How to Make Wood Roses
Gardens thrive with roses. Yet, every living rose has its days of bloom before they fade away so another rose can bloom. If you want a rose that lasts in the garden, try simple, yet colorful, wood pattern roses you can set in a well-lit place. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- 3 rose flower patterns
- 3 rose leaf pair patterns
- Tracing paper
- 1/4-inch basswood or butternut for flowers and leaves
- 1/3-inch basswood or butternut for bases
- 3 1/8-inch round wooden sticks
- Saw
- Drill
- Woodcarving knife
- Sandpaper, 120, 180 and 220 grit
- Wood glue
- Acrylic paints in red, violet, orange, brown and yellow ochre
- Acrylic paints in tan and pale green
- Acrylic paints in dark brown and ochre
- Paint brushes
Instructions
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Look online for rose flower patterns and leaf pair patterns. You can cut outlines from the roses and leaves in wood carving patterns found online, like those at Carvingatterns.com or Carvebuddy.com, or use more simple designs like the coloring designs at Buyroses101.com. Print the rose flower and rose leaf patterns or draw your own. If you like to draw roses, draw three rose flower faces and three rose leaf pairs, facing the viewer with a small connection between the two leafs where the stem stands between. Trace the patterns onto the wood.
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Draw circles on wood for three bases. Make each base circle a little wider than the matching rose flower.
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Saw out the flower, leaf pair and base pieces, and then cut the stem sticks to length. Carefully cut around the flower pattern. Trim the leaf pairs so the two leaves are connected by a piece wide enough to put the stem through. For the three bases, cut around the circles. Choose three sizes for the stem sticks, such as 7 inches, 4 inches and 6 inches, and then cut to length.
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Carve the rose flowers and leaves to shape. Take another look at each flower pattern. Return to the wood rose pieces and shape each with a woodcarving knife. Saws cut roughly so there is still plenty of work left for the knife. Look at the trace patterns and trim each wood piece to a unique shape. Give the flowers delicate and smooth edges. Leaves get thin well-defined edges.
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Smooth the pieces by sanding. Sand the flowers, leaf pairs and bases with 120-grit and 180-grit sandpaper. Then, sand all the pieces fine with 220-grit sandpaper.
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Paint the flowers, leaf pairs, stems and bases. Each flower with leaf pair has its own color. For harmony, the three stems and bases are in the same colors. Paint one rose flower red, one violet and one orange. Mix brown or yellow ochre in each flower color: one part brown with four parts red, one part brown with five parts violet and one part yellow ochre with three parts orange. Paint each leaf pair the same color to match its flower.
Paint the stems tan. Mix one part pale green into six parts tan. Last, color each base in golden dark brown. Give dark brown paint a fair hue by adding one part ochre to five parts dark brown.
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Make three standing roses. After the paint has dried, make holes and glue the pieces together. Drill a 1/8-inch hole in the center of each base, each leaf pair connection and each flower bottom. First, with glue in the leaf pair hole, send a stem stick through each leaf pair connection until the leaves settle two-thirds the way up the stem. Let dry enough to set. Stand each stem in its base, setting it firm with glue. Place a flower on top of the three stems, joining to the top with glue so each holds fast.
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Tips & Warnings
Choose the petals and leaves that best decorate in a flower garden.
