Lia and the Giant Tulip

Every month FloraCraft sends us a box of foam items and theme, and the rest is up to us to make a uniquely creative project. This month’s theme was Learning, and to be honest we were a bit stumped for a while. We knew that many makers would be creating science fair related projects – cells, planets, moons and everything in between. As fun as this would be, it didn’t quite feel like us. So we thought, how can we tie paper flowers into this sort of a theme? Hello giant tulips! We took this opportunity to make a giant paper tulip bulb to show the full anatomy of the bloom and how it grows in the ground. And once you are finished, it can also be a lovely art piece to display as home decor! 

Tools

• Scissors
• Low Temperature Hot Glue Gun
• Paintbrushes
• Wire Cutters

Materials

• Crepe Paper [Floristic: Peppermint, Pine, Snowflake]
• Tissue Paper (grey, brown, kraft)
• Floracraft® Make It:Fun® 8″ Foam Ball
• Mod Podge Glue
• 3/4 inch Foam Ball
• 2 Cardboard Circles
• 18 Gauge Floral Wire
• Art Markers (dark red, green)
• White PanPastel
• Wooden Dowel (1/4″ diameter, 38″ long)
• Green Craft Paint
• Gold Leaf Pen
• Large Glass Cylinder Vase (16″ x 10″)

Steps

1. Gather the tools and materials listed above.
2. Carve and form the 8″ foam ball to create a bulb shape.
3. Tear the brown and grey tissue paper into long strips. Apply them to the foam ball with Mod Podge until the bulb is covered.
4. Stick the dowel through the center of the bulb, with about 6.5 inches of the dowel coming out of the bottom. Cut strips of white crepe paper and kraft tissue paper and glue to the dowel at the base of the bulb. These will be the giant tulip’s roots. 
5. Cut 2 circles of cardboard, one 10″ in diameter, and one slightly less than 10″ to fit inside your vase. Cover the cardboard with brown and grey tissue paper using Mod Podge. Cut a small hold in the centers of the cardboard pieces to eventually slide the dowel through. 
6. Place the bottom piece of cardboard into the vase and rest the dowel in the center hole. Add the top piece of cardboard. 
7. Print the PDF template and cut the crepe pieces according to the pattern. Glue and twist the white stamen pieces onto floral wires. Trim the floral wires, leaving a half-inch of wire below the white crepe. Use gold leaf pen to color in the tops of the stamens. 
8. Paint the dowel green. Let dry and glue 3/4″ foam ball to the top of the dowel. Cover it with a circle of Pine colored crepe. Glue the white stamen pieces around the dowel, spacing evenly. 
9. Color red marker to the tops and bottoms of the petals. Use a paintbrush to add some white PanPastel to the centers.
10. Fold the petals in half, slightly off center. Fold the wider side again to create a seam in the petal. Add a tiny amount of glue to the top to secure, the slide a floral wire into the fold and glue. 
11. Glue 3 petals evenly spaced around the dowel. Make sure you are gluing the base of the paper to the dowel rather than the floral wire. Glue the next 3 petals around the dowel.
12. Cut a 1″ wide strip of Pine crepe and wrap it around the base of the flower to cover the floral wires. Glue to secure. 
13. Gently stretch the centers of the green leaves. Glue them to the base of the stem, where the dowel meets the cardboard circle. 

Tips 

This is the perfect example of a project where you will need to use the heavy floristic crepe – anything lighter weight would not be able to hold the shape of the oversized petals. To add dimension to the petals, we made the top edges of the petals slightly darker red, and the centers of the petals slightly lighter. We specifically used Copic marker in Light Mahogany for the tips of the petals. We also used the color Green Grass to add some shading to the leaves.

If you need some visual guidance to folding the petals (Step 10), refer to our regular crepe tulips tutorial. Once you are finished assembling this giant paper tulip, we love the idea of using it as party decor or nursery decor. If you are going for whimsical, Alice in Wonderland kind of theme, a pair of giant tulips would look gorgeous with a set of tissue and foam mushrooms.

Get Inspired!

Is this giant paper tulip inspiring you to make more crepe flowers? See all the projects that we’ve made with our heavy floristic paper here! Head to our membership page to start downloading, or follow us in Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for daily inspiration in your newsfeed. We would absolutely love to see your giant tulip project, so please share photos with us if you are crafting up this design! Tag your photos using #DIYDreamingWithLia and we might just have to feature them on our social channels. Have fun! ~ Lia & Team 

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