How to Make Mulberry Paper Flowers

Mulberry paper is a beautiful paper used in scrapbooking and paper crafting. It is made of mulberry fibers, which are visible in each sheet. It is often textured and the color mottled and natural. The best thing about mulberry paper is that when you wet it and tear it, the torn edges are feathery and interesting. Try this craft for making some pretty decorative mulberry flowers.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Two sheets of mulberry paper
• Cotton swabs
• Water
• Paper towel
• Floral tape
• Wire stems or pipe cleaners
• Small silk leaves
• Glue

1. Take a small cup or bowl of water and set it on the table. Place one sheet of your mulberry paper before you, and take your cotton swab in hand. Have a folded paper towel or two next to the water cup.

2. Dip the cotton swab into the water to soak it. Dab it on the paper towels to remove excess moisture and dripping. Trace a small circle, approximately ½ inch to 1 inch in diameter, onto one corner of the mulberry paper with the wet cotton swab. Don't over-soak the paper, just wet it. It doesn't have to be a perfectly round circle.

3. Rip the circle out of the mulberry paper, following the wet mark you've made. Set it aside. Dip the cotton swab and dab it on the paper towel again, and make another circle, a little bigger than the first. Rip it out. Continue this until you have about 20 to 25 circles, each one just slightly bigger than the last.

4. Take a pipe cleaner, or if you want to make it look more realistic, take a wire stem from a fake silk flower and cut the flower off the top.

5. Take the smallest circle and roll it up, wrapping it around the top of the stem. Use the floral tape to tape it into place. Wrap a couple more layers of floral tape around it to secure the center. Place the next-size circle around the first and tape it. Place the next-size circle overlapping the second one and tape it in place. Each time you place a new circle, it should be slightly lower than the last, and the floral tape should straddle the circle and the stem.

6. Continue doing this, each time with the next-size larger circle, and securing it with the floral tape, always overlapping them rather than laying one on top of the other. Bend the last three circles over at the top edge as you wrap them so that they look like petals.

7. When your flower blossom is as large and open as you would like it to be, you can glue some silk leaves to the base of the blossom to cover the floral tape.