I made a bunch of pretty sunflowers to decorate a wonderful dinner this weekend. They are easy, inexpensive and a little time consuming…but worth the effort! Here’s how!
Supplies:
Corn husks (produce department)
Yellow Dye
Dessert sized paper plates
brown spray paint
coffee beans
brown decorative shredded paper
hot glue gun or glue (Matte Mod Podge)
floral wire
green paint paper or craft paper
1. Dye the corn husks in hot water…I did it in the sink. Wear gloves, be sure to separate the husks and stir them around to make sure they get an even coverage. I then weighted down the corn husks with a cookie sheet and a heavy jar of mayonnaise to keep the husks submerged for a deeper color. Let sit for an hour, then drain, rinse in cold water, and lay out on towel to blot off. I then folded the husks in half lengthwise, then in half again and trim out to a petal shape. Stack the petals on top of each other to dry.
2. While the husks are soaking, spray paint the back side of the paper plates brown. Let dry, then cut off the lip of the plate so that only the flat center is remaining. Apply Modge Podge or hot glue (I used this) in the center of the brown side of the plate leaving a 1 1/2” edge. Quickly pour coffee beans on glue and fill in the gaps/flatten till smooth.
3. Apply more glue and carefully press on shredded paper on the edges.
4. Gently shake off the extra paper and trim longer pieces
5. Start gluing the petals on the back of the plate (shorter petals on the first row, longer petals on the second row.)
6. Be sure to start the second, longer row of petals in between petals of the first row to fill in the spaces.
7. With your fingers, hand curl some of the petals to give it dimension and a more natural look.
9. Try a different dye color…red worked well for the decorating event!
10. Once the flower is dry and shaped, flip it over. Take a heavy piece of floral wire cut twice the length of how long you want the stem to be. Bend it in half and twist the “u” end into a loop/circle, wrapping it around 3 or 4 times for strength. Hot glue the loop end to the back of the flower and hold it down until set. To form a stem, take desired length of green painter’s paper and wrinkle up, then twist to form into a long shaft. Hot glue the shaft to the loop base and gently wrap around the stem. You can use floral tape/Frog Tape or hot glue to bind this together. You can create a calyx (the part that connects the flower to the stem) with green painter’s paper petals glued on one at a time on the back of the flower to the stem. Cut out leaves and hot glue to stem.
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