Making flower crafts

Flowers (both live and dry) are suitable materials for creating all kinds of crafts. And in order for the resulting product to please others for many years, the natural elements must first be properly prepared.

Despite the fact that natural flowers are most often used in crafts, the use of dried material allows you to lengthen the shelf life of the finished product. In addition, it is possible to make the craft more durable if real buds are supplemented with artificial elements, for example, plastic berries or fabric leaves. In order to keep the flowers in their original form for a long time, they must be properly dried.

The collected samples are most easily processed under pressure or in a special folder designed for placing the herbarium. You can even place them inside a thick volume, protecting them from staining with sheets of white paper or tracing paper. However, this method is relevant only for creating a flat decor, which will later be used in the panel.

To quickly dry the craft material, it is recommended to use heat treatment. Alternatively, multi-petaled flowers - peonies, dahlias, calendula can be sent to lose moisture in the microwave. To do this, multi-colored heads are laid out on a saucer, a miniature bowl of water is installed next to them, and the timer is set for 2 minutes.If after the above interval the petals are not dry, it is allowed to expose them to the hot environment for one more minute. The degree of processing of flowers is determined with a toothpick.

In principle, specimens on long stems are allowed to dry naturally, gathering in a bouquet and hanging them down in a dark room with their buds. Between each other, it is better to connect them with ribbons of dense fabric or twine. It is important that individual bouquets do not touch any other objects or each other. With live wildflowers, they do it even easier - they are laid out on top of newspapers on the balcony or right on the street. Bright and large buds, on the other hand, are sent to a darkened space to prevent burnout. This natural drying process takes several days.

If the craft requires the use of buds with a preserved color, you should use volumetric drying. In this case, the natural material is first collected on a dry day. The buds are carefully detached from the stem, keeping a couple of centimeters near the flower head. A short piece of wire is immediately inserted into the scion. At the next stage, free-flowing masses are prepared that absorb moisture - semolina, flour or salt.

At the bottom of a clean container, the flowers are laid out with the base down. The buds are carefully covered with a drying mass with the separation of each petal. Everything is closed with a lid and removed to a heated room with low humidity. After 3-4 days, you can determine the degree of drying by gently pressing the petals with the side surface of the toothpick. If they turn out to be tough, then it’s time to take out the workpieces with tweezers and clean them of the remains of the loose substance. A piece of wire inserted will allow the heads to be secured back onto the stems.

Very often, stabilized flowers are used for creativity, that is, processed in glycerin. This procedure is very simple: first, a solution of glycerin, sold in any pharmacy, and water are mixed in a 1: 1 ratio. The resulting substance is poured into a vase, and flowers are placed in it, the stems of which are preliminarily shortened by a centimeter. It makes no sense to close the buds from above, since the liquid will be absorbed through the stems. During the first week, each flower will have to be pruned by one centimeter. For the second week after renewing the water-glycerin solution, the plants will simply have to remain in the vase.

Flowers processed for further use should be stored in ventilated and dry rooms, protected from direct sunlight... It is better to put bulky buds in tightly closing boxes, flat ones in a folder, and leave the bouquets hanging in the open air.

Handicrafts from flowers often help out when a kindergarten or school is asked to participate in an exhibition on the theme "Golden Autumn"... The material collected during the warm season and already dried in books or in the microwave is easy to process and fits harmoniously into any composition. However, freshly cut buds also find their place in children's works.

It will be very easy to make flat autumn men from flowers and leaves. Both dry and fresh material can be used - the main thing is that the elements are not damaged and are in harmony with each other in color... A well-thought-out composition is glued to the paper, after which the necessary details are drawn with felt-tip pens. Older girls can be invited to do fashion decoration: draw the outline of a fashionable dress and make a petal applique.

It is convenient to create a doll from flowers while walking. For this purpose, bright and large buds of mallow or poppy are suitable, as well as the usual dandelions, miniature field bindweed and other representatives of the flora. The process of making unusual crafts is easiest to learn using the bindweed as an example.... First of all, a receptacle with a peduncle is separated from its blossoming flower by pulling it up. Further, the peduncle of the bud of another flower of a smaller size is inserted into the resulting hole.

Of course, postcards are also light crafts, for the design of which both live and dried flowers are suitable. So, under the control of the parents, the child can make a beautiful craft. in retro style... Of the materials and tools, only a blank for a postcard with a round "window", dried pansies, ribbons and not very thick PVA glue will have to be prepared. The composition is assembled from one large open flower, a smaller flower, a closed bud and a pair of stems. It is important to position it so that it fits in the "window" of the postcard.

The details are picked up with tweezers, and a toothpick is suitable for glueing, forming a thin and even layer of the substance. Any excess retainer must be removed with a clean cloth.

From flower petals on paper, you can collect images of any kind of animals, birds and insects. For example, a butterfly is very colorful from fresh and dried buds, as well as small leaves. In addition to natural material, cardboard, scissors, transparent self-adhesive, scotch tape and cocktail tubes are also involved in the work.

First of all, a blank in the form of a butterfly contour is cut out of thick paper. It is placed on the sticky surface of a small piece of adhesive tape, and then "filled" with flowers, petals, leaf blades and thin twigs. The product is covered with another piece of self-adhesive, applied with a sticky layer down, pressed tightly and freed from unnecessary edges of the film using scissors. In order for the butterfly to fly, it will have to be attached to a plastic tube with tape.

An image of a cute hedgehog is assembled quickly and easily on paper. It is enough to draw the figure with a black marker, and then fill the “zone of needles” with dried leaves of different shades of green and thin twigs. Having thus obtained a uniform background, it remains only to decorate it with dried flat flowers.

Even a person can create an elegant panel of dried flowers, with no special skills. In addition to dried buds, the work also involves pieces of stabilized moss, seeds, spikelets, leaf blades and other gifts of nature. The process of assembling the product is very simple: all the components are laid out on canvas or paper so as to form a harmonious composition, after which they are fixed on transparent glue or double-sided tape.

After the picture is dry, it remains to place it in a frame under glass - such a solution will increase the service life of the panel and protect it from dust accumulation. By the way, a similar product can be made voluminous - then the buds, leaves or whole bouquets will be attached to a cardboard or burlap, and then put into a frame without glass.

It is worth mentioning that the base for the panel must be strong and create reliable adhesion to any adhesives. Small applications can be content with a piece of thick cardboard, but complex panels will already require a wooden or plastic base covered with fabric or burlap. You can also decorate the background with a net, colored paper, a "carpet" of dried leaves or a piece of wallpaper.

One of the most common themes for homemade panels is autumn bouquet. To create it, dried flowers are used, dried in the open air in bunches or separately, while preserving the stems. All elements of the composition are attached to thick cardboard covered with a yellowish rag. You can use whatever elements you want, but it is better to give preference to those that can be harmoniously arranged on a flat surface.

Having collected a loose bouquet of plants and tied it with a ribbon, all that remains is to cut a couple of holes in the base and fix the composition on it with a wire. A vase or basket is cut out of thick colored paper and then glued directly over the stems. The corners of the frame can be decorated with beads or bows.

You can make a beautiful flower toy with your own hands if you pick up a sufficient number of fresh flowers of the same size, as well as get a floral sponge, wire or wooden skewers, a stationery knife and water. Having decided what kind of animal will be created, it is necessary to cut out the corresponding figure from the floral sponge. It is not forbidden to separately create a head, torso and paws, and then connect them together. Fragments of the oasis are submerged in water to thoroughly soak, and then briefly set aside to allow excess water to glass.

The animal's body is immediately assembled with wire or skewers. The flowers are cut obliquely so that about 3 centimeters of the stem are left next to the bud. Further, they are very tightly and without gaps are stuck into the sponge. The eyes of the animal are made of paper, and instead of a spout, you can use a small candy.

To create delicate floral bracelets, it is better to use only living specimens. In addition to fresh buds, you will have to use pliers, tape tape, scissors, thick and thin wire, a 1 cm wide satin ribbon and a hot glue gun. The first step is to cut the thick wire to the width of your wrist. Having rounded its ends with pliers, it is necessary to give the metal rod a rounded shape of the wrist and wrap it with tape. Having thus received the basis, it will be possible to proceed to the preparation of the flower.

A thin wire is bent into a loop so that it can be passed through the bud to the center of the stem. Leaving about 7 centimeters of a twig at the flower head, the rest will need to be cut off. Then the thread is twisted and wrapped with a tape. If you plan to place several flowers in the bracelet, then they are prepared in the same way, after which their wires are twisted together. To connect the floral details with the base, it will be necessary to hold the bud with one hand and forcefully rotate it around the base of the bracelet with the other.

The finished bracelet is decorated with a satin ribbon set on hot melt glue. In principle, you can do even easier and weave a bracelet like a wreath, applying stalks of individual flowers in a circle and wrapping them with a metal rod and tape.

Topiary from dry herbs and flowers is collected quickly, but looks very impressive. To form such a composition, a variety of dried flowers, a foam blank in the shape of a ball, a straight stick for the trunk, a planter and a plaster mixture are used. As an additional decoration, it is worth preparing feathers, lace and sisal. First of all, the wooden stick is slightly sharpened and immediately stuck with one end into the foam ball. Its other end is immersed in the plaster mixture, poured into the planter.

When the base dries up, the "crown" of the tree is formed with glue with dry buds, spikelets, dried leaves and other plants.The "earth" in the pot is masked with additional decor, and the container itself is tied with a ribbon or lace.

The dried flowers can also be used to construct a wreath on the wall, an aromatic sachet in a cloth bag, or even bath salts. Of course, do not forget about the possibility of composing a bouquet from fresh or dry samples.

For information on how to properly dry a herbarium for crafts, see the next video.