Helllooooo.

For Mother's Day, I usually make something flower related, as gardening is my mom's favorite thing to do in her spare time.

So, I learned a craft, which is making nylon flowers

Honestly, I was lucky to learn this craft while I was in Vietnam. It's also taught in China and in other parts of the world, but the material is quite cheap in China / Vietnam. There are also a few books out there for those who are interested after reading this tutorial.

I'll try to give a few tips during the steps.

Step 1: Starting Your Station

The tools needed for this project:

Nylon "Sock" Material - this is essentially the color base that you choice for your flowers. They come in multiple shades and also come tie-dyed.

Pliers - any will do, as long as they cut metal wires i guess

Wire - Wiring size is important as you want it to be stiff but not too stiff as you want it too be workable and easy to bend and cut. However, if it is too bendable the shape of the flower is hard to maintain as its easy to bend. Working with multiple colors is fun...... XD

Plastic Hoop / Pipes / Rings.... Whatever they are called - (which are the blue hoops shown in the image.) If you don't want to purchase these you can find a cylinder to wrap wires around.

Scissors

Floral Tape

Floral Stamens - The weird yellow and mini red bouquet

String - like the strings used for Sewing

Vase and its filaments ( I usually use rocks or reallllly small pebbles)

Ok! Now Let's Begin!! XD

Step 2: Intro to Numbering and Layers

To begin, you will need the plastic hoop/rings to make the first round of metal loops for the petals.

I am currently doing an arrangement for my dad's desk at work. I'm personally excited for this project as my sister made the vase. But, I usually make one my Mom, but she currently has too many, so ill have to wait till next year.

Anyway, majority of the books have a number assigned to flowers.

I'm going to list it like this...3-2 where the first 3 is the bottom layer and 2 is the number of petals in the center of the flower.

For example, the rose would be 5-4-3-1

So basically the 1 is the innermost layer and 5 is number of petals in the outer layer. I would take pictures from my book to show you but there would be copyright issues with it.

Here are a few more samples:

Lily 3-3

Tulip 3-3

Calla Lily 1

So and so... I think these are easy to google... Otherwise you can count or make up your own flower tbh.

Step 3: Starting the Wiring

Honestly I didn't take photos for this, I i realized that I forgot to after I already completed the vase itself......

But Overall, this step is easy. So, you essentially wrap the wire around the blue cylinder or whatever you thing you decide to wrap around.

Note : The object you use has to be hard and easy to remove the wire after you are done twisting..

Then use the pliers to twist the remaining wire to make tail and it should look like an "o" with a "-" attached to it.

Note : Cut the wire after roughly measuring as it will be easier to twist... I learned this the hard way.... And also remember to leave enough that you can work with, so basically, the tail of the O should be not too long and not too short. In my pics, I made mine short as that's what i'm comfortable wiht, but if you are a beginner, it's best to make then longer than mine.

Step 4: Wrapping the Nylon Onto the Wire

This step, to be honest is hard, and its ok if you don't get it on your first try.

I took a lot of photos for this step:

1) Hold on to one end of the nylon and pull it away from you. There should be some tension, bu tnot to the point where it will rip. Nylon is a material that is easy to rip.

2) Pull it past the wire frame. If your wire is too soft, it will be hard to mold it, but if its wrokable to can losen the tension.

3) Collect it all into one finger. It makes it easier for tying

4) Tie at the bottom of the circle.

5) Cut the remaining nylon at the bottom

Step 5: What Not to DOs

Here are some what not to dos.

The last image is an example of what happens when you tie too loose then cut the nylon after.

Step 6: Making the Leaves

For making the leaves you can do anything that you want, but for my vase I wanted to have small leaves.

After making the rings and covering them with nylon, begin to plan where you are going to put them in an order of what its going to look like after the stem is added.

For the stem, I took a wire and bent the top. It prevents the first ring from sliding.

Tie the first ring with string then after wrap it with floral tape. Continue the same steps following in the order that you decided.

Note : Remember ti change the shape of the leaves to make them look like the leaves that you desire.

Step 7: Making Flowers

For the flowers that I chose. I decided too do a 4 petaled flower with a red inside.

Repeated steps with the rings, I used a much small size for the petals, and used a gold wire.

Beginning with the first petal, I attached it to the red stamen.

Tie it down with string. Then continue to add the rest of the petals.

Note : It's best to keep the petals tight together, as it's easier to fix it's shape after.

Wrap with floral tape after completion of flower

Step 8: Arranging the Flowers and Leaves

Last of all, my favorite part... Arranging!!!

Honestly, you can arrange the flowers however you like. If you don't want to make leaves ( like I feel like that some times too), you can get fake leaves from Micheals /dollar store, or any floral shop to fill them in.

Otherwise Bee Creative! And have FUN!

I hope you enjoyed this instructable.

Thanks to all the Mothers and Fathers out there!