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| "Flowers in a Crystal Vase," Edouard Manet, c. 1882 Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art Open Access Program |
Hello friends,
A few weeks ago my always-coming-up-with-fun-new-things friend Kim invited me to attend a paper-flower-making class with her. It was offered by Cocktails and Craft, a woman-innovated monthly workshop that teaches a different craft each month and offers a free cocktail while you're at it. It was started by a pair of sisters who discovered a love of hanging out together having cocktails and crafting, and the whole thing grew from there. Now they're looking to begin licensing the idea in other areas so definitely follow them if this is something you might be interested in bringing to your city (assuming you're not in Washington).
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| Kim having fun with crepe paper |
The chief benefit of paper flowers is pretty obvious: They don't die. They also don't require dirt or water, making them a lot more versatile for use in other craft projects than traditional flora. Plus you can make your own custom combination of petal colors and, if you're using them in a craft project, you can construct your flower using a wire stem from the beginning and avoid the frustration of having to trim and wire real flower stems to whatever base you're attaching them to.
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| Working on my petals |
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| Assembling my first flower |
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| 2 completed semi-peonies |
I'm actually not going to write up a tutorial on how to make paper flowers because there are already ample resources online that will teach you how to do this. Paper Source even sells kits. And if you are in or near Washington, D.C. I highly encourage you to join Cocktails and Craft for an in-person workshop because it's really beneficial to learn a new craft from someone with experience, even if you can technically learn to do it on your own. They'll have pointers that can only be gained through trial and error, and you can learn twice as fast from mistakes they've already been through. Plus classes let you see what other students are doing and you can get inspired by all the different approaches.
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| A shot of the group workspace with my completed flower crown |
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| My workspace as I created filler flowers for my crown |
So instead of a tutorial, I'm going to tackle the next problem: What do you DO with your paper flowers once you've made them? Sometimes it's really easy fall in love with the beauty or the engaging process of a particular craft, but then it's challenging to find an actual function for the finished product to serve, and that beautiful piece ends up languishing on a closet shelf somewhere. Here are ten ways to use handmade paper flowers.
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| This being me, I had to make my flowers into a crown instead of leaving them as freestanding stems |
1. Flower crown
This is one where I feel there are pros and cons to using paper flowers over real ones. Adorning yourself with real flowers carries such a vavoom factor, and also lets you capture the season that you're in. But making a flower crown can be a painstaking process and paper flowers make it so much easier, plus after all that work it's nice to know your crown will last. So I say real flowers in the spring and paper flowers in the winter!
2. Gift wrap
To me paper flowers are hands down preferable to real flowers if you're using them for gift wrap. They're much more portable . Plus it's more portable; who knows how long your flowers are going to go without water, and no awkward stems or bumps to keep your flowers from gluing down and laying flat. Plus, you're giving your gift recipient a lasting token of your efforts.
3. Use like real flowers in an actual vase to liven up a space
I mentioned that for flower crowns I think real flowers have a bigger vavoom factor, but I think paper flowers might actually have an edge over real ones when used in a vase, if only because they're so different and unexpected.
4. Make a wreath
Here paper flowers aren't just easier to work with and longer lasting; they also offer a greater versatility than real flowers to really match the flowers to the theme or event you're appealing to regardless of the season.
5. Photo backdrop
As someone who has taken many a still life photo of flower arrangements and also captured portraits of people posing with flowers, I have to admit that real flowers are a beautiful photo subject. But paper flowers enable you to capture a larger-than-life, fantasy quality that would be physically impossible and/or cost prohibitive with real flowers.
6. Mobile for baby's crib or other kid's room decor
Real flowers for a baby mobile would just be too impractical. Even if there were a way to supply them with water without having to individually take each flower down and dunk it, they wouldn't last very long, and they'd drip water on the baby!
7. Make a garland to trim a window or other part of your home
Beautiful garlands for special occasions definitely do exist (as beautiful as the wedding ones on Pinterest are, check out the ones for the holidays) but they are expensive and difficult to maintain. A paper flower garland is a great alternative that still imbues that sense of fantasy, and is both less expensive to begin with and only a one time cost for something that you can use over and over again.
8. Create a fantastical table spread
Floral centerpieces using real flowers are standard, but paper flowers let you surpass the boundaries of reality.
9. Lights!
Good luck doing that with real flowers. I suppose you could do this for just one night at a party or something, but you'll need to use paper if you want this to be a longstanding part of your decor.
10. An awesome pin or boutonniere
What I love about this one is that it's a way to incorporate items that are traditionally flowery in a way that is true to the personalities of people who aren't into flowers, both male and female. In this example, a wedding boutonniere is made from music paper, so while it keeps with the tradition of pinning a flower to a lapel it downplays the flowery aspects and instead highlights something else (the music). This is a great way to incorporate an overall theme by giving everyone flowers made from the same paper - say music paper, or recycled paper, or vintage book pages, Japanese block prints, you name it - or, alternatively, to let individual people's personalities shine by using different papers for each individual.
For more ideas on how to use paper flowers see my Pinterest Board.
What about you? Any interest in giving paper flowers a try? What would you likely use them for? How do you like paper flowers compared to fresh flowers? Do we add something or lose something by using paper flowers instead of real ones? How do you think paper flowers compare to store bought silk flowers or other kinds of handcrafted flowers, like felt flowers or beaded wire flowers? Discuss in the comments.
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