Paper Rose Topiary

Paper Rose topiary
Originally uploaded by Sister Wend

April was full of pictures and blogposts that inspired me to action, many of them by Alisa Burke. She really has been redefining my creativity as I have already mentioned in an earlier post! Because of her, I started an Art Journal, made Queens out of toilet paper rolls and made a twisted rose topiary out of flyers! I might be leaving out a few things...I was seriously inspired! Anywho, wanted to show you how easy it is to just twist and coil, twist and coil. Experiment with how tight you coil or twist. You can vary the results easily by increasing or decreasing tension and using different parts of the flyer where one colour predominates.

This is a cool project to start May and I like how it keeps the momentum of Earth Day going. Catch Alisa Burke's tutorial here.

This is how I made the roses:

Choose a flyer or newspaper and rip or cut it from the fold.

Separate layers. I then fold them in half lengthwise.

Pull the strip through your fingers and tie a knot in one end.

Twist and coil. Glue. Twist and coil. Glue. Twist and coil. Glue.

And there you have it!

Make a whole bunch! To make the topiary, I then took two styrofoam balls, shoved the bigger one onto a dowel, about a quarter of the way in. I then bruted the dowel entirely through the smaller ball. I shoved it in, first on one end, and then the other, working it gently through. Then I used pretty pins to fix the flowers on the balls. You can paint the balls and the dowel if you want, add a ribbon, stick it in a terracotta pot and there you have a really beautiful centre piece as well as a conversation piece!

These would be nice at a handmade wedding!

If you make some, will you please tell me? Thanks!