Making Paper Roses

Making a Paper Rose

Coffee filters
floral tape
watercolor paint
assortment of brushes
bamboo skewer
glue stick
other glues
maybe decoupage glue
or crafters gloss
Other pretty papers
newspaper
found objects that are paper oriented


Okay, so you want to learn how to make a paper flower. I do too. I would like to learn how to make them. Last night, I did a little research on you tube for it. There, you can click on lots of videos that walk you through it. I think they often teach you the origami way of doing it. It seemed a little hard to figure out for me. Then I found one on the Martha Stewart crafting section. So I am sort of referring to hers a little bit and am making up my own rules too.
Okay, I want to make some. She says you can use coffee filters. That would be one way to do it. I am thinking you could also get very creative and use your made up papers in the shape of coffee filters. You will need a pencil or pen to trace the coffee filters, so you start out with the same shape as the Martha Stewart flower templates.
I think you basically have to create four petals that are connected to each other. It sounds like you are to keep wrapping them around each other. And I imagine that you should be gluing as you go. We all know the shapes of petals and can get creative as you are cutting them out. Keep cutting more connected petals and continue to wrap and shape as you go. And gluing. Keep doing this until you get the rose to look the way you want it to.
I think when the floral tape comes in handy is when you want to wrap it around the stem of the rose. The stem would be the bamboo skewer. Make sure you stick it into the center of your rose, but don't let it poke through enough so you can see it through the top. You don't want it to show, but it is going to help hold your rose into place.
I suppose if you want, you could cut individual rose petals of all shapes and sizes and see what you get. That could be an interesting way to approach it too.
Maybe you want all your petals to be different colors. Crepe paper could be interesting too. Newspapers. Glossy paper from fashion magazines. Handmade paper. Wrapping paper. Any paper that you can get your hands on and you think it could have a visual quality that shines through in your glorious rose.
Maybe you want to make a whole bunch of roses and attach them to a wreath and get crafty.
I might use mine for photography purposes, or for hairclips, or other cool ideas. I mean the possibilities could be endless. Paper roses on a fancy hat. Paper roses that could be in chains to decorate the top of your door for Valentines Day. I could keep going.
Or you could choose to cut out your petals and draw designs on them. This might be pretty with pen and ink and then colored with fancy markers or colored pencils. And of course after you create your paper rose, you can paint it with watercolors. And when dry, you can go in and decoupage it to make it glossy.


Have fun. You could even write poems on your petals and create a poetry rose. How cool is that?


Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted November 18, 2011

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