How-Tuesday: Elegant Parchment Flowers with Jeffrey Rudell

HeyMichelle

Story by HeyMichelle

Published on June 23, 2009 in Make

HeyMichelle

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This week’s How-Tuesday comes from Jeffrey Rudell, a paper artist, inventor, and engineer who has an eye for simple, beautiful projects and a knack for sharing his marvelous creations. This project makes a remarkably simple and beautiful flower that can be used to make a bouquet, a boutonniere, a brooch, or just about any flowery thing that starts with the letter B.   

Materials Needed:

  • White vellum or parchment  — the exact vellum shown is white ink on white vellum, made by US Silkscreen, available from New York Central Art Supply
  • pH Neutral Glue
  • Scissors or Xacto knife
  • Straight edge
  • 18″ of pre-cut, straight lengths of floral wire
  • Floral tape

Elegant Parchment Flowers:

Step One:

Begin with a 3″ disc of paper, parchment, or vellum. You can use a 3″ hole punch, a compass, or trace the rim of a cup.

_01-pdf.jpg

 

Fold the circle in half, into quarters, and finally into eighths, until you have a little triangle.

Once folded, use scissors to round out the the top.

 

 

Step Two:

Remove one and one-half petals as indicated and glue flap A to the underside of petal B. This gives the blossom a bit of realistic dimension.

Step Three:

Crimp the edges of each petal — as indicated by the dotted lines — between your thumb and forefinger.

 

Step Four:

For the stem, begin with a straight, 10″ to 15″ length of floral wire. Use needle nose pliers to curl  a 1/4″ loop  in one end of the wire.

_03-pdf.jpg

 

Cover the wire loop with a small length of floral tape to create the pistil of the flower.

Gently thread a wire stem through the center of each completed paper blossom until the pistil is seated snugly within the hollow of the flower.

Take another small length of tape and wrap the top of the stem just under the blossom to keep it in place.

Step Five:

Wrap the remaining portion of the stem with an equaling length of floral tape. Pinch the tape at the top under the blossom and while holding the tape taut with one hand, slowly rotating the stem between the thumb and forefinger until the stem is covered.

 

Step Six:

Lather, Rinse, Repeat, for as many of these gorgeous flowers as you need, and then arrange them as you see fit. Maybe just a few for a boutonniere or for a gift bouquet for a special someone you are hoping to woo. Make a whole bunch for a full bouquet for your wedding or to brighten up any room any day!

 

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