By Emma Taggart on April 25, 2021

Can you believe these flowers are made of metal?

Did you ever blow on dandelions as a child? The sight of their fluffy seeds floating in the air is one of life’s simple pleasures and has inspired Japanese artist Shota Suzuki. The Kyoto-based creative pays homage to the humble dandelion with his incredible metal sculptures.

Weeds such as dandelions are often considered undesirable in a garden, but Suzuki hopes his sculptures will encourage people to appreciate the “plants on the roadside.” To begin, the artist walks around his neighborhood in search of the weeds in yards or sidewalk cracks. He then heads back to his studio to begin recreating the delicate botanicals in metal. Suzuki captures their underrated beauty by sculpting their stems, flowers, buds, and even their tiny seeds from brass, copper, and silver.

Suzuki begins each piece by cutting out the shapes from a metal plate before using a hammer and a chisel to add realistic texture. His metal leaves feature thin veins, and petals appear to delicately curl up at the ends. Even the tiny seeds look as though they could float away. Depending on the sculpture’s final design, more than a hundred individual metal parts are brazed and assembled.

Suzuki colors his sculptures using chemical processes such as rusting, sulfurization, and oxidation. He also creates patinas that are traditional in Japan, such as tanpan coloring and niiro, which traditionally uses daikon juices to alter the metal. The results create elements that look just like their real counterparts. Each tarnished and textured leaf and stem features a rich array of natural hues, as well as subtle golden accents.[…]

More: Metal Dandelion Sculptures Capture the Weightless Beauty of Weeds