Artist Reply: Thanks you two! The flowers are not cast - they are just silk. Forton is a material that architects use and is great for casting sculpture. It's a resin/hydrocal/fiberglass mixture and is incredibly strong. The patina is enamel with layers of dye oxide applied hot - same as you would do on a bronze. Bad contrast in this photo however - the pattern on the light face shows too much and the patterns on the dark hair and kimono show too little in the photo. Once I get the base attached, I'll try to get more true photos of the color. Thanks for asking and for your nice comments!