Aunt Peaches' Blog has this excellent tutorial on a giant paper sunflower that we could see hanging on our door in the near future...check out her page for more DIY!
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Materials
- Thick brown craft paper
- Multiple colors of latex paint (leftover house paint does just fine)
- Hot Glue Gun
- One platter size lightweight/paper plate
- One dinner size lightweight/paper plate
Start by painting the craft paper –make it good and thick.
For a flower this size you will want to paint at least three large
sheets about
the size of your dining room table. Make them nice and colorful and
enjoy the
painting process. You can smear down a decent base coat with a cheap
sponge or roller. Go out of your way to be messy. Eat some chocolate
while you are at it. I painted
my petals shades of yellow pus some brown scraps to insert in the
middle, but
you could do any color. Or all colors. Oh please, somebody hurry up
already and make a
giant rainbow sunflower and send me a picture.
The amount of craft paper you will need depends on how many
petals you want--I estimate I covered my dining room table with painted craft
paper three times for this project.
For the center of the flower, cut three circles with painted edges. Again, no template here. Just cut the edges nice and jagged then fringe the perimeter. Do this on each circle, fold up the edges, then stack them inside of each other. This could be a small flower all by itself.
For the center, cut a small circle of a lighter color, fringe the perimeter, and fold all the petals in on each other.
Assembly
The critical base of this whole project is a lightweight bamboo/wicker/basket platter thing from the thrift store. If you have ever had cause to order catered food, chances are the food came delivered on one of these, but if you do not have one laying around in your garage already, I guarantee you, every thrift store in the country has a lightweight platter basket laying around on a shelf for 99cents or less. Yes, you could substitute with a big circle of cardboard but then you won’t get the lip around the edge that helps the petals curve inward a bit like a real flower.
For the bottom tier, adhere half the petals to the platter with hot glue. Now that I think about it, staples might work as well.
For the second tier, glue the remaining half of the petals to a reasonably sturdy paper plate and then glue the back of the paper plate to the center of the first tier.
For the center of the flower, stack the three brown circles, hot glue, then fluff the fringe to your heart's desire. Finish off with that fringy thing you made seven steps ago. Tada!
For the center of the flower, cut three circles with painted edges. Again, no template here. Just cut the edges nice and jagged then fringe the perimeter. Do this on each circle, fold up the edges, then stack them inside of each other. This could be a small flower all by itself.
For the center, cut a small circle of a lighter color, fringe the perimeter, and fold all the petals in on each other.
Assembly
The critical base of this whole project is a lightweight bamboo/wicker/basket platter thing from the thrift store. If you have ever had cause to order catered food, chances are the food came delivered on one of these, but if you do not have one laying around in your garage already, I guarantee you, every thrift store in the country has a lightweight platter basket laying around on a shelf for 99cents or less. Yes, you could substitute with a big circle of cardboard but then you won’t get the lip around the edge that helps the petals curve inward a bit like a real flower.
For the bottom tier, adhere half the petals to the platter with hot glue. Now that I think about it, staples might work as well.
For the second tier, glue the remaining half of the petals to a reasonably sturdy paper plate and then glue the back of the paper plate to the center of the first tier.
For the center of the flower, stack the three brown circles, hot glue, then fluff the fringe to your heart's desire. Finish off with that fringy thing you made seven steps ago. Tada!
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