Author and ribbon artist Helen Gibb presents directions for creating flowers - specifically, delphiniums and gardenias - that are so realistic they appear to have just been unearthed from the garden.
DelphiniumsMaterials:
2 yards of Artemis bias-cut silk ribbon, 1-1/2" wide (Wisteria or Lobelia)
60 black or white double-headed stamens
beading thread, size 33, white
tacky glue or hot glue
18" piece of 20-gauge, thread-covered wire
green floral tape
scissors
tape measure
Steps:
- Cut 40 pieces of ribbon 1-1/2 inches long (figure A). You may have some ribbon left over.
- A stem of delphinium has 20 florets. Each floret has two pieces of ribbon, 1-1/2 " wide x 1-1/2" long. Each floret has three double-headed stamens.
- Place two pieces of ribbon one of top of the other. Rotate the top piece a quarter turn so all the corners of both pieces of ribbon can be seen.
- Make a tiny slit in the center of the ribbons.
- Take three double-headed stamens and fold them in half. Wrap and tie them together with thread 3/8 inch down from the heads. Insert stamen bunch into the slit in ribbons so the thread sits just under the slit (figure B).
- Place a dot of glue at the junction of the stamen stems and the ribbon squares and pinch all together so the ribbon cups up around the stamens.
- Wrap the exposed stamen stems in floral tape.
- Repeat for each floret until you have 20.
- Assemble the flower starting with one floret at the top of the 20-gauge wire. Secure with floral tape. Continue adding florets, with floral tape, every 1/2 inch around and down the stem. The florets will cover about eight inches of stem.
- Trim stem as needed.
Tips
- Blending two ribbon colors gives greater visual appeal to the flower.
- For a dark blue flower use one yard each of Electric Dancer and Lobelia.
- For a medium blue flower use one yard each of Blue Jeans and Lobelia.
- For a light blue flower use two yards of Wisteria.
GardeniasMaterials:
27-1/2" of 1-1/2"-wide off-white French wired ribbon
15" of one-inch wide dark green French wired ribbon
beading thread, size 33, white
one package of 22-gauge, thread-covered wire
floral tape
milliners needle, size 9
scissors
tape measure
Steps:
- From the off-white ribbon, cut five pieces 2-1/2 inches long and five more pieces that are three inches long. From the green ribbon, cut three pieces that are five inches long.
- Make the five dipped corner petals with the 2-1/2-inch pieces of off-white ribbon. Fold each piece in half width-wise. Turn in each corner and secure with a hidden stitch along the side edges. Pleat or gather across the bottom. The petal should now cup (figure C).
- Make the five rolled corner petals with the three-inch pieces of ribbon. Fold each piece in half width-wise. Roll over each corner and secure with a few hidden stitches. Pleat or gather across the bottom. The petal will now cup.
- Overlap the five dipped corner petals and stitch together in a row. Roll up tightly and secure stump with several stitches.
- Working in a clockwise direction, overlap and stitch the rolled corner petals around the dipped corner petals.
- With a dot of glue on the tip of the 22-gauge wire, insert into the base of the flower. Cover raw edges with green floral tape or bias cut silk ribbon.
- Make three leaves with five-inch pieces of green ribbon. Fold the ribbon in half lengthwise. Remove the bottom wire from the ribbon. Fold up the bottom corners and then stitch around the "boat shape." Pull gathering until the stitched ribbon straightens. Secure gathering. Open ribbon into a leaf.
- Glue or stitch a piece of thread-covered wire to the back of the leaves. With floral tape, join leaf stems to the Gardenia stem.
Tip - Style petals so the inner ones are very tight and the outer ones are wide open with a slight twist to them.
Resources hand dyed silk ribbon - Hanah
Artemis Exquisite Embellishments
Website:
www.artemisinc.com
The Secrets of Fashioning Ribbon Flowers: Heirlooms for the Next Generation
by Helen Gibb
Krause Publications, 1998
Order this title from Amazon.com.
Helen Gibb Design Inc.
Website:
www.helengibb.com
Guests Helen Gibb
Author and Ribbon Artist
Helen Gibb Design Inc
For autographed copies of Helen's books, order directly from her web site
Website:
www.helengibb.com Also in this Episode
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