A Dozen Assorted Valentine's Carnations (by Hand)

Are you in need of something spontaneous and romantic for your valentine's lover? maybe you want to give flowers to your teacher/friend, and roses seem too romantic. well have I got the thing for you! Join me in the process of hand making tissue paper carnations.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

For this 'Ible, you'll need:

- A gluestick (It's easier to work with than tape or bottled glue, but you can use them as substitutes.)
- Scissors
- Red and white tissue paper ( you may want to use other colors, but you'll need a LOT of one. you'll see why later.)
- Floral tape and wire (consult your local florist, if you are confused.)

Step 2: Preparing the Flower

Get a rather large piece of red tissue paper. ( It needs to be big, but size is relative here, as you may wish to change your desired flower size.) lay it out and fold it in half vertically. then again, horizontally.

Step 3: Shaping the Future... Petals

Next, we'll cut away the four orners of our paper, leaving a layered stack. (Make sure not to be a perfectionist, as no two petals are the same.) Make rough cuts, and don't worry about the shaping now, this will smooth over and add to your flower later.

then repeat step 2 with your now oval-ish stack of paper. (folding in half) Rotate 45 degress and repeat again. this will give a basic outline for the bending of the paper later, thus giving your flower some uniformity, but only enough to ease our work load.

Step 4: Adding a Pistil

Female flowers have an anatomical organ known as the pistil. It is the recipient area for pollen from the stamen of a male flower. In this step, you'll need to punch a hole in the center of the stack, using a pencil as an awl.

Step 5: Back to the Future, Part 1

earlier, we started shaping the flower. In this step, we'll actually be shaping the petals. This is where precision really doesn't matter. You want a natural looking form, or it looks like you took some paper and crumpled it.

Pull the pencil all the way throught the flower, so that just the eraser sticks back into the petals.

Step 6: Back to the Future, Part 2

Now, lightly squeeze the paper around the eraser. This will cause the petals to crumple and look awkward, but this is what we intend to get. release the flower and pull back each individual layer, moving and bending as you see fit.

Step 7: Connecting the Stem

Okay, now you've got a pretty flower, but you cant use it onless you want a corsage. Take a length of floral wire, and thread it throught the pistil. Then gently squeeze the petals again and twist the bottom of the flower around the wire.

Step 8: Stabilizing the Stem

take the wire below the flower and wrap it around the small section ofthe flower, jutting from the bottom of the pistil. pull taut and strait.

Step 9: Bulking Up the Stem

This step adds girth and realistic propotions to your stem.

gather a long strip of white tissue paper. It should have two layers, for proper girth.
Wrap and twist it tightly around the long floral wire hanging below the flower. snip off any remaining uncovered wire.

Step 10: Adding Chlorophyll

As you know, most plants are green. This comes from the chlorophyll, Inside the chloroplasts, located in plant cells. The chloroplasts, collect and convert sunlight, into energy for the plant.

Floral tape doesn't work as normally as other tapes. Firstly, it strecthes, A LOT. The adhesive doesn't seem strong, but it will hold fairly well. And lastly, It is hard to deal with. Use the stretching to your advangtage, letting it grip the paper and pull itself progressively stronger.

Take your floral tape and spiral down the stem, STARTING UP ONTO THE BASE OF THE FLOWER. Otherwise, you'll flower will fall off, and we'll all be sad... When finished taping, puff your flower back up.

Step 11: Go Back and Repeat.

Now that you've got one of these flowers made, You can get to work on the others. Go back and repeat steps 2 - 10.

Step 12: I Caught the Bouqet!

Now we'll assemble the bouqet. Simply take white tissue paper and tightly wrap the dozen flowers together. It should hold closed fairly well, But I like to decorate functionally. I added a double helix to mine, made of twisted red paper. The possibilities are endless. It's up to you to choose from here on.