Blooming lovely- Pics from our Paper Flower Fascinator Workshop (+ Tutorials galore)
Last night in Hamilton's Comfort Inn Grange Burn, 8 lovely ladies gathered to learn how to make pretty flowers from paper, and make them into their very own races-ready fascinator.
We munched through platters of hot and cold finger food including arancini balls, thai spring rolls, pork belly pieces, bruschettas and mini pies and dim sims. It was all so delicious but we just couldn't get through it all- even in the 3 hours we took to leisurely chat and craft!
A few refreshing wines and ciders kept us hydrated (ahem) as we learnt the following three main techniques for building paper flowers. They all started with cutting lots of petals in different sizes, which we curved by rolling them around a spare glue stick and sometimes lightly folded in half to give them some shape.
1) Inside - out: For this method you start by rolling a centre for your flower, and surround it with small petals, gluing larger petals to the outside until you're happy with it's size. This produces a lengthened, trumpet-y type of flower :)
2) Outside - In: As the name suggests, this method starts with attaching the largest outer petals to a small base, and you glue in smaller petals as you get closer to the centre. The images below show one technique using flat petals for a more spread out flower, and one using tabs cut into the bottom of each petal to make it stand up more.
3) We also leant a super easy flower-making hack using a kebab skewer. All you do is cut some simple flower shapes, poke the skewer through the centre of each one and sort of squish it
towards the pointy end of the stick before adding your next flower shape. Slide it off and you've a very easy, cute little bloom which is a great filler between your bigger flowers if you're making a cluster.
Two other techniques we skimmed over in favour of the prettier flowers are below- rolling paper to make a tight rose and using spikey leaves and a spikey centre for a pointy flower (excuse my glue-covered finger tips- that comes with the territory of being a crafty lady).
Next, we thought about turning our creations into fascinators. Most people stuck theirs to a hair comb and added some lace netting to form a veil, which are pretty on-trend for the 2015 racing season by the way.
We found different ways to wear them too- on a side angle, at the back of the head or tucked into a bun like this fabulous creation:
The option was there to use elastic to make a headband instead, or to wire each flower together to make a flower crown too- so many options! I'd also brought along my growing collection of vintage and modern lace, so a couple of people added lengths or sections of coloured lace which was a nice twist!
We had SUCH a great night at the Grange Burn- which really is a great venue whether you're staying over, eating some tasty food or doing something a bit random like this :)
Here's your free printable tutorial, enjoy! --->
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You may also be interested to know that we're running a special Christmas Crafternoon next!
Keep Saturday Dec 5th free for an EPIC Crafternoon, which will involve a bus full of happy crafters en route to a beautiful vineyard, delicious cheese and meat platters, local wines and learning to craft something beautiful that you'll cherish every Christmas! Lots of my favourite things rolled into one, with a big festive Crafternoons bow on it- watch this space for more info soon! :D