Standing in her Vero Beach home studio stuffed with tubs of dried roses, peonies, and zinnias; gallons of epoxy resin; and custom molds, Kiersten Ketcham is busy turning her creative passion into a burgeoning business.
“I’m busier than I’ve ever been; it’s sort of taken over the house, which is a great thing,” says Ketcham, 33, a resin artist and professional flower preserver who launched Crystal Seas Art and Preservation in 2021.
A table in her sunroom-turned-studio holds rows of cell phone covers decorated with sand, pink shells, and tiny black sharks and sea turtles on aqua blue waves—one of her biggest-selling items.
“Over here I pour, and then I come over here to take the pieces out of the mold, and then they’ll be sanded and topcoated,” Ketcham explains as she eyes more rows of custom-made cutting boards, coasters, and floral shadow boxes made of maple, walnut, and hackberry wood.
Ketcham discovered resin art during the COVID-19 pandemic while at home with her two young daughters.
“It started during COVID, a desire to create that I had never felt before. I always used to say I’m not creative, but I stumbled across resin and it just clicked; I was good at it,” says Ketcham, who has also worked as a food server and house painter. “I learned by doing—lots of trial and error.”
She found how-to videos, followed artists on social media, and studied the chemicals and safety requirements for pouring and sanding epoxy resin.
In general, resin art is created by combining liquid resin with a hardener, pouring it into a mold, and allowing it to set. Resin must be applied in thin layers and given time to dry for best results. Once cured, the piece is buffed and finished with a topcoat.
“A topcoat is always the most satisfying part of the project,” Ketcham says. “All the meticulous work is wrapped up by the final pour that reveals the floral beauty.”
Initially, Ketcham made small resin pieces depicting vibrant beach scenes. In 2021, she knew she was onto something when she sold $2,400 worth of goods during a weekend craft show.
“I never made the decision to turn this into an established business; it just kind of naturally happened,” she says.
In 2022, Ketcham’s artwork began attracting lots of bride-to-be clients when she offered to use professionally preserved wedding bouquets and flowers to create everything from keepsakes and wall art to customized tabletops.
“I’m totally obsessed with and intrigued by flowers,” she says. “They are always teaching me something new, challenging me, and testing my level of perfectionism.”
As more brides contacted her, Ketcham saw a market for the high-quality flower-preservation artwork that she really enjoyed doing.
“Flowers are so amazing,” she says. “It’s incredible to see, just like seashells, this thing that’s naturally occurring, that can be so intricate and almost mathematical, like the recurring, symmetrical petals.”
Ketcham points to a stunning $4,000 tabletop in her studio made with pieces of California walnut burl wood surrounded by peonies, delphinium, zinnias, ranunculus, straw flowers, and anemones in swirls of purple, blue, and pale pinks set on a black wooden base.
“I don’t even know how much time I spent on that one,” she says, smiling with pride.
She recently completed her biggest and priciest project yet: a $10,000 custom-ordered 60-inch dining room table.
“It’s totally customizable, too,” she notes. “We decided the flowers together, we picked the wood together, and the base.”
Drying and working with cut flowers, Ketcham explains, requires intense focus and preparation. The flowers must be separated and placed in shallow bins filled with a sand-like silica gel to dry out for 40 days. “This is how we keep them in 3D, and also retain their color and keep their shape.”
Any flowers that fade during the drying process are airbrushed to restore color.
In her studio, Ketcham strictly controls the air quality and timing of resin mixing and pouring. The humidity remains below 40 percent, she says, and the room temperature cannot exceed 80 degrees.
“It really is like science, and I fell in love with that part,” she says. “I have to really focus on this thing, block everything else out, and make it as perfect as I can, which is really what I try to do. Every detail is placed with intention to maximize impact and beauty.”
When pouring chemicals, she always wears a respirator mask. When she’s sanding, she wears a dust particle mask. “You can get serious health issues if you’re pouring resin and breathing it in when it’s wet,” she cautions.
Currently, her most in-demand projects involve wedding flower preservation.
“I have maybe 50 bridal bouquets right now, and I’m working on probably 10 at any given time. It just grew so fast this season,” she says. “I’ve been at this for four years now, trying to get into the wedding industry, and I don’t know why, but it finally clicked this season.”
Most custom orders take six to seven months to complete, she says.
She has some advice for couples looking to preserve their wedding flowers: plan ahead, book a consultation well before the big day, and protect your blooms after the ceremony.
To Ketcham, preserving a bride’s flowers goes beyond art or the money spent; it’s “something your family will use as a mile marker in the story of your life.”
“I always picture sitting around at the holidays 30 years from now, and like, your daughter is an adult, and she’s holding your preservation—your wedding flowers—in her hands,” she muses. “That sentimental part of it is so special. It’s so cheesy, but I can’t help it—that’s what I envision.”
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