Simple DIY Crepe Paper Flowers To Make Now!
I was just thinking that I should make some tissue paper flowers like those that used to grace our Purim table years ago, but it turns out so much time has passed that I actually just realized that the most successful flowers were made from crepe paper! Yes, tissue paper is wonderful too, and I have used it numerous times for flowers, but there is something about the crepe paper and its texture that just makes the whole project that much lovelier. I mean really, look at the photo, who isn’t running to the store to buy some basic crepe paper? Confession: this photo was taken 9 (gasp) years ago, and that blue table was a little kiddie table that is long gone, it took me a moment to figure out what that was exactly!
Ah yes, and the crepe paper is reminiscent of Mexican paper flowers, so all the better is you need a food theme for your festive occasion, go with tacos? Boy, I sure am happy I didn’t buy those two packs of tissue paper that were in my cart today at the art supply store the $8.50 seemed a bit too steep considering I was already buying large sheets of watercolor paper and other supplies for my latest painting adventures…..Lest I digress, i will go back and buy some crepe paper, and revisit this project, but in the mean time, lets learn how to make them! And do read the instructions very carefully please or your flowers may be a flop literally, got it?
You’ll Need:
- crepe paper (you can use tissue paper, but I think crepe paper looks much better)
- floral wire stems
- scissors
How To:
- Make a stack of anywhere from four (for smaller flowers) to eight squarish sheets of crepe paper. My flowers in the photo were made with 6 or 8 layers, and from a roll of crepe paper, 150 x 50cm, I created two nice sized flowers. The bouquets in the photos were each made from six flowers.
- Very important: Take note of the grain of the crepe paper, and make sure that all the pieces in your stack have the grain running the same way.
- Turn the stack of crepe paper such that the grain is running horizontally, left to right. Why? Because other wise you may end up with a very floppy looking flower, especially if you use the thin crepe paper that I used. I threw out a bunch before I realized this important tip!
- Begin folding the stack accordion style
- Wrap a piece of floral wire around the center and twist to secure
- Cut petal shapes at each end of the folded piece, see my diagram here
- Open the accordion, and start very gently pulling the layers up towards the center to shape the flower
- Play a bit with the layers to get a nice shape, and voila!
