Do you all remember my pal,
Justine? The amazingly talented designer/calligrapher/friend seen
here and
here. She recently got married and had the most amazing DIY paper flowers at her shower and wedding ceremony. I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. They are so beautiful, realistic and they last forever! I managed to swipe one itty bitty rose from her shower but decided I need more, a lot more.
Fate came into play when I got a super nice email from
Pottery Barn Canada (yay!) asking me to style some flowers in one of their beautiful vases. Um, yes please. I immediately called up Justine so she could finally teach me how to make those pretty, paper flowers.
We set to work combing our craftiness (not to mention Justine's absolutely stunning hand lettering) to make something pretty out of plain old coffee filters.
I told you they were beautiful and they look so real! Justine got her original instructions/templates from the queen of craft,
Martha Stewart, and we've added in a few tips based on what we've learned along the way. Here's what we did...
Supplies:
- scissors
- floral tape
- coffee filters
- bamboo skewers
-
Martha Stewart petal template (download from
martha)
*optional: watercolour paint
step 1:
- Using Martha Stewart's
template cut petal pieces out of coffee filters*.
*note: we only did petal #4 on the perforated edge in an effort to waste less filter.
step 2:
- wrap one #1 petal tightly around the skewer.
- pull floral tape tight and wrap around skewer and petal to secure to the skewer.
- wrap tape downwards as you go.
- take one more #1 petal and make sure the points don't line up with the first one.
- wrap around skewer and secure with floral tape.
- always try and keep petals at about the same height.
step 3:
- take one #2 petal and wrap around skewer.
- secure with floral tape (make sure it's nice and tight!).
- make sure to adjust so that the petal points don't line up.
- take one more #2 petal and repeat.
step 4:
- take one #3 petal, wrap around skewer and secure with floral tape.
- take one more #3 petal and repeat.
step 5:
- take one #4 petal and carefully pull apart at perorated edge to open petal.
- wrap around skewer and secure with floral tape.
- it's ok to fold and bunch a bit at the base, just make sure everything is secured with tape.
step 6:
- take three #5 and #6 petals and stagger around rose (pointy side down).
- wrap floral tape around all three and secure (you can do these one at a time as well).
- repeat with petals #7 and #8. Fill in gaps as needed.
step 8:
- separate petals using your fingers (or a skewer for the middle bits) to fill out the rose.
step 9:
- Use bamboo skewer to curl the edges.
- curl tips downward onto skewer and pull upwards.
step 10:
- wrap floral tape all the way down skewer to create a green stem. Ta-da, a flower!
step 11: optional painting.
- Dip the whole thing in a bowl of watered down water colour paint. Hang upside down to dry.
- Once dry, paint the edges of the petals with watercolour paint (not watered down) to create a darker natural edge.
- or you can see what Martha Stewart did
here.
Phew! That sounds like a lot of steps but it's really not that bad. Don't worry if your flower doesn't look perfect, flowers aren't perfect so this will make it look more natural. Have patience and make at least two, trust me, your second one will look better.
Man, I love having crafty friends, thank you so much for teaching me how to make these, Justine (and for putting up with the
photos along the way).
Happy crafting!
Christine
Sources:
Evleen Mercury Glass Vase: c/o Pottery Barn
Hand Lettering: Justine Ma Design
