Make Multi Colored Carnations

If you want to make multi-colored carnations, you have a couple of options. You can make colorful carnations from fresh, white carnations using food coloring and water. You can also make your own from tissue paper and a bit of floral wire and tape, for longer-lasting blooms.

Steps

Changing the Color of White Carnations

  1. Buy or cut some white carnations. You need fresh, white carnations to do this experiment. If you try to use a darker color, you won't be able to see the change as much. You can buy white carnations at any florist and in most grocery stores, too.[1]
  2. Create your vases or cups. You need a vase or cup for each color you want to use. Shorter will probably work better than taller. If you want red and yellow carnations, you'll need two vases. Fill up each vase about 1/4 of the way with water. Next, add in food coloring for each color you want to create.[2]
    • You'll need a lot of food coloring to get an effect, at least 15-20 drops. You'll need more if you want them darker.
  3. Cut the carnations. Once you have your vases ready, you'll want to cut your flowers again. Cutting the flowers again allows them to draw up more of the colored water. It's best to cut the flowers under running water or underwater because that keeps the flowers from getting air bubbles in their stems, which block the water.[1]
  4. Split the stems. To create carnations that are multi-color, you must split the stem in half with a craft knife or box cutter. Split it down the middle lengthwise, being careful not to cut your fingers. Only adults should do this step. You may also be able to split it three ways, if the stem is especially thick.[3]
  5. Place each piece of stem in a different cup or vase. Gently pull the stems apart at the bottom. Slip one part of a stem into one cup and the other part into another cup. Make sure you do not separate the bottom stems from the flower or break the stems higher up. The cups should be right up next to each other, so you don't have to spread the bottom stem apart too much.[2]
  6. Leave the flowers. Now, you must wait, as this process takes time. You'll need to wait at least a day for the color to develop. In fact, color will continue to develop over the next several days if you leave it in the colored water. You may only see parts of the flower petals changing color, not the whole petal.[3]

Making Tissue Paper Carnations

  1. Cut 8 squares. Start with 8 squares of tissue paper in the colors you want. From a standard piece of wrapping tissue paper, you can usually make 8 squares that are 8 inches each, which will make a good size carnation, about the size of a regular carnation or a little larger.[4]
  2. Crumple the paper. Use your hand to crumple up the paper into a loose ball. You can crumple all 8 layers at once. Basically, you want to create wrinkles in the paper to give it a similar effect to carnation petals. Un-crumple the paper, and separate out the layers.[1]
  3. Pinch the ends of each layer. Once you've got the layers separated, start with one layer, and smooth it out. Pinch the ends slightly. As you do, try to create pleats across the middle. You don't want perfect pleats. Rather, you want the middle to just ruffle up a bit. Repeat for each layer.[1]
    • However, if you prefer, you can accordion each layer in perfect pleats for a slightly different effect.[5]
  4. Stack your sheets. Now that you've ruffled each sheet, stack them together, one on top of each other. They don't have to match up perfectly--they just need to mostly align, though the ends are more important than the sides. These flowers are forgiving.[1]
  5. Gather them in the middle. With the pieces aligned, find the middle, lengthwise. Wrap floral wire around the middle. Fold the papers up away from wire. Use pliers to cinch the wire more tightly around the middle of the papers.[1]
    • If you don't have crafting wire, you can use ribbon, yarn, a twisty tie, or cord. However, with floral wire, you can make a stem for the carnation.[5]
  6. Tie the flower. About an inch above the floral wire, tie a piece of string around the flowers, gathering the two sides you folded up together. Cut off any excess string. About another inch or two above that, tie it again. Make sure you leave enough paper at the top to form the petals and the flower.[1]
  7. Add floral tape. Now you'll make the base of the flower with floral tape. Starting with the last place you tied, wrap the floral tape around the flower, and slowly spiral down, covering the other place you tied, too. Move on to the floral wire, covering the place you pinched. You can cover the whole wire down to the bottom or stop wrapping the floral tape near the base of the flower.[1]
  8. Create the bloom. Move back up to the top of the flower where the petals are. Make sure the petals are fluffed out into a carnation shape. Rearrange any petals that need it to make it look more like a carnation until all the petals are in place. Tie a ribbon around the wire if you are giving out the carnations individually.[1]

Things You'll Need

  • White carnations
  • Cups or vases
  • Food coloring (red, yellow, blue and green)
  • Knife
  • Water
  • Tissue paper
  • Floral wire
  • Floral tape
  • Wire cutters
  • Scissors

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/colorful-carnations/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.kidzone.ws/science/carnations.htm
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://sciencebob.com/color-flowers-using-science/
  4. ↑ http://www.craftpassion.com/2010/05/make-a-beautiful-tissue-carnation-for-mothers-day.html/2
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.kinderart.com/seasons/mother2.shtml
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