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Paper flowers, leaves, feathers ...

 

I had a few requests after posting this photo on Facebook, people asking if I could explain how I made these paper flowers. Your wish is my command, and here's the info.  It's all very simple and you don't need any advanced drawing skills.  So grab a stack of gell prints, a pair of scissors and off we go! 
The type of print that seems to work best is one where there's a fair amount of detail, rather than a block of solid plain colour.  Prints where you've maybe channelled your inner Elizabeth St. Hilaire and 'layered layered layered' as she's always urging us to do. 
POPPIES
If we start with simple poppy seed heads and stalks, they're cut freehand from paper that's mainly shades of orange and brown.  I glued those on to a sheet of white copier paper, then cut them out, leaving a narrow border around each.  Backing the gell print with the white paper adds that contrasting border, but also strengthens the piece, especially the thin stalks.  
I've added lines, using a black biro and also a white paint pen, to emphasize the seedhead's shape.  This is only ever going to be a stylized version, you're not aiming for realism.  
DOTTY FLOWERS
These flowers are made from three separate pieces.  Cut out a flower head, as large or small and with as many petals as you like.  You also need a smaller circle of the same print, also a stalk with a single leaf.  (Or two or three!  Personalise as you want.)  Glue all these on to a sheet of paper.  This can be plain white or coloured, or a book page with text on it.  When the glue's dried, cut out the shapes leaving a border around each piece.  The circle is glued on to the flower head, and the stalk's attached, hiding the top of the stem underneath the flower head so it looks neat 'n' tidy.  I added a few details with a white paint pen.  
ECHINACEA
The echinacea (cone flowers) are made in a similar kind of way.  With those I also added a different colour scrap of print for the flower's centre, and used a black pen (my trusty Bic biro!) to emphasize the petals and leaves.  I haven't got the petals on these exactly right yet as they're not delicate enough, but nevermind. 

FOUR or FIVE PETAL FLOWERS
With these, I cut individual petals from a gell print, glued them on to paper in a circlular shape, then outlined each petal with black pen and cut each flower out, leaving a narrow border. around each.  Easy-peasy-lemon-squeazy.  Because these are such simple flowers, they really do look better if your print's got interesting patterns and variations in colour.  

SOMETHING-LIKE-A-TULIP FLOWERS
Cut out a stem from a gell print.  Then a leaf shape or two, followed by a flower head that's vaguely tulip-like.  Glue the stem on to a sheet of paper.  Then add the leaf/leaves - which look better at an angle than horizontal to the stem.  Now attach the flower head.  Once the glue's dry, outline with a pen and add any details you want to suggest petal folds or leaf markings, and cut out your completed tulip.  Be careful when handling as the spindly stems are rather prone to snap or tear.  

FEATHERS
I've not even tried to use realistic colours for these, though that'd be a good challenge, wouldn't it?  Producing a suitable gell print to look like the colours of a starling's feathers or a magpie.  That's an idea I'll have to squirrel away for another day.  
I cut out a basic feather shape, then snipped at the edges to suggest their wispiness.  Details added with a white paint pen.  (Not a Posca pen, incidentally.  Instead I bought some pens from 'The Works'.  Two white paint pens and two black, for three quid.  If your budget doesn't run to buying the Posca version, they're a decent alternative.)  

FOLIAGE
An elongated oval is the easiest shape to cut, and is instantly readable as a leaf.  I cut out my leaves - keeping to odd numbers as they look best, either three on each side or five - and glued them on to white copier paper, having drawn a stem on it first.  The stem can be straight, or have a slight curve to it.  
Then I outlined each leaf with a black pen before cutting them out.  You can also glue your foliage on to a book page so a tiny bit of lettering is visible in the outline.  Or glue them on to black paper or brown kraft paper, both give interesting effects.  


Okay, here are some examples of where I've used these various flowers, leaves etc in collages, handmade books etc.  
Here's more.
Want a close-up?
And here's - 
Incidentally, if you begin making these flowers, etc, and find you get addicted and end up with heaps of them - easily done! - a perfect way to store them is in a photo album.  This works especially well for those flowers that have spindly stalks liable to tear.  
This otherwise unused album has a rather boring cover, which I re-did with a gell print and some washi tape.  The plastic pockets are ideal for all the little bits & bobs you've made.  You can probably come across an album if you're an avid charity shop rummager  
Everything's easy to see, and it's easy to keep track of what you've made. 

I hope some of my blog post's helpful, and feel free to ask questions or comment, I'd appreciate your response.  Finally, I'm thinking of what else I can make with gell prints, and am messing about with waves and fantastical sea creatures.  
Still a work-in-progress, but it's fun trying to figure out what'll look good.  Though I'm running out of suitable blue gell prints.  Might have to make some more!  Any excuse, eh?  





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