Crepe Paper Forsythia

With their almost aggressively cheerful yellow colour Forsythia represent the new life spring has to offer. Follow this tutorial to make some of them for a wonderful Easter decoration.

 

You will need:

  • Crepe paper in yellow and light green
  • tissue paper in yellow
  • florist tape in white and brown 
  • thin wire
  • glue (I used UHU; the one that drops less. Make sure you don’t take a water based glue as it may dissolve the colour of the crepe paper)
  • Twig (optional)

 

Tools I used: 

  • Scissors
  • wire cutter
  • zig Zag scissors (optional)

You will also need this pattern. If you want to go for the same size I did orientate the picture using the ruler on the side, but you can also size them up or down according to your preference.

As this flower is slightly trumpet shaped, you are only going to need one pattern piece. So cut a strip of crepe paper, fold it, and cut use your pattern to cut it out. Be careful of the direction of the paper, as in the next step you will use that to give the bloom more life and dimension. So cut it with the lines on the paper vertically to the pattern. 

Once cut out you will “cup them” which means making the most of the stretch the crepe paper can offer. Hold the petals on the outer edges and gently pull, stretching it into a curved shape. 

 Then apply glue to the marked part of the pattern and close the piece making sure that the petals curve outwards. 

To close the flower off, cut a 1-2cm wide strip of light green crepe paper and then cut it into small rectangles using your zig zag Scissors. If you don’t have them, fold the strip along tightly in width and cut the tip to a point. When you unfold the strip you should end up with a similar result.

To make the inner part of the flower called the stamen cut a small rectangle from your yellow tissue paper. Then twist it into a strand most of the way but leaving a little bit at the top. It will naturally twist into a curved shape.

Before you can assemble everything, you need to prepare the wire. Cut a piece as long as you need. Mine were about 5cm long since I only need to wrap them around the twig to secure them in place. Once you cut your wire, cut a piece of white floral tape, and fold the tip of it over and wrap it around until the upper part of the wire is covered. This will give you a base to glue all your parts onto.

So now it’s time for the fun part where it all comes together! Take your petals and press the sides of the continuous bottom together evenly. Take your covered wire and insert it into this scrunched up part. 

Glue your light green crepe paper directly to it, wrapping it tightly. 

Lastly apply glue to the bottom part of your stamen and press it into the middle of the bloom. 

For the next step you will need a dried twig. Position the flower and then wrap the wire around the twig to secure it. Then take a piece of brown floral tape and wrap it around both the wire and the bottom of your flower to both blend it in and hide the wire. You might need to cut the tape horizontally. Once you’re happy with the result, glue the end of the tape to your twig. If you add a bunch of blooms, work from the top down in order not to damage what you already made. Forsythia grow on opposite sides of a twig, so position them accordingly, if you want to go for a natural look. Lastly, shape the flower. This will be what makes it look lifelike. Gently tug on the petals to change their position and bend the wire to make it look less static.

It has to be said on this point that there is a very good likelihood, that the colour of the tape will show up against the colour of your twig. If this is something that bothers you, you can either wrap the whole twig in tape, adding flowers as you go or paint the twig in the end. 


You’re done, congratulations! You can now display your beautiful forsythia twig any way you like! You don’t have to stick to a natural look either; since these won’t need water (and rather shouldn’t be exposed to it) you have every creative freedom with placing them!

I would love to see what you come up with! If you share pictures of your creations, please tag @thetinkery so I can see what you made!