1 00:00:00,683 --> 00:00:03,206 - We'll start making our flower with the center first, 2 00:00:03,206 --> 00:00:05,252 create a whole bunch at one time, 3 00:00:05,252 --> 00:00:09,419 and then we can sit down and add the petals on afterwards. 4 00:00:09,523 --> 00:00:12,690 Again, working with a fine crepe paper 5 00:00:14,232 --> 00:00:18,399 we cut a strip about an inch and a half wide by a foot long. 6 00:00:24,601 --> 00:00:26,503 And you can just cut that with scissors. 7 00:00:26,503 --> 00:00:30,525 I find it's hard to use a rotary cutter on crepe paper. 8 00:00:30,525 --> 00:00:32,476 And then you can just fold it in half 9 00:00:32,476 --> 00:00:36,143 and fold it into kind of like a small piece, 10 00:00:37,539 --> 00:00:38,372 like that. 11 00:00:39,183 --> 00:00:43,350 And use your fringing shears to cut about one inch fringe. 12 00:00:50,902 --> 00:00:51,735 Like that. 13 00:00:51,735 --> 00:00:54,493 So you've kind of created a long piece of fringe. 14 00:00:54,493 --> 00:00:57,100 Now we're ready to assemble the center. 15 00:00:57,100 --> 00:00:59,600 Again, we use our safety q-tip 16 00:01:00,081 --> 00:01:02,581 that has the great hollow stem 17 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,997 and we just insert that on our floral wire. 18 00:01:06,997 --> 00:01:08,678 And then we're gonna use floral tape. 19 00:01:08,678 --> 00:01:12,678 And it's really important to get this skill down 20 00:01:13,011 --> 00:01:15,078 before you start to try to make any other 21 00:01:15,078 --> 00:01:16,227 paper flowers in the book. 22 00:01:16,227 --> 00:01:20,299 I recommend taping one piece of wire three or four times 23 00:01:20,299 --> 00:01:23,924 until it starts to feel comfortable and very fluent. 24 00:01:23,924 --> 00:01:28,091 If the floral tape isn't smooth and isn't put on properly 25 00:01:28,376 --> 00:01:31,603 your flower will either right away or ultimately 26 00:01:31,603 --> 00:01:33,186 totally fall apart. 27 00:01:33,257 --> 00:01:36,372 So this is kind of the most important technique 28 00:01:36,372 --> 00:01:37,822 that you really wanna work on 29 00:01:37,822 --> 00:01:39,814 before you start making any flowers. 30 00:01:39,814 --> 00:01:41,384 This tape is a little bit unusual 31 00:01:41,384 --> 00:01:44,379 'cause the stickiness is activated when you pull it. 32 00:01:44,379 --> 00:01:47,817 So you're basically have to kind of pull the tape 33 00:01:47,817 --> 00:01:50,171 at the same time that you're twisting it. 34 00:01:50,171 --> 00:01:51,863 And it's a very tactile tape. 35 00:01:51,863 --> 00:01:52,836 You can feel it. 36 00:01:52,836 --> 00:01:55,812 Part of the warmth in your fingers helps it become sticky. 37 00:01:55,812 --> 00:01:58,562 You wanna always be on a diagonal 38 00:01:58,675 --> 00:02:02,842 and so you're pulling and twisting at the same time. 39 00:02:03,754 --> 00:02:05,843 If I were to hold the tape at a very 40 00:02:05,843 --> 00:02:07,757 perpendicular to the wire 41 00:02:07,757 --> 00:02:09,264 it would be very thick. 42 00:02:09,264 --> 00:02:12,514 You can see how thick it starts to get. 43 00:02:14,536 --> 00:02:17,758 See how thick that is, this part in comparison to this. 44 00:02:17,758 --> 00:02:21,842 So you're always aiming for a really thin, clean layer 45 00:02:21,842 --> 00:02:24,592 using as little tape as possible. 46 00:02:24,860 --> 00:02:28,027 And again, so it's a twist and a pull. 47 00:02:28,448 --> 00:02:31,464 I've taught myself how to hold the tape in my hand, 48 00:02:31,464 --> 00:02:33,018 like this, which is great, 49 00:02:33,018 --> 00:02:34,458 so I don't have to keep putting the tape down 50 00:02:34,458 --> 00:02:35,291 and picking it up. 51 00:02:35,291 --> 00:02:38,692 But you can also just kinda work in small segments. 52 00:02:38,692 --> 00:02:41,033 And when you come to the end you just tear it. 53 00:02:41,033 --> 00:02:43,425 You don't need to use scissors to cut it or anything. 54 00:02:43,425 --> 00:02:45,650 It just, you can just tear it like that 55 00:02:45,650 --> 00:02:49,479 so you can start using by tearing little pieces like this, 56 00:02:49,479 --> 00:02:51,203 and they actually go quite a ways 57 00:02:51,203 --> 00:02:53,444 'cause by the time they stretched out 58 00:02:53,444 --> 00:02:54,952 they go quite a distance. 59 00:02:54,952 --> 00:02:58,086 So I recommend really practicing like this. 60 00:02:58,086 --> 00:03:01,711 You just kinda keep going, going, going like that. 61 00:03:01,711 --> 00:03:04,378 See how far that one piece went? 62 00:03:04,477 --> 00:03:05,998 And you really use your fingers 63 00:03:05,998 --> 00:03:09,499 to kinda press down the beginning, make sure it's secure, 64 00:03:09,499 --> 00:03:11,499 and then twist and pull, 65 00:03:12,472 --> 00:03:13,555 and twist and 66 00:03:15,522 --> 00:03:17,689 like I said just practice. 67 00:03:17,771 --> 00:03:21,860 It'll make everything so much easier as you proceed. 68 00:03:21,860 --> 00:03:23,846 Once you're more comfortable with the taping 69 00:03:23,846 --> 00:03:28,013 and you have wrapped about half the length of the stem 70 00:03:28,014 --> 00:03:32,181 I like to trim this flower using the wire cutters. 71 00:03:32,652 --> 00:03:35,113 The stem doesn't need to be that long. 72 00:03:35,113 --> 00:03:36,823 And then now to create the center 73 00:03:36,823 --> 00:03:40,490 I use two one and a half by one inch squares 74 00:03:41,292 --> 00:03:43,125 of black tissue paper. 75 00:03:43,509 --> 00:03:45,842 And you just take your q-tip 76 00:03:46,797 --> 00:03:49,395 and you cover it in the tissue paper. 77 00:03:49,395 --> 00:03:53,312 You wanna just get like a nice smooth covering. 78 00:03:53,729 --> 00:03:57,729 And then you use the floral tape to secure that. 79 00:04:02,781 --> 00:04:05,729 Okay, and then you pinch off your tape right below the base. 80 00:04:05,729 --> 00:04:08,073 You don't wanna keep taping down every time. 81 00:04:08,073 --> 00:04:10,140 Again, that'll get really bulky 82 00:04:10,140 --> 00:04:12,198 and you always wanna maintain this line. 83 00:04:12,198 --> 00:04:15,046 I'll often talk about this line here. 84 00:04:15,046 --> 00:04:17,256 When you add petals you wanna always try 85 00:04:17,256 --> 00:04:19,163 to maintain this tape line. 86 00:04:19,163 --> 00:04:20,841 If you start to slowly ink down 87 00:04:20,841 --> 00:04:24,171 you'll get kind of the strange elongated looking bloom. 88 00:04:24,171 --> 00:04:25,506 So that tape line is very important. 89 00:04:25,506 --> 00:04:28,037 I'm gonna refer to it a bunch of times. 90 00:04:28,037 --> 00:04:30,801 Then we take our fringed crepe paper, 91 00:04:30,801 --> 00:04:34,968 kind of gather it up into a nice grouping like that, 92 00:04:36,133 --> 00:04:38,050 and we're gonna just wrap it around. 93 00:04:38,050 --> 00:04:40,633 I like it to be slightly longer 94 00:04:41,468 --> 00:04:43,301 than the interior bud. 95 00:04:45,379 --> 00:04:48,212 So something like that looks nice. 96 00:04:48,511 --> 00:04:51,758 And then I secure that again with the floral tape, and I, 97 00:04:51,758 --> 00:04:54,996 I can't see that line but I'm trying to stick true to it 98 00:04:54,996 --> 00:04:57,052 so when I add the floral tape on, 99 00:04:57,052 --> 00:04:58,792 I keep it at that line 100 00:04:58,792 --> 00:05:02,199 and that tape until I can't see the crepe paper anymore 101 00:05:02,199 --> 00:05:04,384 and I've attached to the base. 102 00:05:04,384 --> 00:05:07,340 And then I tear the tape off and stop. 103 00:05:07,340 --> 00:05:09,775 Again, you don't wanna tape all the way down your stem. 104 00:05:09,775 --> 00:05:11,880 That will get really thick. 105 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:13,963 And there is your center. 106 00:05:14,910 --> 00:05:17,744 Go ahead and make all your centers at this time. 107 00:05:17,744 --> 00:05:19,411 I recommend 18 to 24 108 00:05:20,281 --> 00:05:21,982 depending on how small or large 109 00:05:21,982 --> 00:05:23,805 you'd like your bouquet to be. 110 00:05:23,805 --> 00:05:25,626 To be honest I have trouble 111 00:05:25,626 --> 00:05:27,818 making anything the same way twice, 112 00:05:27,818 --> 00:05:29,919 so feel free to add more blooms, 113 00:05:29,919 --> 00:05:33,002 make your bouquets larger or smaller, 114 00:05:33,641 --> 00:05:34,981 and just really customize it 115 00:05:34,981 --> 00:05:36,523 to whatever you'd like it to be.