Introduction: How to Make a Paper Christmas Flower!

About: I am an artist, builder and teacher living in Japan.

Here is a fun and kinda-sorta easy way to make paper flowers. I made this monster flower for my Christmas tree.

Supplies

You'll need:

-brown flower arrangement wire for the leaf and petal veins.

-All-purpose, quick drying, liquid (not gel) superglue to glue down the veins.

-A long pushpin comes is super handy for unclogging the superglue nozzle.

-Printer paper

-Parchment pape

-Paint for base color of leaves and flowers.

-Paint for detailing.

-Ball picks.

-Glitter

Step 1: Let's Start

You'll need "brown flower arrangement wire" for the leaf and petal veins and an all-purpose, quick drying, liquid (not gel) superglue to glue down the veins. A long pushpin comes is super handy for unclogging the superglue nozzle.

Hot glue works too, but in my experience looks too puffy.

*It's best to paint all of the leaves the base color before you superglue on the veins. The superglue will dry around the veins and look plastic. Do this and then add detail colors over the dried glue.

Step 2: The Craft Wire

These are the wires for the front and back of one leaf and they are really easy to work with!

I used 0.19mm (0.0075in) white paper for the leaves and flowers. I didn't trace or draw any pattern first. These shapes are pretty easy to cut, so just grab your scissors and go bananas!

Put the wires on the front and back of the leaf and tightly twist all of the ends including the bottom.

I glue my cutouts on top of parchment paper (baking paper). The superglue occasionally sticks in spots, but pulls of easily. You're going to glue under all of the wires and extra on all of the ends. The extra wire is easy to cut off with scissors!

*Don't get superglue on your fingers!


Step 3: Dry Time

Put another piece of parchment paper on top and then add a piece of plywood and some kind of weight. I used a bottle of water. This assures that everything glues down tightly. You'll flip the leaf over and glue the other side too. The glue I use dries in about 5 minutes.

Here is my drying process. Make a sandwich of "Parchment paper-leaf-parchment paper-wood-weight."

I usually make all of my cutouts at once. I make around 5 leaves and 8 petals.

Step 4: Add Details

Use paint for details and glitter for designs. The possibilities are endless. I use diluted acrylic paint to add shades to the leaves and petals.

You can find most of these supplies at the dollar store too. From start to finish, one flower takes me about 90 minutes to make. You can use a hairdryer to speed up paint time, but the glitter glue is better if you let it dry on its own. The glitter glue I use needs about 24 hours to dry.

Step 5: Assembly

There is no right or wrong way to assemble these. Just start twisting the wires together until you're happy with the flower.

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