An Introduction to Paper Flower Making

If you have visited the Homemakery lately you may have noticed our new range of  Paper Flower Making Supplies tucked away in our Home Crafts department!

Paper Flower Making is the perfect craft for many of us combining both a love of making and a love of flowers!  Paper Flower making is a craft that harks back hundreds of years but gathered popularity during the Victorian era when paper crafting supplies became more widely available. Now paper flower making is heralding a come back for the pinterest generation looking to create their own fabulous floral displays for their homes, parties and weddings.

When the supplies arrived on Friday I had a play over the weekend and made my first Dahlia, its not perfect but not bad for a first try!

So if you haven’t come across Paper Flower Making before and fancy giving it a try, here is our beginners guide to Paper Flower Making!

Flower Making Supplies

You don’t need a lot to get started with paper flower making, a roll of florist crepe paper,  paper covered wire (for the stems) and roll of floral tape will get you started:

Florist Crepe Paper

Florist Crepe forms the foundation of your flowers and is used to make petals and leaves. Coming in 25 colours there really is a colour for every flower! What makes Florist Crepe different from normal crepe is probably its pliability, florist crepe goes from a being a flat (albeit rumpled) piece of paper and with a little carressing you can work the paper to form the cupped shapes that form the individual petals of your flowers and leaves. Florist crepe is a lot more sturdy than normal crepe making it more durable and long lasting.

Floral Tape

Floral Tape is also known as stem wrap and is an essential piece of your flower making kit. Flower Tape is used for attaching petals and leaves as well as covering the stem. Floral tape is slightly sticky with an adhesive that releases as the tape is stretched and wound around the flower.

Stems

If you are making a bouquet of flowers you will need a sturdy stem to support your flower heads. Paper Covered Floral Wire come in 50cm lengths and using wire cutters they can be cut down to size. Using the Floral Tape you can cover the stem turning it any colour you like.

Templates

Flower Templates are really useful part of your kit if you are looking to create a specific flower like a Peony, Rose or Dahlia. Made from sturdy cardboard the templates can be reused hundreds of times. Alternatively there are many Paper Flower Making Books on the market which come full of templates which you can photocopy and cut out. Alternatively you can draw your own and experiment using different petal shapes!

Flower Centre & Stamens

To start your flower you need to create a flower centre, the simplest method is to fringe cut some crepe paper, if you want a round centre you can use a cotton wool ball or polystyrene ball covered in crepe paper. Packs of Flower Pips are available in multiple colour combos and they are used to make the very realistic flower stamens at the centre of the flower.

Extras

You will need a pair of scissors for cutting your petals and leaves, craft wire and glue though not essential can prove a life send when trying to secure multiple petals and stamens. Something I am very keen to try with Paper Flower making is painting my petals to add depth, detail and colour variation to the flower petals, I cant wait to try that!

Paper to Petal

If you are thinking of dipping your toe in the wonderful world of Paper Flowers I would definitely recommend the wonderful book Paper to Petal. I have had my copy since February and I have been chomping at the bit to get the supplies in so I could start flower making!

Not only is Paper to Petal the most stunning coffee table book packed to the brim with beautifully styled and amazingly stunning paper flowers, its also a practical how to book. The front section of the book shows every flower beautifully photographed in drool worthy settings, next comes a section on the materials you need, followed by basic paper flower making techniques. Step by step instructions on each flower project in the book then follow along with 264 templates which you can photocopy and use to make your own flowers.

But don’t take my word for it watch this gorgeous video or pop over to Amazon and  you can take a look inside

That’s paper flower making in a nutshell, if you fancy giving it a try check out our range of paper flower making supplies here, there are even pre-made kits containing floral crepe, floral tape, templates and instructions so you can get started straight away!

Happy Paper Flower Making!