General instructions for shaping and gluing punched paper petals into flowers:
(I have added a page of leaf shapes that you can print out, paint, and cut out below, as well.) First, cut 32 gauge green paper or cloth covered wire into various lengths for stems. For some flowers dip one end of the wire into yellow acrylic paint & stick unpainted end in floral foam until dry, to give the appearance of stamens. For others, dip one end into white Elmers glue, then immediately into medium yellow foam from railroad model landscaping material (can get thru hobby shops and at Mini shows sometimes),and stick end in floral foam (sahara type) as before til dry. If you put your dipping glue on a piece of damp paper toweling, it will stay workable longer without forming a film or drying out as quickly. Vary the colors of the stamens according to the type flower you plan to make. I'm still experimenting to try to find the most realistic lily stamen though. Most everything I've tried so far looks a little too clunky. The thinner ones break too easily.
A bit about paper:
Bond paper, and lightweight parchment tracing paper are my favorites, although I've used everything from tissue paper to the twisted paper used for crafts. Experiment with all different types to get the look you want. Each paper type has its own unique characteristics when you try to paint and shape it. For a really delicate iris petal that is almost translucent, I use an 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of tracing parchment and paint it with a very light wash of color on both sides, letting one side dry completely before doing the other. Use a hair dryer to speed this process up! Painting the paper not only gives you an almost fade free color, you can have any color you want instead of the limits from the stationery store. This is particularly useful for leaves, since there are very few green papers that look leaf like. If you use a thicker parchment, you may have to touch up the edges of the leaves or petals since they will not have paint on them and may look too white. Try painting one side of the paper a slightly darker shade than the other. This is very effective for some leaves. Use a sponge dipped into a lighter color paint to mottle some of the paper color for a variegated leaf look.
Shaping the punched petals:
Sprinkle some of them onto a piece of vinyl material that is on something soft like an art foam sheet. The more padding you have under the vinyl, the more cupped shape your petals and leaves will have. Use any kind of tool that you can find that has a rounded end, like a Kemper tool stylus (art supply stores often have these), and gently pull the end across the petal . If you want a crease in the petal, gently pull a sharp pointed tool (like a T pin) along the length of the petal to form a vein. Make radiating veins on the larger shapes.
Next, put a tiny dab of Elmers white glue on your left (right if you're left handed) thumb nail. Learned this from Maritta Rukker of Nimble Fingers....the logic being that a) you won't misplace your thumb, and b) it's very close to where your work is.
Hold one of the prepared stems between this same thumb and index finger. With very fine pointed tweezers, quickly pick up one of the shaped petals, touch one end of it into the white glue on your thumb nail, then touch it to the stem wire just under the yellow part, and let go of the petal with the tweezers. It will stick to the stem. Holding the stem upside down, while gluing, will make the flower look like it is just opening. Holding it upright will make a fuller more open flower.
DON'T use too much glue. Just a tiny, tiny dab works.
Put petals all the way around until it looks like a flower. Experiment with different shapes to get different flowers.
Do the leaves the same way but glue around the stem at varying spots just like a real flower has. Leaves can also be glued to short pieces of thread that has been dipped in glue and dried to stiffen it, then the whole leaf assemble can be glued to the flower stem, or used to add filling to an arrangement or plant that looks spindly.
After the glue is dry, you can add realistic hi lights with acrylic or water color paints and a really fine pointed paint brush.
When it's all dry, plant in a pot filled with a chunk of brown floral foam that has been coated with glue then dipped into mini dirt, or arrange in a vase.
Soil
I save and dry my tea bags, and the single cup coffee bags, as well as the morning grounds from my Mr. Coffee. (We Mini-people really are the ultimate recyclers, aren't we?). When they are really dry, I throw them into an old blender I have just for this purpose, and whirl away until it is very fine. Looks just like real potting soil. Spread them out well to dry or they will get moldy. You can use your oven or micro wave to speed the process.
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