Preserved flower materials · Kunming, Yunnan
Fillers & accent flowers — the second scale
VivaPetal stocks four preserved filler and accent lines in Kunming, Yunnan — statice at 30–40 cm, craspedia at 1.5–2 cm head, rabbit tail at 5–8 cm and pompon carnation at 3–5 cm — packed in 50 g bunches, 50-stem units and 50-head boxes (as of October 2026). Everything in this family does the same job in principle: it stops a preserved piece reading as a row of focal flowers. What differs is how it does it — the scale it introduces, the surface it brings and whether it holds its own shape — so the lines are chosen as roles rather than from a list of products.
The material
What counts as a component
A component is any material in a preserved piece whose job is not to be the focal flower. That covers a wide spread of plant types — a papery statice spray, a spherical craspedia head, a soft rabbit tail grass and a rounded carnation are not closely related botanically, and they do not behave alike. What makes them one family for trade purposes is that they are bought, packed and specified in small units alongside the focal flowers.
Two practical consequences follow from that:
A working framework
The four roles inside a preserved piece
Most pieces that look wrong are not short of material — they are short of scale variation. Sorting a specification into four roles makes the gap visible before anything is ordered, and tells you which line you are actually missing.
| Role | Scale | What it contributes | Lines in this family that fill it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focal | Largest | The thing the eye lands on first | Rose heads, display heads (see the rose page) |
| Secondary focal | Mid | A second recognisable flower, so the focal mass is not uniform | Carnation, pompon |
| Filler | Small, numerous | Closes the space between focal flowers | Statice |
| Accent | Small, distinct | A deliberate punctuation — shape, texture or a colour jump | Craspedia, rabbit tail |
The most common specification error
Buying two fillers and no accent. Two materials that both close space will look like one material once the piece is packed, and the order has cost twice as much for half the effect. If a piece is reading flat, the missing role is usually accent rather than filler — something with a hard edge or an unexpected shape, in small quantity.
Line by line
What each line actually does
Names tell you very little here. What decides whether a line works in your piece is its physical behaviour: does it hold a shape, does it hang, does it read as a surface or as a dot.
Packing
Why the packing units do not match, and what that costs you
Each line is packed in the unit that suits its physical form, which means a mixed component order arrives in several different kinds of container. That is worth knowing before you plan storage and before you assume the lines can be consolidated.
Because the units differ, a component order is rarely consolidated into a single carton. Each reference is packed in its own unit and cartons are packed by reference rather than tumbled together, which keeps the piece count checkable. If several lines are going to one destination we will confirm which can share a carton and which have to travel separately — ask for that on the quotation rather than assuming it.
A commercial invoice and an itemised packing list are issued with every shipment, listing each reference with its size, colour and piece count. Anything further for your market is confirmed per destination. Delivery is quoted EXW (Kunming) first, then FOB where you have a forwarder at the port, with DAP as the last option; tell us the destination and we will confirm the workable term.
Colour
Keeping one palette across four different surfaces
The components run in the same stock palette as the focal flowers, which is the point of them — a filler in a different colour system interrupts the piece rather than supporting it. But the same dye recipe reads differently on each material, because each has a different base tone and a different surface.
A papery statice calyx takes colour flatly and evenly. A craspedia sphere reads as a solid block, so a light shade looks lighter on it than on a flat surface. Rabbit tail absorbs unevenly along the tuft, so a tint reads as a gradient rather than a single tone. A carnation, with layered petals, shows the greatest variation across the head.
The practical consequence is that a palette built across all four lines should be approved as a set, not line by line. Approving each material in isolation produces four samples that each match the reference and do not match each other. Send the reference and tell us which lines it has to span; we will produce samples and tell you what is achievable on each.
Statice and craspedia take tint well. Rabbit tail suits natural or a soft tint, where the unevenness works with the material rather than against it.
Where it goes
Four jobs, and the role each one needs
Gift boxes
Filler to close the gaps, accent to break the symmetry — the two roles a packed box usually needs.
Bouquets
Secondary focal and soft accent, so a bouquet reads as a composition rather than a bunch.
Wreaths & hoops
Accent at intervals around the curve — the clearest use for a hard geometric shape.
Workshop kits
Small mixed quantities per line, sized so one kit covers a whole table of students.
Before you order
Component questions we get asked
One filler and one accent — statice to close the gaps and either craspedia or rabbit tail to introduce a second scale. That pair covers most first pieces. Adding a second filler before you have an accent is the change that usually gets made and usually does not help.
No. Craspedia is a solid sphere on a stiff stem and reads as a hard dot; rabbit tail is a soft matte tuft and reads as edge texture. One punctuates and the other softens. Which you need depends on whether the piece looks too uniform or too hard-edged.
Ask for the palette to be sampled as a set rather than line by line. The same recipe reads differently on a papery calyx, a solid sphere, a soft tuft and a layered carnation head, so four separately approved samples can each match the reference and still not match each other. Tell us which lines the reference has to span and we will produce the set together.
Because the unit follows the physical form. A statice spray has no meaningful piece count, so it is weighed; a craspedia head is a discrete designed unit, so it is counted. It also means a mixed component order arrives in several kinds of container — worth knowing before you plan shelf space.
Minimums are set per reference and confirmed on your quotation, since each line packs in its own unit and the practical minimum therefore differs across the four. Tell us the piece you are building and we will advise a workable starting set rather than four separate minimums.
Keep reading
The focal lines these components support
Components are one layer of a finished gift box, so the next question is usually the box itself. Private label and the three routes to branded packaging sets out what each route needs from you.
Next step
Send the piece, and we will tell you which role is missing
Describe or photograph what you are building, with the focal flower you have chosen. We come back with the lines that fill the gaps in scale, plus packing and shipping options, usually within one business day.