Watercolor lilies

This was a project that I actually completed a while back.  And since we obviously don't care about seasonality over here at Paper Pendulum, I thought I'd go ahead and post it! When searching the internet for inspiration for more coffee filter experiments, I came across some beautiful pictures of oriental lilies. However, the coloring of these flowers was a little too detailed for the coffee filter medium.  Watercolor paper, on the other hand, worked rather well.

The materials are pretty basic: watercolor paper, watercolor paints, floral wire, floral tape, and thick green paper. I found I was able to make two flowers out of a single sheet a paper, making up for the added cost of the paper.  

First, cut out the rudimetary petals of the lily.  They should be about 3.5 inches long and 1.5 inches at their widest.  One end should come to a narrow point and the other should be rounded. You will need 6 petals for each flower. If you draw a template on plain cardstock and then the petals onto the back of the watercolor paper, you can cut down on wasted paper (1).  Next, comes the actual painting.  Remember to paint on the correct side of the watercolor paper!  You can of course tailor the coloring of flower to your own tastes. I first painted a wide swatch of pink/red in the middle (2). Next, using a finer paint brush, I colored the center a darker pink.  At the pointed end (the one that will be the center of the flower) I painted a triangle of yellow (3).   After letting the petal dry, I made a series of pink dots; more concentrated at the center, the distance between the dots slightly increased as I worked my way up the petal (4).

Next, using the scrap water color paper, I cut out 5-6 thin 1.5-2 inch strips.  These were colored yellow on both sides and allowed to dry (5).   After being arranged in a bundle the strips were attached to the floral wire with floral tape.  A thin dowel was then used to curl the ends of the strips (6).  The petals were then attached around the center of the flower.  Three petals should be attached first in a group.  The last three should be arranged in the gaps between the first three petals and then fastened down with floral tape (7).  Using the dowel, I carefully curled the petals downward (8).

After you're done, the flower should resemble the one in step 9.  Finally, cut out long, thin leaves from the green cardstock.  Bend them slightly in the middle (10).  Attach two to the stem of the flower and cover the rest of the wire in floral tape (11).  Bend the head of the flower slightly downward, and you're finished!