Monday, August 31, 2015

Wire and Floss Flowers - How To


While perusing Pinterest, I came across an ancient flower making technique called Ganutell.  This is a craft that originated in Malta, many, many years ago.  The handcrafted flowers are very beautiful - a detailed and elaborate form of artwork.  I discovered a simpler way, for me, of making these beauties and one, I'd like to share with you. 

Gather the follow materials:
Floral Wire - 26 gauge
Stem Wire
DMC Embroidery Floss
Wood Skewer
Wire Cutter
Scissors

  • Begin by wrapping wire around a wood skewer stick, reaching a length of about two inches or more depending on the size of petal you want to make.  Cut wire, press coils together and gently slide the wire off stick.

  • Cut a piece of heavier stem wire about 5 inches long .   .  .

  • And insert into coiled wire.   Fold in half, stretching coils and shaping spiral wire into a petal.  Try to stretch coils evenly and uniformly. Press ends together and twist to close, wrapping the thinner wire around to secure. 
  • Take floss thread end and wrap around base of coiled wire petal, tie in knot to secure. 
  • Begin to wrap floss across coils (parallel) maintaining snugness (not too loose or too tight) as you wrap. 

  • Continue wrapping the floss between the coils until reaching the top end.
  • Push floss thread through top middle coil and .  .  .
  • Pull floss thread down the center of petal to base, wrap around, knot and cut off excess floss.

  • Shape petal by bending near base. Repeat steps for five more petals.


To form the flower
Because I planned on attaching the flower to a tin box, I scrunched  aluminum foil into a ball, pressing it flat half way, as a center to attach the petals using hot glue (temporary) and E6000 for a permanent seal.



I decoupaged paper napkins onto a tin can, top and bottom and  .  .  .


attached the wire and floss flower using E6000 glue.




Imagine the possibilities using different colors of floss and wire shapes. 

I'm loving this ancient flower technique and hope you do, too!


Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Crafting!








35 comments:

  1. Your flower is truly stunning, my friend! I love the look and if I find some extra time I think I may try my hand at making one. Happy Monday! Hugs!

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  2. You have such unique flowers! Great project. Have a great week :)

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  3. Wow Gail, impressive! You can make anything. Such an interesting art and so pretty.

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  4. Hi Gail, I love the pretty flower you made and how nice it looks on the box.
    I would love to have you share this at the party I co-host on Monday's at Julie's Lifestyle and the party is called Cooking and Crafting with J & J.
    Thanks.
    Julie

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  5. Your box is lovely. What an interesting flower making technique.

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  6. So very creative, like something totally professional!

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  7. This is so creative and yes I can imagine the possibilities. I love your entire project!
    Linda
    Mysewwhatblog

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  8. That flower is so pretty and very interesting!!

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  9. That is amazing Gail! Your flower turned out so great. Love it!

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  10. Oh my gosh...this is super cute!

    Thanks for joining Cooing and Crafting with J & J!

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  11. I wish I could climb into that brain of yours!! This is awesome Gail!

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  12. First I love the paper you used on the box. Second, somewhere in my Horror Monster craft stash there are several old flowers like this, but with covered wire instead of the floss. You are so talented!

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  13. Visiting from the featured of the Friendship blog

    This is so beautiful and lovely!
    How creative you are!

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  14. I commented earlier after seeing your post at another linky party but I just wanted to congratulate you on being "friend of the week" on Friendship Friday!
    LInda
    mysewwhatblog

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  15. Love this. You are so creative. I'd love to invite you back to The Fabulous Fall party. Come over and link.

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  16. How pretty! Thank you for sharing how to make these beautiful flowers.

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  17. Very pretty. Love them! Thanks for sharing your talent

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  18. Hi Gail, I just wanted to let you know that I featured you at Monday's Cooking and Crafting with J & J for your pretty flower how to.
    Thanks so much for sharing with us and we hope to see you again!
    Julie @ Julie's Lifestyle

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  19. This is such a neat idea! Beautiful finished flower that could be used for so many different things such as decorating gift boxes, as ornaments, jewelry on a smaller scale, etc. Pinned, and sharing. Would love if you shared this yarny related craft at our Yarn Fanatic Party - http://eyeloveknots.blogspot.com/2015/09/yarn-fanatic-party-49.html.
    Alexandra of EyeLoveKnots.blogspot.com

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  20. Gail, this is lovely and so creative. You always have such great ideas! Thanks so much for partying with us at Snickerdoodle Sunday. Pinned and Tweeted.

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  21. What a lovely project- I never would have thought of this! So glad you linked up at Snickerdoodle Sunday and hope to see your latest & greatest this weekend!

    Sarah (Sadie Seasongoods)

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  22. These are genius! Thank for the great tutorial.

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  23. What a joy it was to find this. Thank you for teaching us

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  24. I am so glad you were able to stop by our Yarn Party! I have featured this DIY as one of my EyeLoveKnots Yarn Favorites, and featured in this week's party as well as pinned to our Yarn Fanatic Party pin board.
    Alexandra
    EyeLoveKnots.blogspot.com
    YFP#52: https://www.pinterest.com/ardnaxelarichar/yarn-fanatic-linky-party/
    YFP Pin Board: http://eyeloveknots.blogspot.com/2015/09/yarn-fanatic-linky-party-52.html

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  25. Very nice guess you could use any kind of bendable wire to coil with as well! Will try this idea with differing shapes for petals thank you!

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  26. Just wondering what you would choose to do for attaching them together for 3D wall decor and have the center not look rough and tangled?

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  27. Other places just quoted me $300 and up to create exact replicas of the centerpieces from a wedding. The Flower Delivery New York creativity led to an amazing arrangement that my wife is still talking about. The price was very reasonable as well.

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  28. I truly love this flower making technique. You made a thing of beauty. I think for my center I may try making a center out of fabric covered with candlewicking knots of embroidery thread and fill it with polyester stuffing, similar to a fabric yoyo. Then attach the petals just under the back edge. Thank you for posting!

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  29.  Share great information about your blog , Blog really helpful for us .

    the friendship blog

    ReplyDelete
  30. It is really a helpful blog to find some different source to add my knowledge.

    my better half

    ReplyDelete

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