Following up on my previous arts n crafts project, I wanted some colours to brighten up my living room.
So, I thought why not add some flowers but those that will never wilt or wither?
So, I thought why not add some flowers but those that will never wilt or wither?
I thought roses were too common, sunflowers were too bright, lilies were too white so the best I could think of were tulips.
I then browsed through the internet for inspiration and found some videos on youtube on how to make your own paper tulips because I wanted my tulips to look as good as the real ones.
It did not look difficult at all to make, so off I went-a-shopping for some of the items required.
What you need to have:
~ coloured tissue papers
~ dark green crepe paper
~ old magazines/newspapers
~ a ruler
~ a pencil
~ a pair of scissors
~ paper glue
~ a long needle
Once I got all the things I needed, I started by making the petals first. I cut out strips for the inner and outer petals. For a stalk of tulip, I needed 6 petals ~ 3 of 1 inch x 3 inches for inner petals and 3 of 1-half inches x 3 inches for the outer petals. The tissue papers I bought already came with pre-shaped strips so this task was less daunting because all I needed to do was to cut strips according to each indentation.
The next step is the fun part because I get to see the petals grew as I twisted and folded each strip of paper into the shapes I wanted. The more petals I made, the more colourful the petals became, as the pile of petals grew bigger.
After I finished with the petals, the next step was to make the stalks. Since I did not have any knitting needle, I used a long upholstery needle instead, to roll the magazines to create the stalks. I rolled out as many as I could make, long and short ones, because these rolled magazines are also useful for my future arts n crafts projects.
To make the stalks, I glued the top of the rolled paper and covered it completely with the dark green crepe paper. For the leaves, I cut out 1 inch x 5 inches strips of the dark green crepe paper and set aside for the final assembly.
Once I have made enough stalks, it was time to assemble the petals. This process is painstaking because just to make a stalk of tulip, I needed to glue 6 petals, one at a time, inner petals first, then the outer petals, and had to be sure that each petal was completely dry before adding the next.
I must say, this project took me days to complete and I almost gave up on the idea. But since I wanted to show off my crafty monkey skills to my family, I persevered. Double, double, toil and trouble...
I then browsed through the internet for inspiration and found some videos on youtube on how to make your own paper tulips because I wanted my tulips to look as good as the real ones.
It did not look difficult at all to make, so off I went-a-shopping for some of the items required.
What you need to have:
~ coloured tissue papers
~ dark green crepe paper
~ old magazines/newspapers
~ a ruler
~ a pencil
~ a pair of scissors
~ paper glue
~ a long needle
Once I got all the things I needed, I started by making the petals first. I cut out strips for the inner and outer petals. For a stalk of tulip, I needed 6 petals ~ 3 of 1 inch x 3 inches for inner petals and 3 of 1-half inches x 3 inches for the outer petals. The tissue papers I bought already came with pre-shaped strips so this task was less daunting because all I needed to do was to cut strips according to each indentation.
The next step is the fun part because I get to see the petals grew as I twisted and folded each strip of paper into the shapes I wanted. The more petals I made, the more colourful the petals became, as the pile of petals grew bigger.
After I finished with the petals, the next step was to make the stalks. Since I did not have any knitting needle, I used a long upholstery needle instead, to roll the magazines to create the stalks. I rolled out as many as I could make, long and short ones, because these rolled magazines are also useful for my future arts n crafts projects.
To make the stalks, I glued the top of the rolled paper and covered it completely with the dark green crepe paper. For the leaves, I cut out 1 inch x 5 inches strips of the dark green crepe paper and set aside for the final assembly.
Once I have made enough stalks, it was time to assemble the petals. This process is painstaking because just to make a stalk of tulip, I needed to glue 6 petals, one at a time, inner petals first, then the outer petals, and had to be sure that each petal was completely dry before adding the next.
My idea was to have combinations of tulips with and without leaves. Because I wanted to differentiate between the stalks and the leaves, I have chosen a light green tissue paper to lay over the dark green stalks and then attached the leaves to some, and left some as-is.
I must say, this project took me days to complete and I almost gave up on the idea. But since I wanted to show off my crafty monkey skills to my family, I persevered. Double, double, toil and trouble...
I must add, the vase is just a spin-off from the IKEA lamp project (A for Arts n Crafts #1). Why discard the bottle after you've drunk the juice? Why not turn it into a nice vase? And so I did just that! The concept is the same, with just a couple of twine ropes (one for use, the other, as a spare) and a hot glue gun, simply work from bottom-up, fixing the hot glue to the baseline and cover as much as possible the surface of the bottle with twine rope, making sure there is no gap along the way up. Let it dry completely and voila!, the vase is ready for use.
After all the toil and sweat, the result is... a beautiful bunch of home-made tulips!
After all the toil and sweat, the result is... a beautiful bunch of home-made tulips!
Not as good as the real ones, but I think they're good enough for me.
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