Ipersonally LOVE alternative bouquets and I’m constantly on the lookfor new materials that I can make bouquets with. Don’t get me wrongI love live flower bouquets but non-traditional bouquets can become afamily heirloom and can have deeply personal touches added to them.This tutorial is a play on a simple paper bouquet but adds theelement of durability. I have seen several beautiful paper bouquetsbut I always question how long the paper will last. There are so many“what ifs” on a wedding day the last thing you want to worryabout is your bouquet falling apart. The great thing about thisbouquet is that the enamel gives a nice hard coating which willprotect your flowers and will look great all day and night long! Theonly drawback to this tutorial is that there is a small investmentfor necessary tools but if you are planning to become or are aserious crafter than it is totally worth the cost.
Thingsyou will need for the flowers:
- Flower Paper Punches
- Choose punches that will give you enough variety for a dynamic bunch of flowers. Also make sure you choose a small flower punch that you will use for the center of your flowers.
- Beautiful Papers
- I found some beautiful papers from Paper Source but you can find papers at any craft store.
- Ranger Sue Weinberg Melting Pot & Tools
- I got my melting pot on Ebay for $25 with shipping. It also came with the tweezers and spatula.
- ¼ Yard Fabric
- Choose any color that matches your bouquet color to wrap around the bottom of your bouquet.
- Non Stick Craft Paper
- Utee Thick Enamel
- Gorilla Glue
- 12 Guage Floral Wire
- Small Block of Dense Foam
- Craft Tacky Glue
- Rubber Band
- Small Buttons or Pearls for the centers of the flowers
- 6” Wooden Dowels
- Lace or any fabric / ribbon you want to wrap your handle with.
- 3”-4” Diameter Foam Ball
- Small Buttons
- Scissors
- Hot Glue Gun
- Needle Nose Pliers with Wire Cutter
- Small House Fan
- Sizzix Die Cutter
- If you are a “hardcore” crafter like Mee! This is an amazing investment! I got my die cutter on sale at Joann’s for $70 and that doesn’t include the different dies you have to buy to use it. But once you know the ease of die cutting paper, felt, fabric, etc. you will never want to go back!
Step 1:Eitherpunch or die cut your flowers. I suggest at least investing in thepaper punches otherwise you will be hand cutting flowers for a LONGtime. Once you have a substantial pile of different size flowers inall the same colors or a variety of colors you are ready to glue.
Step 2:
Takeeach flower cut out and cut from the edge of one of the petals to thecenter of the flower. Take your Craft Tacky Glue and put a little onone of the petals next to where you just cut and glue the adjacentpetal to it. Depending on what kind of paper you are using you mighthave to clip you petals together and let them glue. In my case theTacky Glue was enough so I didn’t have to clip which was nice.Repeat this step until all your flower cut-outs are 3D! Leteverything dry and by hand fold back your petals or curl them arounda finger.
Step 3:Plug inyour Melting Pot and put it to the Utee setting. Make sure you haveyour non-stick craft paper rolled out nearby otherwise you are goingto make a huge mess. Pour in a good amount of Utee Enamel into yourpot and let it melt without stirring it, which cause air bubbles. Ilike to have a small fan next to me when I work because it helps drythe enamel faster as well as clears the fumes from the meltingenamel. I usedclear Utee Enamel which turns an amber color very fast but is stillpretty. You can purchase many different colors and test out how itlooks with different papers. After the enamel is melted take yourper-made 3D flower cut-outs and dip them one at a time into theenamel. Using your tweezers and coat both sides of the flower andthen place it onto your non-stick craft sheet. This sheet is amazing!You can drag your flower along it to get the excess enamel off andafter a few seconds the enamel will be dry enough to peel off thecraft sheet and throw back into the melting pot! Repeat this processuntil you have dipped all of your flowers cut-outs. Tip: If youexcess enamel on your petals you can simply use a pair of smallscissors and it will snip right off. It is always easier to do thisprocess when your enamel is not fully dry but can be done after. Ittakes less than 60 seconds for the enamel to fully dry so workingquickly is key.
Step 4:Afteryou have dipped all your cut-outs it is easier to see how many layersyou want your flowers to be. Stack your dipped cut-outs and make yourdesired flowers. After you have your stacked piles take out yourfloral wire and cut it to approximately 4” lengths. Bend the end ofeach wire with your finger or with your pliers. Put a good amount ofhot glue on the inside of your bottom layer of one stacked flower andglue down the wire. My die cut pattern had a hole in each flower butif yours don’t you can simply cut one in your bottom flower layerso you can thread your wire through. Once the wire is glued continuegluing your layers as you had already stacked them.
If yourflowers don’t have enough surface area to glue into the next layercut a small piece of dense foam and glue in-between the layers to actas a spacer. Onceyour flower has all its layers glued including its small center piecetake a rhinestone, pearl, button, or anything else you can think ofand glue it in the very center of your flower.
Now youcan place the wire steam of your completed flower into your block ofdense foam block and continue on to the next flower. Depending on howbig your foam ball is (which will be attached to your handle) and howbig your flowers are will tell you how many flowers you will need tomake. In my case I used the Sizzix Flower Layers # 3 with a 3” foamball and used 19 flowers to complete my bouquet.
Step 5:
Makingthe handle! I amsure there are hundreds of ways to make a bouquet handle but this iswhat I made up and it works well. You can also buy plastic bouquethandles with dense foam tops from Michaels Craft Stores for about $5.For my handle you need to either find (6) 6”wooden dowels or cutdowels down to 6” lengths. I found 12” long dowels at Michaelsand used a small hack saw to cut them in half. After you have yourdowels at the length you want them take your hot glue gun and run aline of glue down one of the dowels and then glue two together.Continue gluing in a circle until you have your handle. If you havecut your dowels yourself make sure the rough cut edges are all in thesame direction and the smooth factory edges are all level and on oneside.
Once thedowels are glued cut a piece of the same paper you used for yourflowers and cut it to size. Cut out a piece of lace or matchingfabric that is larger than the diameter of the bottom of your handleand glue the piece to the factory edges of the dowels. Cut the excessfabric edges and wrap it around the side of the dowels and glue themdown. I wrapped the same paper as I used for the white part of myflowers around the dowels and glue the edge with your craft tackyglue. I used a piece of lace and covered the edge of the paper andalso wrapped a 4” piece of lace around the paper so the user canhold the lace and not the paper. You can use any type of fabric,lace, and paper combination for the handle. I also glued on a fewsmall buttons along the length of the handle for decoration.
Now takeyour foam ball and push your finished handle (the cut rough end) intothe top of it. Push it down about 1” in depth. Pull the handle outand I put some Gorilla Glue into the hole and replace the handle backin. Let that dry and now you have a handle or a pretty foammicrophone which is key for singing alone at home!
Step 6: Takeyour handle and wrap your ¼ yard of fabric or lace around the topand wrap an elastic band around the bottom of your foam ball.
Now thatyou have your dry handle and your dry flowers with wire stems……it’stime to assemble! I like to arrange my flowers by pushing the stemsinto the foam ball until I like the way it looks. Once I havearranged the flowers the way I want them to look I take my GorillaGlue and cover the bottom of the stem. Be careful with the GorillaGlue it expands when it dries and can be hard to work with but it isthe best glue for foam because it expands inside the foam and reallybecomes secure. Repeat this process and you have done it!
You justmade a unique handmade bouquet that will last forever! As long as youdon’t get to drunk at your wedding and smash it (not saying I wouldever do that)….hehe….you will have a beautiful bouquet for yearsto come. The hard work you put into it will pay off for your big day!
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