Foam flowers for multi-use: DIY

We all get drawn to things floral. Flowers in vases, in paintings, on clothes, in the gardens, jungles...probably it's the innate pleasant memory emanated by flowers, that fascinates artists and perfume makers alike.

My friend Umme Haani, who sprung a surprise with this bunch of beautiful foam flowers, was gracious enough to share details of her project. This is not a full fledged piece where you make a décor piece or art end to end. It is a set of flowers made with glitter foam and embellished with sequins, that you make and keep aside for future use in either craft projects, decorating the walls or doors, or stick to barrette clips and decorate your little one's hair.

Haani lists out the materials needed for this little project made using multi-surface glue.

What you need:

-- Scissors

-- Glitter foam sheet

-- Fevi kwik

-- Beads

-- Newspaper

-- Iron (to get the embossed look in flower) 

She explains the steps in detail:

Firstly, draw five tear-drop shaped petals on a paper and cut them. Then trace the petals on to a foam sheet on the plain side or surface, and cut them out. You get five foam drop shaped petals.

At the narrow end of the petal, bend the corner in such a way that the rest of the petal bulges a little. Place a foam petal in between two sheets of a newspaper. Now, heat the electric iron to its maximum and place it on the newspaper carrying foam petal for three seconds. The petal will curve, resulting in a blooming shape. Repeat this for the four other petals.

You can now shape the petal as seen above. Turn the petal to its plain side and apply super-glue on the side of the petal. The glue should be used on its narrow end, to resemble a flower's center. Stick the narrow end to another flower petal's curved narrow end, and repeat the same for all the petals.

Lastly, apply Multi-Surface glue or super-glue, and place a bead at the center of the flower to embellish. Your foam flower is ready. Make a whole bunch of these flowers.

These flowers can be used as wall decoration or kept in a vase or can be stuck to children's hair clips and hair bands. You can make them in different sizes, and use them to simply throw on a party centre-table.

This is a safe project to do with children. Here, Umme Haani has placed the flowers over a plastic plate, adding zing to the look. Does it not look attractive for a party table?


Pictures courtesy: Umme Haani

Content: Umme Haani and Radhika MB