Corn Husk Flower Napkin Rings & Place Cards

Materials:

corn husks
scissors
glue gun w/glue sticks
flower centers (seed beads, buttons, flower seeds, Indian corn kernels, etc.)
decorative-edge scissors (optional)
card stock or purchased place cards
black pen
large bowl and water or sink
paper towels

1. Begin by cutting the husks from ears of corn and removing the hard inner stems. Discard tattered, torn, and molded husks.

2. Trim rough ends off remaining husks and submerge them in a sink or bowl of water. The husks will become soft and pliable almost instantly. Swish them around a bit to wash them (and remove any little bugs that might be lingering). Rinse them through a second bath of water if you like.

3. Choose the thickest pieces in the best condition (about 6 inches long and at least an inch wide or wider, as you wish) to use for the rings (6, 8, or as many as you want to make, plus a couple of spares in case one breaks). Keep these moist, wrapped in a damp paper towel.

4. Remove the other husks from water and lay them flat on paper towels. Wipe off excess water but leave them slightly damp.

5. Cut or tear the damp husks lengthwise into strips about 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide. The width of the strip is the width of your petals, so if you want larger flowers or a different type of flower with wider petals, keep that in mind when you're tearing the husks into strips. For example, the roses need strips that are about an inch wide or even wider.

6. Allow the strips to dry nearly completely, until they feel dry to the touch but are still somewhat pliable.

7. While the strips are drying, return to the pieces in step 3 and form your napkin rings. Cut all strips to be about the same length--6 inches is pretty standard. Simply loop the husks into circles and secure the ends with hot glue. Glue neatly; later, the flower will be glued over the seam and then the backs of the rings will be as pretty as the fronts. (Hot glue is recommended; others don't adhere quick enough or strongly enough to hold the often firm/stiff husks in loops.)

Note: If at first the husks seem too stiff to make a loop, I found that rubbing them between my fingers and coaxing them into that shape a bit helped. If that doesn't work, moisten the husks again and dab off excess water on the ends so that you can glue them together; then let them dry.

9. Glue the end of one petal at the center of and along the seam of the napkin ring (like at 12 on a clock). Attach two more petals the same way to form sort of a triangle (at about 4 or 5 and 8 or 9 on a clock); then fill in with new petals between each of these, and then a third row of petals between each of those. Finally, insert petals here and there to complete the flower and fill in any empty spaces. For larger flowers, place the first petals at about the 12, 3, 6 and 9 positions on a clock; then fill in a row between each of those and another row on top of and between the second row.

10. Use hot glue to attach a button center (figure C). You could also apply a small mound of glue to the flower center and sprinkle on beads, glitter, seeds, or Indian corn kernels, etc. Use your imagination! Allow them to dry a moment and shake off excess.

11. To make the rose: Use your fingers to lightly fold the heart-shaped petals in half and curl the ends up and out a bit. Play around with them until you're pleased.

12. Glue the end of one petal to the center of the seam on the ring as in step 9 above. Attach four more petals to form the bottom base of the flower. When that row of five petals is dry, make another row on top of it using only four petals this time. Glue the tip of each petal in this row halfway between the tips of both petals below it, so that this row will be staggered. Repeat with the third and top row using one less petal and enough glue to create some height to the flower (figure D). The top row of petals will be more upright than the bottom two.

13. Apply a small mound of glue in the center of the flower and sprinkle seed beads or other embellishments onto it (figure E).

14. Fold or roll napkins and pull them through the rings for a lovely autumn or Thanksgiving table (figure F). Light-colored linen or cotton napkins work well with the simple flowers (figure G) while metallic, silk, or other shimmery fabrics work well with the dark flowers (figure H) and roses (figure I).

1. To make the place cards: Cut approx. 4" x 4" squares of card stock using decorative-edge scissors and fold in half. Or, buy ready-made place cards from the store (figure J).

2. Write names off center on each card. Note: It's a good idea to write names on both sides of the place cards if you have guests who don't know each other, so that people sitting across from each other will be able to see the names on the cards too.

3. Make flowers as you did above, gluing them onto the cards instead of onto the napkin rings. You will probably want to make petals smaller than for flowers and even use fewer petals.

4. To make the cosmos-type flower: Cut one end of each petal bluntly rather than in a point using deckle-edged scissors, and use about five petals for a simple flower, up to 11 to 13 petals for a fuller flower (figure K). Use a button, beads, or Indian corn kernels for the flower's center (figure L).