Stopping to smell the flowers...

Just outside my back door in a teal colored pot are growing some small zinnias. I'd forgotten how lovely a flower they are. I thought I'd create a flower that wouldn't grow old and wither... out of old book pages, of course. I started by tearing a few pages out, and gluing two pages together and allowing them to dry.

After they dried well, I painted them, using my usual hot pink and bright orange.

Allowing that to dry, I cut out petal shapes in four graduated lengths, one barely longer than another.


When I had as many as I thought I might need (which just means a small pile of each size) I decided that the best way for me to attach these petals would be to first glue them to very thin strips of paper. Which, of course, meant more drying time... this was turning into another lesson in patience. (Sigh...)

Finally, it was ready to assemble. A length of floral wire, a bit of floral tape... one end of the wire was bent into a flat oval "loop" so that the petals wouldn't slip off of the wire.

Using a bit of glue, I attached the shortest strip of petals to the wire, and then simply rolled it and rolled it and rolled it until that strip was finished.





When the strip was attached, I wrapped it with the florist tape, stretching it over itself very well so that it would stick.









All of the strips of paper were added in the same manner, and a hefty final wrap of the florist tape was added to hold them all in place... and again, they were allowed to dry.








Finally, I rolled the petals over a pencil to curl them so that they would "open" like a flower...











And the final flower... I really do like how the print of the page shows through the paint, it fascinates me every time I see it.

What do you think of it?