Paper Flowers

Page 66 in "Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church"

Catherine Fournier and Peter Fournier

Many Marian devotions are better with flowers! Certainly, a statue or icon of Mary on a prayer table or top shelf of the living room bookcase should have flowers with it. 

Fresh flowers are not always in season or accessible. Paper flowers are very easy and satisfying to make. A child can make paper flowers without difficulty, and with results good enough that he will feel proud of his accomplishment. 

This method produces the best-looking flowers, I think. 

• Tissue paper (6 sheets or more) 
• Pencil 
• Scissors 
• Green pipe cleaners (also known as chenille stems) 

1. 1. Cut at least six sheets of tissue paper into squares, and lay them on top of each other. The size of the squares will determine the final size of the flower. Squares between 4 and 6 inches are best.
   
   Fold the squares in half, then into quarters.
   
   Fold the resulting square in half diagonally, so that it forms a right triangle.
2. 2. Give this triangle a classic "ice-cream cone" shape by cutting a curved top on the triangle. Unfold and smooth the flower pieces.
3. 3. With the point of a pencil, carefully poke two small holes near the center of the flower layers.
4. 4. Fold a pipe cleaner in the middle. Thread the ends of the pipe cleaner through the two holes in the layers of tissue paper. Twist the free ends together to form the stem.
5. 5. Pull each sheet of tissue paper upward to form the petals of the "flower", crinkling and bunching them so that they stay upright. When you have pulled up all the sheets, fluff and even out the petals.

For very simple flowers, after cutting the tissue paper into squares, layer the squares to make an eight-pointed star. Then follow steps 3 through 5, above. 

• For unusual and colorful flowers, use different kinds of paper, such as wrapping paper, patterned tissue paper, magazine or newspaper pages, or waxed paper.
• Make the petals more elaborate by cutting them out with pinking shears or craft scissors with shaped blades. 
• Make sparkly flowers by brushing the edges of a completed flower with white glue, then dipping the flower into a bowl of glitter. 
• String several small flowers together as a garland. 

Lilies Easter lilies, Madonna lilies, and lilies of the valley.

The white color and sweet fragrance of lilies symbolize Mary's purity, humility, and loving obedience to God's will. Lilies also symbolize virginity; hence many saints (Saint Joseph, in particular) are commonly portrayed holding a lily. 

These are the classic paper flowers that everyone seems to know how to make (but perhaps they don't look quite as good as layered flowers). 

Multicolored tissue, or crepe paper 

Green pipe cleaners (also known as chenille stems) Scissors 

Take four or five sheets of the tissue or crepe paper, and layer them. (If you want multicolored flowers, use a variety of colors.) Cut the tissue paper into 8-inch squares. 

Keeping the sheets layered, fold them like an accordion into a thin rectangle. Each fold should be about 1/2-inch wide. 

At the center of the rectangle, cut a small V-shaped notch on both sides (see diagram). Take the end of a pipe cleaner, and twist it around the notch, so that the pipe cleaner is at a 90-degree angle to the folded side of the rectangle. 

Gently pull up one layer of tissue into the center. Pull up the remaining layers, one by one. Repeat for the other side of the flower. Once all the layers are pulled up, twist and fluff them in place to look natural. 

For sturdier long stems, twist two pipe cleaners together. For sturdier short stems, fold the pipe cleaner in half over the folded rectangle of tissue paper. .To change the size of the flowers, cut smaller or 1arger squares. .For fluffier or thinner flowers, vary the number of layers of tissue paper. Add more layers for thicker flowers, fewer layers for thinner ones. 

Paper roses are more difficult to make than the basic flowers, but they are beautiful when done. 

• Multicolored crepe paper 
• Green 'pipe cleaners (also known as chenille stems) Scissors 
• Glue 
• Tape 

1. 1. Form a small ball of tissue paper over the end of a pipe cleaner, wrapping the pipe cleaner around the bottom of the ball and taping or gluing it in place. 
2. 2. Cut out at least 10 petals in the shape shown. Stretch each slightly in the direction of the arrow. 
3. 3. Glue 6 or 7 petals together as shown below. 
4. 4. Place the pipe cleaner and ball on the bottom of these petals, and roll the petals up. You may have to scrunch and fold them slightly to give the rose a bud shape. Glue them in place. 
5. 5. You now have a rosebud. To leave it as is, cut 3 or 5 small green leaves (use the same pattern as for the petals), and glue them around the bottom of the bud. 
6. 6. To make a larger rose, add more petals. Overlap the petals. About one-third of each new petal should overlap the last petal. Glue the petals in place as you go. 

Finish the rose by wrapping its base with, a few leaves, the same size as those used for a rosebud. Add a few larger leaves to the stem, if you wish.