Hanging Paper Flowers

Hanging paper flowers made from recycled paper

    
These hanging paper flowers are quite easy and quick to make and you can make them out of paper you were going to recycle.  I made mine out of an old catalogue.  You need quite thick paper so that it doesn't rip too easily and isn't too flimsy.  Pick colourful pages or just text if you want a more monochrome look


1. Fold page in half and rip or cut into 2 pieces.

The smaller flowers have been made from a single page cut from the catalogue and ripped in two.  You can cut it if you like but you are going to cut round the edges later so it doesn't matter if they are a bit jagged at this stage.


2. Fanfold each piece

Fanfold each piece.  I have folded mine with approx. 2cm folds but you can choose what you like.  This determines how thick the flower is.  The more precise you are the easier the cutting stage is later but it's not too critcal.  If your paper won't make a full final fold then just trim the partial fold off.


Both pieces need to be fanfolded



3. Fold each fanfolded piece in half

When you have fanfolded both pieces, fold them in half.


5. Round the edges to make them petal shaped

Round the edges at each end of both of the fanfolds.  Open these out a bit to make sure they are roughly even.  If your folds haven't been precise you may need to do a bit of extra cutting at this stage to get you petals right so that the cuts extend about the same amount down the petals.

6. Put the two fanfolded pieces together

Think about where you might be hanging these flowers and what you might be hanging them from.  Also, if you are making several consider whether you want them to hang at different heights.  Cut the yarn or string you are hanging them with to the appropriate length.

7. Tie the pile of two fanfolds together

Put your two fanfolded pieces together so they are folding away from each other - flatten them out and tie them round the middle.


8. Add some double sided tape to one side

Add some double sided tape or glue and stick the two petals together so that the hanging cord is sandwiched between the two.


9. Stick together so the handing cord is sandwiched between the two petals

Next you need to stick the other gaps together.  There are three more apart from where the hanging cord is.


10. Glue or tape the other 3 edges

Now you need to cut out some centres in contrasting colours.  I just cut out some freehand circle shapes but you can draw round something circular that is the right size - cotton reels, egg cups, jar lids.  There are usually plenty of circular things round the house to choose from.


11. Cut out a flower centre for each side of your flower

Then add some double sided tape or glue to the flower centres


12. Add double sided tape


Fan out your flower so the petals are roughly evenly spaced and stick your centres in position - one on each side of your flower


13. Fan out your flower then stick centre in place
on each side

Hang your flowers wherever you like. As these flowers are only made of paper choose a dry, calm day if you are going to hang them outside.


No comments:

Post a Comment