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| This thing is so big the only place I could photograph it was the sun porch! |
You may or may not have noticed that I skipped the last couple of weeks of Friday Flower projects. Sorry y’all. Please know that it was not for lack of effort — I have been busy beavering away at a series of, wait for it, ….giant flowers.
Cool right — giant flowers? Doesn’t that sound fun? Don’t you want to make a great big batch of them and hand them out to everyone you know?
Well that’s too bad because none of them worked!
This sunflower, nice as it is, is nothing like I thought it would be. I’m about 80% satisfied with the results. I hesitated to even share it with y’all but the concept is solid, and, as this is the start of sunflower season, who am I to hold back? It’s sunny and summery and would be fun to make with munchkins. If/when I make a better sunflower I’ll be sure to share that too.
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| Kiki was kind enough to model. If only I had asked her to wear skinny green pants for the occasion. |
Tangent: If you are into interior design books, I highly recommend this one. It’s classic interior design stuff but there is an infectious sense of joy underlying his designs that I don’t usually associate with big glossy decorating books. In short: this is a happy book. If you look through this thing and don’t ache for a trip to New Orleans, something is wrong with you. Plus, he has some really good tips on no-fail paint colors and lighting that I have never seen anywhere else. Plus, Mr. Batt is ridiculously handsome. Plus, you might already know him as Salvatore Romano from Mad Men, or a bunch of other places, but he will always be Sal the Art Director to me. *Sigh*And here is another tangent: Why aren’t there more graphic design professionals portrayed on film and in television? We only had ONE decent character and AMC up and plunked his butt. WTF? Seriously, you know what? How many lawyer/doctor/cop/government agent shows are there on TV? Too effing many. That’s what. Why don’t they make more shows about creative people? Why can’t they show people kerning fonts and preflighting page spreads? I’m tell you, it’s downright exciting. Someone should steal my idea here and make some money. Shhhhhh, I won’t tell.
- Thick brown craft paper
- Multiple colors of latex paint (leftover house paint does just fine)
- Hot Glue Gun
- One platter size lightweight/paper plate
- One dinner size lightweight/paper plate
For the center of the flower, cut three circles with painted edges. Again, no template here. Just cut the edges nice and jagged then fringe the perimeter. Do this on each circle, fold up the edges, then stack them inside of each other. This could be a small flower all by itself.
For the center, cut a small circle of a lighter color, fringe the perimeter, and fold all the petals in on each other.
Assembly
The critical base of this whole project is a lightweight bamboo/wicker/basket platter thing from the thrift store. If you have ever had cause to order catered food, chances are the food came delivered on one of these, but if you do not have one laying around in your garage already, I guarantee you, every thrift store in the country has a lightweight platter basket laying around on a shelf for 99cents or less. Yes, you could substitute with a big circle of cardboard but then you won’t get the lip around the edge that helps the petals curve inward a bit like a real flower.
For the bottom tier, adhere half the petals to the platter with hot glue. Now that I think about it, staples might work as well.
For the second tier, glue the remaining half of the petals to a reasonably sturdy paper plate and then glue the back of the paper plate to the center of the first tier.
For the center of the flower, stack the three brown circles, hot glue, then fluff the fringe to your heart’s desire. Finish off with that fringy thing you made seven steps ago. Tada!
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| I had my heart set on it being a sunflower, but now I look and maybe it’s a black-eyed Susan. Hmmm…hard to say. |
Happy weekend 🙂
Well I personally think it makes a beautifully large statement! It diffently goes on my to do craft list. I wonder if I could make a giant hydrangea? 😉
Well I personally think it makes a beautifully large statement! It diffently goes on my to do craft list. I wonder if I could make a giant hydrangea? 😉
I have just hung my beautiful new sunflower on my red door. It’s perfect. Plus my kiddos loved painting. One question…we painted brown paper sacks because I needed to use the items we had in the house. Is there anything you would recommend to stiffen the petals after it has already been put together? Everything is ok right now, but I’m afraid gravity will have its way in a few days.
ps is 3 stars as high as I’m allowed to rate it? I would definitely give it 5!!!
wow I love it I love sunflowers and have been trying to FILL my space with them. One question how do I get it to stay behind my ear? lol All I can say is MORE SUNFLOWERS
Love your flower! You did a fantastic job and I for one am going to give it a try! Thanks
I think I am in love and I am TOTALLY doing this for my front porch! Heck, I might make mom one for mother’s day and my sister one for her birthday! These are so awesome!!
THANKS!
These look AMAZING! I will be making these for the kids a sunflower festival in northern ireland will try a rainbow one too for sure! Many thanks for sharing!
What a fun and bright flower! I LOVE the size of it. It just adds to its whimsical look.
LOVE IT!!! Thank you for breaking down the steps so that it will be so doable.
It’s FABULOUS!
Instead of the brown paper maybe use thin cardboard like you get from the big cases-24-30 packages of beer & soda. the giant size is awesome but it can be made smaller?
Superb!
HELLO Aunt Peaches! I am a craft “newbie tryin to be”, so simply I would like to know how many sheet of the craft paper you used for this exact size Sunflower. Also the diameter of the round platter and plate. Perhaps knowing the diameter of your finished craft may help to.
We are buying a new home and I would love this on my deck!!
I look forward to hearing from you!!
Thanks!!
Hi! I fear this was made 3 years ago so I do not have additional specifics for you, and even if I did, the plate diameter will change everything (and my plate was from the thrift store — probably 18″ diameter). I would encourage you to take the basic formula and run with it. No two flowers come out the same, even in nature– have fun!
Do you have a pattern for the different size petals, if so could you email it to me please.
Thank you.
Same as in nature – no set patterns.
I LOVE THIS!!!