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This week’s How-Tuesday comes from Jeffrey Rudell, a paper artist, inventor, and engineer who has an eye for simple, beautiful projects and a knack for sharing his marvelous creations. This project makes a remarkably simple and beautiful flower that can be used to make a bouquet, a boutonniere, a brooch, or just about any flowery thing that starts with the letter B.
Materials Needed:
- White vellum or parchment — the exact vellum shown is white ink on white vellum, made by US Silkscreen, available from New York Central Art Supply
- pH Neutral Glue
- Scissors or Xacto knife
- Straight edge
- 18″ of pre-cut, straight lengths of floral wire
- Floral tape
Elegant Parchment Flowers:
Step One:
Begin with a 3″ disc of paper, parchment, or vellum. You can use a 3″ hole punch, a compass, or trace the rim of a cup.
Fold the circle in half, into quarters, and finally into eighths, until you have a little triangle.
Once folded, use scissors to round out the the top.
Step Two:
Remove one and one-half petals as indicated and glue flap A to the underside of petal B. This gives the blossom a bit of realistic dimension.
Step Three:
Crimp the edges of each petal — as indicated by the dotted lines — between your thumb and forefinger.
Step Four:
For the stem, begin with a straight, 10″ to 15″ length of floral wire. Use needle nose pliers to curl a 1/4″ loop in one end of the wire.
Cover the wire loop with a small length of floral tape to create the pistil of the flower.
Gently thread a wire stem through the center of each completed paper blossom until the pistil is seated snugly within the hollow of the flower.
Take another small length of tape and wrap the top of the stem just under the blossom to keep it in place.
Step Five:
Wrap the remaining portion of the stem with an equaling length of floral tape. Pinch the tape at the top under the blossom and while holding the tape taut with one hand, slowly rotating the stem between the thumb and forefinger until the stem is covered.
Step Six:
Lather, Rinse, Repeat, for as many of these gorgeous flowers as you need, and then arrange them as you see fit. Maybe just a few for a boutonniere or for a gift bouquet for a special someone you are hoping to woo. Make a whole bunch for a full bouquet for your wedding or to brighten up any room any day!
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90 comments
VintageZen said 11 years ago
Lovely!
PAINTINGSBYSAM said 11 years ago
Very Cute. ~ Thanks :)
VintageBookStore said 11 years ago
Those are gorgeous. great idea!
IceCreamCandy said 11 years ago
this is so much fun!!! i love flowers:)
ffflowers said 11 years ago
Gorgeous - such a simple idea and so effective :)
beautifulbridget said 11 years ago
That looks like fun!!
missindie said 11 years ago
Ooooh I can't wait to make these! So cute! :]
satellitedaisy said 11 years ago
paper is one of my favorites! i can't wait to try these!
uncharted said 11 years ago
so lovely!
AlisonRuthDesigns said 11 years ago
Oh, soooo lovely! Looking forward to trying these.
foamywader said 11 years ago
I declare! Beautiful.
JeweledAmbrosia said 11 years ago
gorgeous!!
SteppingStones said 11 years ago
Lovely!!! Love that DSBrennan!!
KOALACaddie said 11 years ago
These are exquisite. Thanks so much for the tutorial, and for pointing us in the direction of etsy sellers making such lovely flowers when we are too busy to make them ourselves.
FancifulForm said 11 years ago
Beautiful Flowers!
travellingcircus said 11 years ago
Oh what a lovely article. Definitely something to try...thanks so much:)
PearandPeacock said 11 years ago
Lovely! What a great video! Thank you!
baconsquarefarm said 11 years ago
Love flowers thanks for the wonderful article.
LilPeasandCarrots said 11 years ago
How fun! I'm going to give it a try!
bylynnkrestel said 11 years ago
i love 'how to tuesday'!!! look forward to it... thanks for sharing!!
adoreneko said 11 years ago
Thank you for the beautiful and easy to follow instructions, Jeffrey!
EJPcreations said 11 years ago
Look how pretty!!! thank you !
yaelmiller said 11 years ago
quitesparkly and stjudescreations flowers are stunning
terrygraziano said 11 years ago
I love Jeffrey! He was my upstairs neighbor when I first moved to NYC and it is so great to see him here!!! Incredibly kind, amazingly talented and a fantastic project!!! Hi Jeffrey :)
MGMart said 11 years ago
Wow,loved it!! Can't wait to try it with the kids tomorrow. Thank you Jeffrey and Michelle :)
CollectionObsession said 11 years ago
Beautiful!!!
sleepyking said 11 years ago
so awesome! I loveeee tuesdays!
polkadotsoup said 11 years ago
pretty! how tuesdays rock!
patriciacha said 11 years ago
How very nice i will get started on my bouquet very soon! thank you!
bijougirldesigns said 11 years ago
Too cute!
CabinOn6th said 11 years ago
Beautiful flowers !
madebykeli said 11 years ago
Who sells these? I'm too lazy to make them? :)
HeyMichelle said 11 years ago
I loved this project, and Jeffrey was great! Such a talented and funny guy, with an encyclopedic knowledge of showtunes (that one is Bye Bye Baby from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). And, nice work Eric (cameraman/director/editor/coordinator/rad dude)!
madeinlowell said 11 years ago
Wonderful tute! Jeffrey is charming :)
BeadinBabe said 11 years ago
How cool! Thank you! :)
lobby62 said 11 years ago
Winter school holidays are about to happen here and I think this will be a great rainy day project to do with my daughters. Great.
capitalcitycrafts said 11 years ago
thanks for the demo! so simple and fun!
kinzaw said 11 years ago
Wonderful How-Tuesday! Thank you Jeffrey and Michelle :)
evihan said 11 years ago
SUCHA A GREAT PROJECT...THANK YOU FOR SHARING:-)
MademoiselleG said 11 years ago
Wow so great! Was a bit suspicious with paper flowers, but must say that those are gorgeous!
lovelygifts said 11 years ago
Very nice!
JoDyer said 11 years ago
Wonderful!!
SeaPinks said 11 years ago
Oh wow, those are so pretty!
lenoreeightyfour said 11 years ago
this was great!
pinkracoon said 11 years ago
I love this! Great idea!
tldgrainwear said 11 years ago
How simple and fun! Thanks for the tip!
Morado said 11 years ago
I LOVE flowers.....im a lil flower pot!
babook said 11 years ago
Red and Pink Romanc I love it I love it !!
staceylyndesigns said 11 years ago
Great instructions! Can't wait to give it a try!
DeconstructTheWorld said 11 years ago
How simple and pretty! Perhaps my lady friend will get a bouquet of these...
Knittingchair said 11 years ago
lots of awesome ideas
BLinkDesign said 11 years ago
super cute! I'm going to make some right now!
weirdwolf said 11 years ago
Love this How-Tuesday! Nicely done.
CutieDynamite said 11 years ago
Super cute! Can't wait to try my hand at these...
DanceInMyGarden said 11 years ago
Gorgeous!
ToScarboroughFair said 11 years ago
Very beautiful and different.
daniellexo said 11 years ago
Adorable! Nice lil outtake at the end there too :)
sisply said 11 years ago
I LOVE this flowers!
samsstuff said 11 years ago
Cute! It reminds me of all the paper flowers I loved making as a kid. Hmm, it was a lot of fun...I'll have to make some soon!
atom76 said 11 years ago
What in god's name is on her head?
jeffrudell said 11 years ago
I just wanted to THANK everyone for their great comments. I love creating simple things that look great and, judging from the response these flowers have garnered, I take it the Etsy audience likes the same thing. I appreciate so many of you taking time to share a few words of support and encouragement: what a great community!
madetogether said 11 years ago
LOVE THIS! Umbra makes these fun metal flowers that give a similar modern elegance, but truthfully I like the clean fresh feel of these better! THANKS! ~CHelle
mishpot said 11 years ago
what the heck is she wearing on her head? ahaha cool craft though
RiverBird said 11 years ago
So fun I'm gonna make some!
crystalgray said 11 years ago
This is awesome! Love it! Thanks so much for sharing!
design7 said 11 years ago
soooo beautiful!!! thank you!!!
DuBuhDuDesigns said 11 years ago
What a gorgeous post! I just made my first doll using a paper dress and flowers. I can easily use this tutorial to create fantastic accessories on a smaller scale. Thank you:)
mykonos said 11 years ago
I love flowers!!
SusanKJewelry said 11 years ago
fun ..fun..fun
KelpCottage said 11 years ago
Beautiful! Thanks
ModFarmgirl said 11 years ago
I LOVE THESE!!! I am so going to try this!!!!... I think I'll make some right now! Thank you Jeffery and Michelle for the great how-to video!!
supah said 11 years ago
lovely! but hey ... WTF is on her head?
ArtyPam said 11 years ago
thank you !! lovely
danielabesso said 11 years ago
wow!!! love that thanks !
cutecraft said 11 years ago
So simple but so lovely! Thanks for the video :)
treeforyou said 11 years ago
This was really fun to watch!! Thanks for the video x x x
clothpaperstitches said 11 years ago
Thank you for the tutorial. Cool project!
Beadsforpeace said 11 years ago
Oh wow! Great alternative to fresh flowers! I'd like to make a bunch as presents! Thanks jeffrey for sharing!
shizendesigns said 11 years ago
Cool project!
Nikifashion said 11 years ago
Great tutorial!
MeghanT said 11 years ago
Beautiful. Great Summer project!
babook said 11 years ago
i love the video so cute they're !!! And so much thanks for guide of the flower paper DIY it totally easy to got it ; )
pambigreetings said 11 years ago
thanks for that, really make it look easy and so effective.
LovelandShadeTree said 11 years ago
So fun! man I made tons of those big tissue paper flowers when I was a kid.These are a bit classier though.This video brought back so many fun memories. Thanks
Joliet said 11 years ago
These were simple, inexpensive, and lots of fun to make. However... did everyone else's stems remain indefinitely sticky? I'm wondering if I used the wrong floral tape or something..
stjudescreations said 11 years ago
thank you for featuring my flowers on storque!
NStrelkova said 10 years ago
Love it! Cool idea!
niname said 10 years ago
I made these a while ago using patterned scrapbook paper and just posted the photos to my blog. Thanks for the tutorial! It was fun and the flowers are so pretty! http://www.prettylittleprojects.com/post/1138519041/faux-flowers