Monday, September 6, 2010

Paper Flower Tutorial

Want to learn a great new way to make paper flowers?! 
Read the post below! 

Here are some photos of the flowers I created for my wedding.
They were (as you can see below) the center pieces, 
the aisle/pew decoration and the flowers on our cake. 



       Flower #1 (Directions below)  Flower #2  (Direction in later post)  



This is then the original wreath I made from the flowers that were my center pieces.


So, after completing this, I knew I'd want to make more... and this is how I've made them all! 

Supplies:
Fun paper of your choice (1 sheet for 2-4 flowers)
Floral Wire
Scissors/Paper cutter
Mini hole punch
Needle nose pliers/wire cutters


1st- Choose a paper you would like your flower to embrace (for the wedding I choose sheets of music, for the giveaway I choose a $1 book from the library, for the tutorial below my friends chose bright fun paper)

2nd- For flower #1 use regular scissors or a straight edge paper cutter and cut 1/4 to 3/4 inch strips of your paper (depending on the size you'd like your flowers to be, 1/4 would be great for thin petals and a smaller flower while 3/4 would be good for a large bold flower)


3rd- Once you have your strips cut, take one strip, put one end to the other end, with loop in the middle, to test the size of your petals. If the loop is to big just snip off a couple inches of the strip to make smaller petals. Use the size you find while testing to size the other strips. 

4th- After deciding the size of your strips/petals, punch a mini hole in both ends of the strip of paper in the center of the end. 


5th- String one end of each strip on to the end of floral wire (8-11 strips - depending on how full you want your flower)


6th- Once you have placed all strips on the wire at one end, take the bottom strip of your pile and string the other end on top of the pile/the last strip to make your first loop/petal. Continue that sequence, by taking the most bottom strip available and stringing the remaining end on top until all flowers are placed on top. 




7th- After completing each petal, take your needle nose pliers, grab the top end of the wire and curl the wire around the tip of the pliers. Once it's curled around at least one, bend the curl flat on the base of the center of the flower. 

8th- Be sure to press all layers of the center of the flower tight to the curl on top then add a curl under the flower with the stem coming out straight from the bottom. Use your wire cutters to trim the stem to your desired length. 


**Add a button on the center of the flower for added cuteness!**




Your flower is finished!

Thanks to Kelsey and Hilaneh for your help with this tutorial!

 



1 comment:

Laurie in SC said...

I love your handmade flowers and your blog is just adorable! So glad I found you through Unexpected Elegance. I am entering her giveaway for your awesome wreath. I'm following your blog now, too. I'd love for you to come see me sometime at: http://sceneofthegrime.blogspot.com