Kusudama flowers (part 1)

While looking at options for making my own bouquet I was inspired by this pin – fabric flowers with a knitting needle as a stem!  I decided to put my stash of excess knitting needles to good use…

(it was a good excuse to organise them really!)

… and try them out as stems for the kusudama flowers I’ve been wanting to try for a while, using some of the leftover sheet music from my last origami project.

I used this tutorial – best one I’ve seen – and it worked out well that the tops of the knitting needles stick out the top of the flowers.  The petals took a while to make – not long to fold, but waiting for the glue to dry.  I wish I’d used a hot glue gun instead of PVA – the petals would probably stick better to the plastic needle too.

I think I will try these out again with a hot glue gun to see the difference, before I decide whether to use these flowers for the wedding bouquet.  More photos of the finished project to come, once the glue is fully dried!

Origami flowers

I’ve been thinking about the idea of substituting real flowers for paper flowers at my wedding, to cut down on costs.  Let me know what you think…

To try it out I used a pile of old sheet music to make lillies, which we were already thinking about for the flowers.  I also liked the look of the carambola flowers, and though slightly tricky the first time they got easier to make.

Here’s the YouTube tutorial for the lillies, and here for the carambola flowers (yes its in German, but you can still follow what she does!)

When I get some glue and find some more time I want to try out these kusudama flowers – this bouquet with the buttons, and this one made out of sheet music – maybe even make them into a traditional kusudama ball for the ends of the aisles like this!  Here’s the tutorial I found at Folding Trees.

Stay tuned for more sheet music crafts, I have lots left over!