DIY Projects: Delicate Roses & Hand-Painted Gift Wrap
Creating your own paper accessories is quite easy, and I often make these elements for special occasions and shoots. Not only do they make gift-giving and shoot settings totally unique, it’s also rather relaxing spending a few hours on such creative projects.
Making Paper Roses
What you’ll need:
Thick paper of your choice
Scissors
Watercolour paints and brush
Skewer or pipe cleaner
Faux stamen or crystal beads
Hot glue gun
When making paper roses, any thick paper will work, though often i’ll use the pages of old books of my father’s.
Once I’ve selected my paper, I cut a series of petals ranging from small to large. Then, I use watercolours to gently paint each petal. If you study a real rose, the inside petals are often darker, and the soft outside petals are paler. This is how I paint the paper petals.
To assemble the rose, I use a skewer as the base on which to stick the petals (you can also use a pipe cleaner). At one end of the skewer, I attach the ‘stamen’ which is often either a faux stamen from a cake supply store, or sometimes crystal beads. I then gently begin adding the smallest petals to the skewer, right underneath the stamen using the hot glue gun.
Individual petals are slightly curved as they open, and I curve my paper petals by rolling them on a pencil. I continue to glue the petals by wrapping them around in a circular fashion, moving from smallest to largest until my rose has the right shape and depth.
Hand-Painted Gift Wrap
What you’ll need:
Large sheets of paper (craft or white) that are cut to your desired size
Paint - watercolour or acrylic (I use Martha Stewart, Resene, or general craft shop acrylic)
Large paintbrushes
Isn’t hand-painted gift wrap simply gorgeous? It has become one of my favourite elements to include in a shoot. While you might not want to paint all your gift wrap next Christmas, it’s nice to make special gift wrap for a loved one’s birthday or other occasion.
Start by covering your craft station with newspaper, or something else that is disposable, then place one of your sheets of paper on top of it. Now that it’s time to use your paint, what’s your goal for the paper? What colour palette are you choosing? Have a think about these questions, and choose your paints accordingly.
Acrylic paint comes out quite bold - you can see it used below in Gold + Silver and Purple + Silver combinations. Watercolour is quite soft and dreamy - you can see it below in Pink. Just a tip when using watercolour - it needs a watercolour brush which you can find at the paint store. Bigger is better so you can make beautiful thick streaks of colour. Also, watercolour needs thick paper to absorb the water.
I often use stripes or cross patterns in my paper, but you can create any designs you wish. If you’re creating similar patterns to mine below, don’t worry about the stripes being perfect. Let your brush run out of paint, as a little imperfection creates uniqueness.
Have fun xx
