Things You'll Need:
- Silk flowers
- Floral wire cutters
- Scotch or other common Tape
- Pearl-edged or other choice of ribbon
- Hot glue or Elmers glue
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Step 1
For a bridal bouquet, buy enough of your choice of silk flowers that when the stems are gathered tightly in your hand near the bottom of the flowers, the blooms make a 10-12 inch circle. For bridesmaid bouquets, it should be about 8-10 inches.
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Step 2
Decide how long you'd like your stems to be. For this size bouquet, 8-12 inch stems (measuring from the bottom of the blooms) looks proportionate.
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Step 3
Cut the stems with floral wire cutters to your desired length. Also trim off any leaves along the stems that do not touch the blooms at the top of the stem. (Leave enough greenery to cover the underside of the bouquet.)
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Step 4
Arrange your color palate. To make a multi-color bouquet, choose two or three different colors for your middle section and gather them in your hand. *Make sure the flower tops are relatively even with each other.* Use the tape to secure the stems tightly together in the middle. (You will not be able to see any tape when it's complete.)
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Step 5
Arrange three more stems around the center stems (or, less than three if your flowers are big, more than three if they're small), alternating colors as you see fit. *Make sure the tops of these secondary flowers are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch below the tops of the middle flowers when standing up straight.* Once arranged, tape tightly in place around the center stems. When complete and gathered tightly at the top of the stems, it should form a "dome" shape when viewed from the side. (see image in step 8)
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Step 6
If the flowers are small enough, add three more stems and repeat, making the top of the flowers in this third group very slightly lower than the second group.
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Step 7
Once all the flowers are in place, look at the bouquet from above - is it round enough? If not, slightly bend the top of the stems on the flat side outward. Look at it from the side. Is it rounded on top? If not, bend the top of the stems slightly to contour the sides. Once it has the shape you like, arrange the leaves loosely below the blooms.
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Step 8
The rounded top should appear when you squeeze all stems together at the top.Tightly gather the bouquet as close to the bottom of the blooms as possible with all stems touching. Place another piece of tape around the stems at that point. This completes the flower part.
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Step 9
If the ribbon you've chosen for the stem is about 2-3 inches wide, measure out about 2-3 feet of ribbon depending on how overlapped each wrap-around the stems will be. I recommend pearl-edged ribbon; overlapping edges of pearl keep the ribbon in place and accentuate the wrap.
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Step 10
Tuck about 2 inches of ribbon about 2-3 inches from the bottom, upwards into the gathered stems. Begin wrapping the ribbon upward around the stems, covering the original tuck, and keeping the overlap even each time around. *If your ribbon is slightly sheer and you want double coverage, tuck the first end of the ribbon at the top of the stems and work down. When you get to about 2-3 inches from the bottom, begin wrapping back up, keeping overlap even.
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Step 11
Once you've wrapped the ribbon to the top, make sure the tape is fully covered by the wrapped ribbon and cut the ribbon so that about 2 inches are left. Tuck this into the top of the bouquet under the center flowers, and down into stem so the end is invisible.
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Step 12
If the ribbon is slick or keeps coming out of place, use some hot glue or Elmers glue (which dries clear) to secure it under the tucks at the top and bottom.
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Step 13
Big leaves are easy to arrange under the flowers.Make sure the blooms and leaves make an even, round bouquet by manipulating any stems that are out of place.
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Step 14
*add some extra detail by tucking in small strings of pearls, iridescent beads, or wispy feathers into the bouquet. Or to make it fuller, insert smaller, coordinating flowers into gaps, tucking their stems into the center. Your local craft store should have all the necessary components of this bouquet.
