there's wooden shoes, cheese and wind mills, but what about Flowers and Golden Century painters?

​(We'll go ahead and gloss over the stuff the Dutch are infamous for, meanwhile hoping that soon we'll get over our adoration for pirates and invaders.)

We came across the beautiful Flower still life paintings by Dutch Artist Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), which we absolutely loved. (The dramatics!) 

Here's the plan: we'll use one of these paintings as our Christmas gift wrapping paper for the Flower Constellations.

After months of eager anticipation they're finally here: The Flower Constellations!
And they're everything as wonderful as we'd hoped.

After receiving the final pieces of the Flower Constellations puzzle last week, we rallied friends and family and spent the Weekend wrapping constellations, printing labels and preparing packages.
Which means that the Flower Constellations are now ready to go!

For all Kickstarter backers and the people who pre-ordered in our webshop: your Flower Constellation order is packaged and ready to be shipped this week.

This first period after launch, the Flower Constellations will be available exclusively in our own webshop.
Get them there now, or in a store near you pretty soon.​

<Buy Flower Constellations now>

Hi Everyone!
We hope you're enjoying summer as much as we are?
We've just returned from a little sunny break with the kids and came back to the best of the best: 

The Flower Constellations are in the house and they're looking good!
​Photographs of all Constellations will follow soon of course, we just didn't want to wait any longer to let you in on the good news.

Last but not least comes the Pisces, or should i say 'come' the Pisces. My apologies if i'm getting it wrong.
Yesterday we were talking about the age of Aquarius (remember). It's believed by most astrologists we're currently in the 'Age of Pisces'. The age started around 1 AD, not coincidentally around the birth of Jesus Christ. It's the age of religion, of faith, believe and sacrifice, and it should be coming to an end within the next 130 or so years.
Considering the current religious turmoil all over the planet: let's move to the next age sooner rather than later.

Anyway, back to the Pisces star sign. Pisces means 'fish', and the story goes, Aphrodite, goddess of love, and her son Eros turned themselves into Koi fish in order to escape Typhon, father of all monsters.

So now we've unveiled them all, it's about time to pinpoint you to this page that has all Flower Constellations in one neat overview. 
​
Like what you see? Click on the button to pre-order now!

Capricorn is the smallest and faintest constellation of the Zodiac, yet has one of the oldest mythical back stories. 
It was originally depicted as a sea-goat: half fish / half goat. Which is without a doubt the silliest combination of animals you could come up with (i mean, imagine the walking?! What would it eat?). That said: feel free to add even sillier combo's in the comments. Thinking about stuff like that is the best for people with vivid minds like me. 
​Anyway, in Dutch, the translation of Capricorn is mountain goat, so that's what we went with for the packaging,

Using the more 'natural' approach gave us the opportunity to use a snowy mountain in the collage. Not only because it's wintery (the sign 'kicks off' right after winter solstice), but also because it represents the 'view from above' people born under Capricorn supposedly have: resulting in great management skills as well as sometimes coming across as condescending. 
Remember: that's just what the astrologers say, don't blame the messenger. 

Check out packaging for the signs Aries,  Taurus,   Gemini,  Cancer,  Leo,  Virgo,  Libra,  Scorpio & Sagittarius - Tomorrow: Aquarius

The Scorpio: secretive, passionate, elusive, associated with tarot card 'Death' and a pack of not so very sweet totem animals including snake, phoenix and vulture. All in all a sign that's hard to warm up to.
Even if it's your own.
Which in this case it is.
Luckily it's not all bad: We' are also supposedly resourceful and decisive, and will research until we find the truth. I'm guessing Pitbull might have been a good totem animal to add to the list.​'

The Mythological backstory of the constellation has to do with the Scorpion that killed Orion, either sent by Greek deity Artemis because she didn´t like Orion, or by her brother Apollo because she liked him a bit too much. 
Lovely. - You should definitely check out mythological stories by the way, I'm pretty sure all modern day soap opera's are based on them.

Check out Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo & Libra - Tomorrow: Sagittarius

Ah, libra, litteraly the most balanced of all Zodiac Signs. It has to be, it's depicted as the scales of lady justice.
During this time of the year, night and day are in balance and so are the ​people born between September 24th and October 23rd. Supposedly.
Honestly, i don't know that many balanced libra.
But then again: i don't really know a lot of balanced people. Luckily. (boooring).

Anyway, this is one of the Flower Constellations i got to try out, and i love creating minimalistic set ups with the 4 holed brass tool. You don't need a lot of flowers for a wow-effect.

Tomorrow: the secretive Scorpio.
Check out Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo & Virgo

In the Netherlands, the name of this zodiac sign is 'Kreeft': which translates to lobster.
That's why it's pretty confusing for most Dutch people to see a crab instead of a lobster on the Cancer packaging. 
I did try to work both crustaceans into the artwork., but since the entire rest of the world apparently agreed we're dealing with a crab here, i gave up after having difficulties finding the right angle.

Cancers' birthflowers are not just rosehip, wild rose, lotus and magnolia: all white flowers are associated with the star sign.
I'm looking forward to setting up a bouquet consisting of gorgeous white flowers with the Cancer Flower Constellations.
​Which white flowers do you like most?

Have you seen our Aries, Taurus and Gemini packaging? Leo will follow soon! 

​May 22nd - June 22nd
​¢ 6,5 - 9 cm

element:           air
ruling planet:  mercury
colors:                yellow, light blue
birthstone:       agate
houseplant:     tillandsia
birthflowers:    lavender, lilac, lily of the valley

Remember the space age?
The Apollo missions that resulted in the moon landings in the late 60's wouldn't have been possible without the Gemini programme: the two-person spaceflight programme perfected space walking and paved the way for the successfull mission in '69. 
Now you know why we have twin astronouts on the packaging! ​  

Gemini or 'twins' birthflowers are lavender and lilly of the valley, and if you're born between May 22nd and June 22nd you might want to consider tillandsia (air plants) for your house.

Check out the artwork for Aries and Taurus, and check back for the next unveil tomorrow!