Forever in bloom: Make decor that won’t wilt using natural materials
Flowers are starting to bloom in gardens and fields and forests. But when cut, they fade quickly. With a few minutes of crafting, you can make a faux flower out of natural materials.
On your next walk, pick some flowers to put in a vase and pick up some pinecones to craft with.
To make natural faux flowers you will need:
- pine cones
- snippers or strong scissors
- needle-nose pliers (not essential, but helpful)
- paint brushes
- paint
Larger pinecones work best for this project. Cones that are still tightly closed don’t make as nice flowers.
Once you’ve collected a few cones, take clippers (or strong and sharp scissors) and cut out a section with about nine whole cone scales of the cone. These will be the petals of the flower.
Each flower only needs about six petals. Use the pliers to pull the extra cone scales off. Use your judgement on whether they should come off from the center, or whether those on the back are excess.
If you cut the cone using scissors you may also have to pull off some partial cone scales to clean up the flower.
Once you are happy with the flower shape and number of petals, set it aside and make a few more.
When you have a batch ready, get out some paint and brushes.
Acrylic or thick watercolors work for this project.
Hold the base, and paint the petals in your choice of colors. You can paint the center to look like a stamen, or leave it brown for a more neutral look.
Paint the front of the petals of each flower in a single color, or add some varied tones or contrasting color for an accent. The back of the petals may have resin, and you may want to avoid getting that on your paint brush.
Let the paint dry.
You can use pieces of wire as stems, and use a dab of hot glue to attach them to the flowers. You can also use pinecone flowers to adorn a wreath, add to a centerpiece arrangement, or string them up to use as a garland.
