Gina DeMatteis creates hammered prints, monoprints, collages, and more from blooms. She launched A Whisp of Time last summer and sells her creations at Village Emporium and A Maker’s Post, as well as online at awhispoftime.com.
Gina DeMatteis transforms ephemeral flowers into beautifully enduring keepsakes
When her three children were small, Gina DeMatteis taught them to marvel at the fantastic—the sun dipping below the horizon or a lush greenhouse bursting with a floral menagerie. “I once thought everyone saw the world this way but eventually realized that most people don’t stop to see the sunset. Everything in life is just whisp,” she says. That ephemerality rests at the heart of this artist’s collection of floral works, sold under the aptly named brand, A Whisp of Time.
“I find beauty in the imperfect,” says the starry-eyed entrepreneur, who launched her business last August. “I want my flowers to look like they’re flying in the wind.” After gathering raw materials from her boyfriend’s farm in St. Matthews, DeMatteis returns to her Mount Pleasant home studio to press, pound, and print wild blossoms and garden greens into a medley of curves and colors. From an old barn table littered with heavy books, wooden mallets, childhood oil pastels, and vintage treasures, she experiments with a variety of formats, from hammered prints to monoprints.
Pounding flowers and leaves releases the plants’ natural colors, leaving behind a vivid impression. “Pansies contain strong pigments, cosmos look like old-fashioned tulips, and red hibiscus leaves turn purple,” says DeMatteis of her favorite picks. Her acrylic monoprints capture the distinctive silhouettes of specimens like cosmos blooms, arborvitae branchlets, fig leaves, and fern fronds. Pressed and dried blossoms also gain new life tucked into romantic collages, preserved under glass on vintage pewter trays, and floating inside handmade candles.
Though the Maryland native has returned to her artistic roots, her first career veered toward marketing and editorial styling. The youngest of five, DeMatteis used to print magazines, selling editions to her siblings for a quarter. “I wanted to be editor of Vogue,” laughs the perpetual creative, who studied graphic design and photography at Shepherd University outside DC. But a position at the 100-year-old Maryland garden center, American Plant, eventually laid the groundwork for her botanical boom. There, DeMatteis helped launch a lifestyle boutique to bring the outdoors in. She organized workshops on building terrariums, assembling arrangements, and making wreaths. As the store shifted to virtual events mid-pandemic, she made videos to encourage audiences to get in a creative flow. “When I shared hammered flower note cards, all these new followers showed up,” she remembers.
A few years later, the artist (who migrated South when she became an empty nester) has grown another following with A Whisp of Time. Standing amid the original creations and vintage finds displayed in her newly opened booth at Mount Pleasant’s Village Emporium, DeMatteis envisions hosting flower hammering classes, helping brides memorialize bouquets, and designing wallpapers from her monoprints. Like a wildflower on the breeze, this dreamer will journey wherever the wind blows.
Meet the Maker at These Upcoming Events
Gina hosts classes for up to 12 people. Follow @awhispoftime to register.
April 21
Paris Flea Market
Shopping and demonstrations, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Village Emporium, 616 Coleman Blvd., Mount Pleasant
May 2
Mommy & Mini Flower Hammering Class
Mother’s Day create and shop, 4-6 p.m.; A Maker’s Post, 2019-B Middle St., Sullivan’s Island. $85 (includes all materials).
May 11
Mother’s Day Hammering Class
Includes mommy-and-me T-shirts, 10 a.m.-noon; Village Emporium, 616 Coleman Blvd., Mount Pleasant. $85 (includes all materials).
Make a Botanical Keepsake
Try Gina’s method for a hammered flower tote or T-shirt
Supplies:
Instructions:
1. Place the hammering surface between the front and back of the T-shirt or tote. On the front of your project, arrange your flowers (including the leaves and stems, if desired) face down.
2. Cover the flowers with the watercolor paper. Using the mallet, begin gently pounding the paper surface in sections. Periodically check to see which areas need more pressure by carefully lifting an edge of the paper. Repeat the process with additional layers of flowers, if desired.
3. After all of the flowers have been pounded to release their natural dyes, remove the paper (which can be saved as an art piece or note card). With the brush, sweep away any residual plant pieces.
4. Let your project dry overnight. Once it’s dry, iron the T-shirt or tote on a light setting to set the pigment.
5. To wash, turn the item inside out and use cold water.
