Friday 21 February 2020

Tyvek Tulip

As the storms rage, I decided to dream of Spring and decided to make a tulip 



The first step is to colour Tyvek sheets and some paper covered wire. Tyvek has a distinctive pattern which is ideal for flowers. I used a mixture of diluted acrylic paint and then sprinkled on some Brusho crystal colour. I rolled the paper coloured wire across the wet Tyvek to colour that too. I then left them to dry



The name "tulip" is thought to be derived from a Persian word for turban, which it may have been thought to resemble. I've been experimenting with making different flowers with Tyvek paper. Making this tulip felt a little like creating a turban!

I studied the components of tulips to plan the flower. here is the templates I used to cut out the flower pieces from the Tyvek.

If you copy and paste this template image into a word processor and then enlarge it to A4 you will have the size I used.
I cut out the shapes of the template from the coloured Tyvek as shown:


I added detail to petals by stitching on them with variegated thread. You can do this by hand or machine, or just paint on some brush strokes for detail. 

I used a zig-zag stitch to fasten some coloured wire pieces onto the three outer petal shapes.





Inside the flower is a small, stemlike piece, the pistol, the very top part of the pistol is called the stigma and this was made using the bottom template piece, rolling it up and heating it to get the bubbly shape.  You can see I used a glass worktop saver held the Tyvek with a skewer and applied the heat with a heat gun in a well-ventilated space.



I then wound some stamens on with thread  (the sort sold for cake flowers). Next, I fastened a couple of inner (non-wired) petals with wire and zapped them with the heat gun to create some curling shape.



It needed a few hand stitches to feel secure.


I then arranged the three wired outer petals on, twisting the ends of the wire around the stem wire. A little more heat shapes and firms the petals.




Finally, I fastened on the leaves and finished the stem wire with green florist tape.


You may be interested to read the blog of the Autumn leaf arrangement I made with Tyvek. 

I would love to hear about any creations you make with Tyvek paper, please share them in the comments. 

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