Perfect Roses of Crepe Paper

Evening Star, Issue 23379, 23 September 1939, Page 6

Perfect Roses of Crepe Paper

You will be fascinated, not only with the delightful results of this Interesting croft, but also in the actual making of them. After only a little practice you will become quite proficient, and it will be very difficult to tell the artificial flowers from the natural ones they depict, both in appearance—and perfume!

It is during this time of the year most valuable, and they will prove to are not available.

With only a few materials, any boy or Kiri will be able to produce bunches of perfect artificial flowers, that can be used as decorations In the home, for sale at bazaars, or as a profitable occupation. You will require some rolls of crepe paper, a card of soft wire, used specially for bouquet making, a few lengths of thin, but fairly stiff wire, and a loz. bottle of water-glass, which can be purchased at a

chemist’s. If you add a few drops of perfume to the water-glass, the flowers will emit a scent not unlike the real blooms. The most cherished secret In making artificial flowers is to use two shades of crepe paper for each petal, such as light and dark amber, two shades of pink, or yellow and pink, with the darker shade on the outside. Also you should be careful to select colours for the completed bunch of flowers that will harmonize. You will need to cut out a petal pattern (fig. 1) from a piece of thin card, and then from the two selected rolls of crepe paper cut off 3|ln. strips, which will produce several petals when the sheets are separated. The grain of the paper should run from the tip of the petal to the base. Now you can place sheets of the light

and dark paper alternately together In a pile. The dull side of the dark sheet should form the underneath surface, and then, by placing the pattern on top and holding the sheets tightly together, you can out around the edges of the pattern with scissors. This will give you a number of petals, but before separating most of them run an Jin. line of water-glass applied with a brush to the top edges of the petal shapes, so that a light and dark petal Is glued together (flg. 2). The petals composed of the two thicknesses are for outside, and the single petals for the centre. If necessary you can trim the edges of the double petals when dry. For each rose you will require about 8 to 14 petals, and 3 to 5 for each bud. It is a good plan to use varying numbers of petals for both roses and buds, so that the bunches will take on the Irregular natural appearance. Take two of the petal shapes composed of one sheet of the darker crepe paper, and holding them together with the fingers of both hands as shown In fig 3, press the first fingers Into the, centre towards you to stretch the crepe paper, and make the desired bulge to form the correct petal shape. Make the centre by folding a piece of the darker crepe paper In half diagonally.

that natural-like artificial flowers are bo an excellent standby when flowers

turning the top corners into the centre, and then rolling it up with a twist at the base (fig. 4). On this centre, wrap one of the single petals, and then directly opposite wrap on the second petal. Hold the lower ends of the petals together with the fingers of the left hand, while a turn or two of very thin wire is wrapped around. The outer petals are prepared in much the same way as the first two.

except that double thicknesses of crepe paper (light for the Inside and dark for the outside surface) are used. For say, the next three petals, slightly curl the top edges of the petals over a medium-sized knitting f needle (fig. 5), and then stretch the centres with the fingers as described above. The edges of the petals should be curled irregularly, that is, some can be curled from the tip towards the base, while others can receive two curls coming from opposite sides towards the centre. The next set, of say four outer petals, can be curled more than those near the centre. . Continue adding the petals until a wellshape* rose has been formed, and then you can bind a 151 n. length of the thicker

wire around the base of the flower to form a stem, and to hold the petals in position. . . The calyx of the flower can be made by pasting together strips of light green and dark green crepe paper, and, when dry, cutting one edge to make long jagged , points (fig. 6). You should cut away all surplus petal paper at the base, after which you can wrap around, and glue the calyx to the base of the flower. The wire stems are simply covered with Ain. strips of green crepe paper. Make sure that you cut across the grain of the paper for these strips, and stretch it out before binding it on. As you work down the stem you can bind in paper or fabric leaves, and also you can produce the reddish tinge on the stems by applying streaks of red dye or red Ink. Pig. 7 shows how the leaves can be made from two thicknesses of crepe paper glued together over a length of thin wire, which serves as a support and a mid rib. It is a good plan to us<3(patterns for cutting out most of the leaves. The bright green smooth side should be uppermost, and the serrated edges can be cut with a scissors. Before the leaves dry use a blunt pointed instrument to suggest veins and irregularities on the surface. If you wish, fabric leaves purchased from a draper’s or a milliner’s can be used Instead of paper. When six or seven of these flowers are bunched together in a vase, they will certainly attract a lot of attention.