Crepe Paper Dahlia

Crepe Paper is an amazingly versatile art medium, and what better way to show this is with a showstoping flower, The Dahlia. I have tried quite a few methods of making these and frankly most overcomplicate it, so this is my attempt to make it as simple as possible without sacrificing any of the 'WOW' factor that this flower definitely has.

Dahlias come in thousands of shapes and colours, so it is very likely that if you have crepe paper, it will be in a colour that will work.

While a bit time consuming, you absolutely can't go wrong with this flower, I do provide the measurements I used, they are mostly a suggestion, I do not use patterns when making crepe paper flowers as I have found that custom making the petals results in less waste, faster work time, and a more realistic flower in general.

For the Flower and the flower bud.

• Wire: 16g,
• 3/4 inch ball for center, I used aluminum foil but a styrofoam ball will work as well.
• Crepe paper: all in all I used about a 15'' by 20'' piece (I used a mid weight of paper, if you want to go bigger i recommend using heavier paper)
• I used 4 shades of yellow getting lighter, use whatever colours you like, plain white ones are one of my favorites, you can also use pastels to add some colour if you like.
• Olive green for the Sepals.
• Brown floral tape, green will also work.

For the leaves:

• Wire: 24g
• Olive green crepe paper: 4'' by 8'' piece for one big leaf and two small ones (I used heavy paper for the leaves)

Tools:

• A good pair of scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Ruler (you can also just eyeball it)
• Wire cutters
• Drill (optional, I used it to harden my wire)

Take a 15'' piece of wire and stick it firmly inside the aluminum ball, I rolled mine an the tabe to make it a bit of a cylinder but this is not necessary.

(If you like you can first harden the wire a bit, i find it easier to work with and its simple enough, just make a loop on one end of the wire place it on a hook or nail to hold it steady place the other end of the wire in a drill chuck and twist it till the wire is straight and is a bit harder to bend.)

I started with my darkest colour, cut a 15'' by 3/4'' strip. making sure that the grain of the paper is going the right way, you want it to stretch from the sides not from the top

Fold in quarters and cut very thin stripes about 3/4 of the way down, (going with the grain)

Take apart and run your thumb nail gently along the stripes to make them curl just a bit.

For these you need 25-30; 2'' by 1/2'' rectangles

I like to cut of a 15'' wide strip of paper roll it up with the grain going vertically and cut it all at once.

Then I can take a strip, cut it in half, stack it, cut it into quarters. then You can cut 4 petals at once, leave then in the stacks of four, so you don't have to make them all individually.

Once you have all your stacks fold them gently in half. and cut a rounded point (see picture).

Now unfold the petals and using both your thumbs gently stretch out the middle section of the petals, you want to make a kayak shape.

Once you have all of your kayaks, you can roll the bottom part in between your fingers, I like the way this looks but its not necessary to be honest.

For these you will need 25-30; 3'' by 3/4'' rectangles.

Cut these using the same method that you used for the first petals, just making them bigger.

I like to give these a much more prominent point, stretch out the center of the petals as well.

Now take about 10 and roll them around a pencil making a loose cone, add a dot of glue to keep their shape.

For these you will need 25-30; 4.1/4'' by 1.1/2'' rectangles.

Cut the rectangles using the same method but when making the points i like to give them both a point then trim down the bottom width as well (see picture)

Pull out the center part as well, you can also pull a small section of the top of a few to give them some variety of shapes, but be very careful not to tear the paper.

Once you have all of your petals, you can begin glueing the flower together.

There are two ways of doing this, first you can go in circles evenly around the center, or you can go randomly placing them where you 'feel' like they go. i prefer the second method as i feel like the flowers look more natural, however the difference is negligible and the first way is easier. you can also do a combination of the two.

Apply a ring of glue around the lower half of the center ball, glue on the uncut part of the strip, stretching the bottom a bit as you go, this will make it "hug" the center, once you have 1-2 rounds glued, add a dot of glue in the middle and gently form the frilly things into a point.

Now finish glueing the rest of the strip around you can fluff them out a bit but i usually save that for the end.

Taking the first petal add a drop of glue to the bottom and glue it to the center being sure that it stands about 1/2 inch over the center. (I lost my picture of this with the rolled petals, so I have one with them flat)

Keep going around and around till you run out of petals. each layer should stand a bit over the tops of the one before (not to much just a gradual change)

Start with the rolled petals, glue them the same way as the first just being sure to let them stand over the first ones.

Once you have all the rolled ones on you can move one to the flat ones, I like to make sure there is a flat one between every rolled one once I have that I just add them around till I run out of petals each layer just a bit higher then the last.

Keep going with these, adding a layer of petals an inch above the middle ones then the next layer between the first. If you run out of petals, and you flower isn't big enough just cut a few more in a bit bigger and keep going till your flower is the size you want it to be.

Holding the flower in one hand use the other to pull the petals down working your way around the flower from the outside to the inside till it looks the way you want it too.

This step is only necessary is your going to be using the flower in an arrangements where you will see it from the side and back, most of the time it is unnecessary. but to finish the back you need about 8 3/4" strips with the grain vertical cut into a sharp point (I like to save the scraps to use as the sepals for buds)

Stretch out the bottom a bit and glue it around the back, being sure to overlap for the best coverage.

This is how I make a fully closed bud, i use the center colour but you can also use the same green as the leaves for more realism,

Making buds is simple, all you do is start making the flower and then stop, when your bud is big enough, just the center, the center and a few rolled petals... however you want.

For this one I went with the center but every round I carefully stuck down all of the wavy bits, (i cut them bigger then the ones for the big flower to make this easier).

Then using the scraps from the Sepals of the large flower, I just stretched out the base and ruffled it back together to give it more dimension securing it with a drop of glue..

Glue them down all around your bud, giving it a spiky crown

Now to add the finishing touch take a this strip (1/3'' wide) being sure that the grain of the paper runs vertically. just stretch out the bottom half a bit which will give you a spiral that you can use to hide all the glue and ugly bits.

For the large leaf I used a 4'' by 5'' rectangle, small leaves i used a 2" by 3" rectangle

Cut it in half diagonally.

Now you have two triangles, flip one so that it makes a kite shape with the grain of the paper pointing upward and outward (see picture)

Place the triangles on top of each other, and glue them together (on the longest side) now i added my wire but i recommend cutting them to shape first

Repeat for all your leaves, just pay close attention to making sure that the grain is going the right way.

Take your triangle sandwich and using a sharp pair of scissors round of the corner of the triangle and cut out tiny triangles up along the outside edge of your leaf, I do the same to the small leaves.

I added my wire before cutting and shaping, however i don't recommend this as it makes it more difficult to work with.

Add a thin line of glue down the long end of the leaf, press the 24g wire into the glue you want it to be firmly attached if your worried about seeing the wire on the back you can add a bit more glue then roll the edge over the wire, this can be a bit tricky with heavy paper so i wouldn't recommend it unless you are going to see all the sides of the leaves.

I hid the wire on the large leaf, but didn't bother for the smaller ones.

Open up the leaf sandwich, this is where you find out how well you glued them together there shouldn't be any gaps if you have gaps just add a bit more glue and you'll be good.

Take the large leaf and place both small leaves at the bottom, and wrap firmly up in floral tape.

Now you can bend and shape the leaf to any way you like it.

This step is optional, depending on what you want to do with your flowers, you may want to make more leaves and buds, but ill keep this simple with one of each.

First I add brown floral tape to each wire, then i stack the flower with the bud just looking over its shoulder, and wrap them up adding the leaf after a few rounds.

It helps to wrap the thinner wire around the thick wire to help keep it in place.

Play around with your arrangement bend all the wires, rotate the leaves, have fun! This is where the flower comes alive in the best way possible, making all the time you've spent worth it.

Enjoy your flower!