Make a Brooch Bouquet

Make a lasting bouquet that does not require water. You can make and use jewelry flowers, book page flowers or fabric flowers for an unconventional and elegant look. A brooch bouquet is a stylish choice for a wedding bouquet or a flower vase. Learn how to make a brooch bouquet.

Steps

Shop for Brooches

  1. Ask your family if you can use brooches that have been inherited from grandmothers, aunts, sisters and cousins. Using some brooches from the family will personalize the project and make it a keepsake.
    • If your family members want the brooches back, you can choose to deconstruct the bouquet at a later date.
  2. Find low cost brooches at craft stores, like Michael's, JoAnn's or box stores like Target and Walmart.
    • Give yourself at least a few months to look for brooches. You can return to the clearance section of these stores and buy recently reduced merchandise to save money.
  3. Buy collector's items on Etsy, eBay or Amazon. If you have a special style of brooch, such as enamel, rhinestone or precious stone that you want to feature in your bouquet, it will take a little longer to collect enough brooches.
  4. Add clip-on earrings, necklace pendants and hair accessories to your collection of brooches. These items look very similar to brooches when placed in a bouquet.
  5. Collect 50 to 80 brooches in total. The number you need will depend upon the diameter of the brooches and the size of the bouquet.

Buy Floral Supplies

  1. Visit your local craft store and buy several things that you would use to make a fresh flower bouquet.
    • Buy long, green floral wire. These will become your brooch stems. Make sure you have enough for each brooch and 2 for larger brooches.
    • Find green floral wire. This is used to wrap the wire together.
    • Buy a large silk flower, such as a hydrangea, in the color of your choice. Inserting your brooches into the flower will help to fill out the empty space and protect your brooches from rubbing against each other. You can also choose a dozen flowers or several different types of silk flowers to intersperse among the brooches.
    • Buy ribbon. You will want to wrap the bouquet stems with ribbon to create an attractive and elegant holder.
    • Buy some needle-nosed pliers, wire clippers and a hot glue gun (with glue sticks), if you do not have these things already.
  2. Set up a work station at home. Plug in your glue gun and gather all your supplies.
    • The glue gun is essential for brooches that break during the bouquet-making process. Low-cost brooches frequently break or lose stones. Glue the pieces on immediately so that you can still use them.

Make Brooch Stems

  1. Take a brooch. Close the clasp and secure it with a hot glue gun if necessary.
    • Decide if your brooch will be secure if you wire it through the clasp. Some brooches break or have unsteady clasps. In this case, try to wrap the wire around the front of the clasp itself, between petals or stones.
  2. Thread the green floral wire through the clasp or around the front of the brooch.
  3. Pull it through so that the middle of the wire is wrapped around the brooch and the 2 ends are even at the bottom.
    • Use your needle-nosed pliers to wrap wire around delicate brooches. Bend the wire at the top with the pliers, so that it is securely attached to the clasp.
  4. Start twisting the 2 wires around each other approximately 1 inch (2.5cm) below the point where the wire and brooch are attached.
  5. Wrap floral tape around the twisted wire. Floral tape can be flimsy, so make sure it overlaps as you curl it around the wire.
    • Press the ends of the floral tape securely so that it sticks well.
  6. Repeat the process with each of your brooches. Create a pile of brooch stems, until you feel you have enough to start making the bouquet.
    • Making brooch stems can be a time-consuming process. You may need to make 50 to 80 stems in several sessions.

Arrange your Bouquet

  1. Choose your bouquet base. You can buy a bouquet holder or foam block to make a wider base with which to hold your bouquet.
    • In place of a bouquet base, find a foam noodle bath toy and cut it to the length of your base or vase height. The open center allows you to place the brooch stems inside.
    • You do not need to use a bouquet holder. You can add sticks or silk flower stems to make a wider vase. Place them together and wrap them with tape to secure a wider base.
  2. Take your large hydrangea stem. Insert your brooch stems into the spaces between the flower petals.
    • Make sure to alter the color and size of the brooches that are next to each other.
  3. Place other silk flowers amongst the brooch stems, if desired. Gather your brooch stems until you have a full bouquet shape.
  4. Wrap the stems with several layers of masking tape, once you have your desired arrangement.
    • Clip the wire stems with the wire cutters, if they are too long.
  5. Stick the gathered stems into your bouquet holder or foam noodle, if you are using these items.
  6. Glue 1 end of the ribbon to the very top of your stem bunch, bouquet holder or foam noodle. Use a hot glue gun. Allow the glue to dry well before you begin wrapping the ribbon.
  7. Wrap the ribbon in a circular motion around the bouquet.
    • When you get to the bottom, you can wrap the bottom with ribbon vertically and rewrap it horizontally or you can leave the stems showing for 1/2 inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5cm)
  8. Place a strip of super glue at the end of your ribbon. Tuck the end of the ribbon inside the other bands of ribbon at the top.
  9. Embellish as desired. You can wrap the base with a necklace or sew on pearls.



Tips

  • There can be a wide variation in the look of a brooch bouquet. You should consider the colors you want to use, whether you want to include silk flowers and the type of bouquet wrap that will fit your style.

Things You'll Need

  • Brooches
  • Clip-on earrings
  • Floral wire
  • Foam
  • Floral tape
  • Ribbon
  • Bouquet holder
  • Silk flowers
  • Needle-nosed pliers
  • Wire clippers
  • Hot glue gun
  • Glue sticks
  • Super glue
  • Embellishments (pearls, rhinestones, necklaces, beads)

Related Articles

  • Make a Fabric Flower Brooch in British Style
  • Make a Rosette Brooch
  • Transform a Bag of Chips Into a Brooch
  • Make a Jewelry Tree
  • Make a Bouquet Ring Brooch
  • Make Flower Brooch Out of Lace
  • Wear a Brooch

Sources and Citations

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