Paper flowers are a great decoration for any event or simply for your home.
You can put them in a flower pot, stick them to the wall or hang them from the ceiling, and you can find different ways to make them that are easier or more difficult, but they always give you great results!
Here you have the step by step how to make paper flowers for 3 different paper flowers DIY projects.
How to make paper flowers
You will see there are many different tutorials to make paper flowers for multiple purposes and using a variety of materials.
For the three types of flower you are going to make here, you will need:
- Crepe paper
- Origami paper (replaceable with regular printer paper)
- Glue
- Pipe cleaning sticks (green)
- Scissors
- A piece of sewing thread
Step by step how to make paper flowers with crepe paper
This is the easiest way to make paper flowers you will find in this article. This technique will provide you flowers that look like real carnation flowers.
- You will need to use two colors of crepe paper: one for the flower itself and another one for the leaves. Cut the paper into irregular strips. For this kind of work, the more irregular, the better!
You don’t need to be neat for this project, so it’s perfect for those who get frustrated with too intricate designs. - Make some horizontal cuts on one of the borders to make the flower fluffier. Repeat the process with the green paper, but cutting thinner strips.
- Grab the pipe cleaner, as it will be the stem for the flower.
- Twist the tip tightly to make a little ball at the top, and start wrapping the colored paper around it tightly.
If you do it tightly enough, it should stay in place on its own, but in case it doesn’t, apply some glue every few rounds to secure it.
Keep on adding layers as you see it’s necessary. You can even use several colors to give the flower an ombré effect. - After you have created the flower itself, wrap the green paper underneath to create the sepal.
You can create a bunch of flowers to create a bouquet and put it in a flower pot. We can ensure that they can even be realistic enough to make your guests think that they are real!
How to make paper flowers with origami techniques
The following two models are based on origami techniques. Both of them are made of so-called “modules”. That means that they are made out of several pieces instead of only one.
They are not hard to make, but they do require being careful and patient.
Step by step how to make paper flowers in the shape of a Lotus
The first option to make is a Lotus flower. You can use origami paper, which is a thin but resistant paper that can be one or double-sided.
For this particular project, a one-sided paper will work well. If you cannot get origami paper, you can use regular printer paper, which you can print designs on or paint it yourself.
- Again, you will need two colors for the petals and the stem. Cut strips which are about 5 cm long, and 4 cm wide. Fold the paper in half along the length of the paper, and fold all the four corners inwards.
- After that, fold the borders inwards again. Make 6 strips with the green paper, and at least 12 with the other color.
Just like with the other model you read above, you can also use a few colors to get an ombré effect. You can also use even more strips to make your flower fuller.
- Each strip will have a triangular shape in the ends. Make 6 piles of strips, putting 2 colored strips on top of each green strip.
- Align the six piles and tie them together in the middle with the piece of thread. Pull the strips out, creating a circle.
Once you have created this shape, pull up the first colored strip inside out on each pile. They should all end up pointing upwards!
- When you have finished pulling all the strips on the first layer, move on to the second layer, and after that, the third one. All the strips will be pointing upwards and create the shape of the lotus.
Here is a video on How To Make an Origami Lotus Flower:
Step how to make paper flowers to create a Kusudama bouquet
This type of flower is not hard to make at all, as you will only work on small pieces that will make up each of the petals.
With lots of these pieces, you will ultimately create a Kusudama bouquet. But what is a Kusudama? It’s a ball-shaped ornament made of several flowers that are sticked together. It is made like a matryoshka doll.
- You will make 5 petals to create a flower, and you will use 12 flowers to assemble the Kusudama.
- For each petal, you will need a little paper square. For these pieces, you don’t need to have double-sided paper, as only one side will be visible.
The exact size will depend on how big you want your Kusudama to be, but 4 cm will be good. - Fold the piece diagonally and bring the corners of the triangle inwards.
- Unfold both flaps, slightly open the triangle and make the new creases, on the top and bottom layer, match, creating two small, long rhomboids with a crease in the middle on each side of the big rhomboidal shape.
- Fold in the little tips of these triangles to align them with the big rhomboid’s side.
- Fold the crease on each of the small rhomboids to get the main rhomboidal shape only.
- Curve the paper to bring both sides together without creating a crease in between, and stick both sides together. The little resulting cone will be the petal of your flower.
- Stick five of these petals together to make an individual flower.
- At this point, you can choose to keep this single flower and place it at the end of a pipe cleaner, or you can create 11 more flowers and stick them together to create a Kusudama!
We hope you really enjoyed this tutorial about a step by step how to make paper flowers and that you are really happy with the results for whichever you chose. Happy folding! 🙂
You can also see this article about ‘5 steps for how to make a dreamcatcher (sustainable way)’ by clicking here.