How To Make A Beautiful Flower Out Of Tissue Paper

You can buy tissue paper to artistically line gift bags for birthday parties and other events, but did you know that you could also make delicate crafts out of them, such as a large paper flower? These are wonderful artworks you can put on dinner tables at events, or ideas for art projects at elementary school.

To make your tissue paper flowers, all you need is your colored tissue paper of choice, 24 or 26-gage floral wire, binder clips, and a pair of scissors. If you prefer to use chenille pipe cleaners, twist ties, or lightweight wire in place of floral wire, either can be acceptable. For each flower you would like to craft, you need two sheets of tissue paper for your leaves (preferably shades of green), two sheets for outer petals, two sheets for inner petals, and one sheet for the flower's stamen. You can choose solid colored tissue paper or printed tissue paper for more interesting designs.

Start crafting your flower by cutting your tissue paper folds in three different lengths. The paper for the leaves should be the longest and can be cut at the same length as one another. The tissue paper for the petals should be noticeably shorter, and the paper for the stamen should be the shortest.

Unfold the tissue paper and stack the sheets with paper for the leaves being on the bottom and the paper for the stamen being on the top. Center the sheets onto one another while you stack, and clamp the stack at one end with a pair of binder clips. Beginning at the end of this stack, opposite the side of the binder clips, fold up the tissue paper in one to two inch folds, like an accordion.

Once you have folded all your colored and printed tissue paper, categorize it again by color. Cut each of your green tissue paper into pointed leaf shapes. Cut your two tissue papers you are using for your petals into round petal shapes. Lastly, cut the tissue you are using for stamen into fringes. Leave up to 3 inches uncut at the middle of this stack.

Next, you must layer the tissue paper sheets back on top of each other, in the same way as before: Stamen on top, followed by inner petals, then outer petals, and leaves at the bottom. Remember to center the sheets on top of each other when you stack them.

Once you stack your tissue paper another time, fold it all in half. Secure the stack at the middle point with a length of floral wire. Make sure that the fringed tissue is on top and the green leaf tissue is on the bottom. Twist the two ends of your floral wire at the bottom of the stack.

Open the folds of the tissue paper on one of two sides of the wire to make a circular form. You should see four different layers of color that looks like a bullseye.

Pull the fringed tissue paper towards the middle of your flower to make your stamen look dynamic. Do the same to your inner petals, and finally, pull your outer petals up toward the middle. Leave the bottom leaves as is. Notice how it gradually is turning into a realistic looking flower.

The end product is flat on the back, making it easy to display on a table or have it mounted on a wall or frame. You can even secure the floral wire to a wood dowel stem, so that it is able to stand up on its own.