Wednesday, August 1, 2012

flower child.


The flowers above are one part


Crafting for Kittens class (where the lovely Laurie taught us to make crepe paper flowers), and one part


crafty day with the terrific Tara (who found this neato tutorial, and did her own thing to make some awesome poofs and flowers) (Pictured here without permission, bwahahaha.)



I can't follow directions, so I did my own thing using bits of all of it, with a little inspiration from the tissue paper tie-dye day. So here's how you'd make them, if you were me.

You will need a bunch of cheap supplies-
• A package of white coffee filters
• Scissors
• A set of liquid watercolors (above from Artist and Craftsmen in Seattle)
• A few bowls to dip into (they won't get ruined, no worries.)
• Floral Wire
• Wire cutters
• Floral Tape




Take a few coffee filters (1-6) and fold them in half over and over again, till you have a triangle.


Then trim the outside part of the triangle in curves, points, or anything you'd like. (The fun is in the 'sperimenting.) 

Pour the liquid watercolors into small dishes. Add water if you would like (not too much though, if you want rich colors.)


Dip one end into one color and let it slowly wick up the dye, then flip the folded filter and repeat in another color. I would recommend doing the lighter color first. You can also squeeze extra moisture out gently. 

Leave the pieces folded up, and allow to dry overnight. Make sure to leave airspace between your petal sets- they will transfer color if you aren't careful.


After dried, and opened, it should look something like this. Play with the number of filters you use- this one has 6, but I have even done a tiny single filter flower.


Measure out a double length of floral wire, folded at the end.


I have done some of these with button centers, and some without. If you are using a button, feed the wire through two of the holes, and leave the button at the doubled end.


Piece by piece, feed the filters onto the wires and bunch them up at the end.


After all your pieces are wired and bunched, start wrapping floral tape at the top. I usually do a couple of runs of tape directly under the petals, pushing them up as I go, then continue to wrap the stem all the way down. (Remember to stretch the tape to activate the adhesive.)


Rinse and repeat! But be warned...


if you have cats, you will have "help".

3 comments:

  1. Ooohhhh!!! I love that you dyed the tissue! I want to do more tie-dye paper! Your flowers look beautiful.

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  2. I did more of the paper too- but I shouldn't have watered down my dye so much...

    Letting the paper dry is definitely key.

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  3. so super cute! Great minds think alike...I just did a fun flower pouf tutorial (but I love how dainty yours are compared to my HUGE ones haha)

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