Make a Paper Tissue Flower Bouquet

These directions are for anyone who would like year-round availability of colorful bouquets. The flowers are fantastic in the home, as well as for embellishments and even weddings if you get the technique down! They are easy, convenient and potentially save you a lot of money. These directions teach you how to make a stem, stamen or "center piece" and petals. These tissue paper flowers are very different from the traditional Mexican tissue paper flowers that are used in cultural celebrations.

Steps

  1. Prepare the stem. Only do steps 1 and 2 if you have purchased cloth-covered wire.
    • Cut a piece of wire long enough to stick out of your vase by several inches. If you are unsure, a longer starting length is always better because you can trim the stems later. A 9 inch stem is a good start.
    • Straighten out the wire.
    • Cut the green floral tape to a length that is about 3 inches longer than the stem.
    • Stretch the floral tape by pulling both ends of the strip. This makes it easier to work with for the next step. You should be able to tell when it’s been stretched: the color fades and it becomes less taut.
    • Starting from one end of the wire, wrap the floral tape around the entire wire, keeping the diameter of the finished stem as thin as possible. If you run out of floral tape, your stem is probably thicker than it should be. Stretch the tape out to cover as much of the wire as you can.
    • Cut more floral tape (about 1 ½ inches floral tape for every 1 inch of wire you need to cover), stretch it and continue wrapping where you last stopped.
    • When you reach the end of the wire, set the stem aside. If you have excess floral tape, you can leave it on for attaching the stamen and petals later.
  2. Prepare the petals.
    • Cut out six 2 x 3 inch rectangles from a chosen color of tissue paper – each rectangle represents one petal.
    • Fold each rectangle in half length-wise.
    • Trim each rectangle so that when unfolded, it resembles a shield.
    • Take one folded petal in your non-dominant hand between your thumb and pointer finger with the base of the petal closest to your fingers.
    • With your dominant hand, begin to twist the base gently.
    • Repeat steps 4 and 5 with each petal.
  3. Prepare the stamen or the center piece. Choose one or the other based on the aesthetics of your flower:)
    • For Making Stamen:
      • Cut out ½ x 2 centimeter rectangles of any complimentary color – each rectangle represents one stamen. Three to five rectangles are ideal.
      • Holding the rectangle so that it is in its tallest form, twist the bottom of the rectangle like you did the petals.
      • Repeat step 2 with each rectangle.
    • For Making A "Center Piece":
      • Cut a small square out of any complimentary color of tissue paper.
      • Roll it between your fingers so that it becomes a small ball.
      • Cut out a second square of the same color so that it can cover the ball but will leave about 1 centimeter excess.
      • Wrap the ball with the square and twist the excess like the petals were twisted.
  4. Assemble the flower.
    • Cut and stretch a small piece of floral tape (skip this step if you already have floral tape hanging off of your wire).
    • Take your stamen or center piece and place it against the top of your wire so that the wire ends where the twisting portion of your stamen or center piece ends.
    • Wrap the floral tape around the twisted portion and the wire to attach the two.
    • Attach the rest of your stamen with the same method. (Skip this step if you used a center piece)
    • Then, take each petal and attach it in the same fashion.
    • When you have added a satisfactory amount of petals, trim off excess floral tape and pinch lightly around the base of your petals to make sure the floral tape is set and will hold in all of the components. The floral tape from the bottom of the petals to the stem should resemble an upside-down cone.
    • Fluff out your petals. You have successfully completed one flower.
    • Repeat the above steps at least 9 more times. An ideal bouquet will have about 25 flowers.



Things You'll Need

  • Tissue paper in a wide variety of colors
  • 24-gauge green cloth-covered wire (or plain 24-gauge green wire and green floral tape)
  • Scissors

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