Coffee Filter Hydrangeas

Since the most popular posts seem to be those concerning coffee filter flowers, I thought I'd try to experiment with a few more types of flowers.  I've always liked hydrangeas; every time I enter Whole Foods and see the blue-green potted plants featured in the flower display, I have to sternly remind myself that anything dependent on me for food and water would die within a week. Paper hydrangeas, on the other hand, are much easier to take care of!

Materials need for this project include: coffee filters, thin silver wire, Styrofoam balls, watercolor paints, floral tape, green paper, and thick floral wire.

To begin, you need to cut out a large number of four-petaled flowers. They should be about 1.5 inches in diameter (1).  Next cut 1 inch pieces of wire and bend them into a narrow "U" shape (2). Insert the wire through the center of the flower (3). Small pins would work just as well if you want to skip step 2.  Attach the flowers to the Styrofoam ball in an overlapping pattern (4).  Make sure the ball is completely covered.  If you want to cover the ball first in coffee filter paper, you can avoid any unseemly white patches in your finished project. 

Paint the flowers in a mixture of blue, green, and purple hues (5 and 6). After the ball dries you will need to "fluff" the matted down petals. Finally, cut out a broad leaf from green paper and attach it to floral wire with floral tape.  Insert the wire into the base of the ball and you're done! I used rather small Styrofoam balls in my project because that's what I had on hand. After grouping three of the flowers together and pinning the sides together with wire, I think it came out rather cute.  A larger Styrofoam ball might work better and appear more realistic.

Let me know how your flowers turn out!