Sunday 26 March 2017

I've Finally Gone Round the Bend....

For those of you using Google translate, that means I've really gone crazy today! I decided to try a new way of making actual, fuzzy pussy willow buds. About.com carries a tutorial, which involved bits of thread, drops of glue, and flocking.

You start by making little "shelves" of glue, rather like thorns on a rose, along a piece of floral wire, and allowing those to dry. Then you paint wire and thorns reddish brown (I used brown iron oxide), and let that dry. While that is doing what it is supposed to do, you make tiny fuzzy buds on teeny pieces of brown sewing thread;


You stick those into foam (I used a grocery store foam tray) to dry thoroughly. Once dry, you cut the little fuzzy ball off just underneath the flocking, and glue those onto the "thorn" shelves on your floral wire. The result is really nice,


especially with the sun shining through, but it is a lot of work! When I first made miniature pussy willows, early in my attempts at flower making, I used tiny birch twigs from the garden, dotted glue here and there, and sprinkled very fine white decorator's sand over them. Years later, they still look pretty good. This new method may well be a once-off, but I'm glad I tried it!

The forsythia branches have now got tiny pale green leaves here and there, and the cherry blossoms are glued to their branches. The next step is assembling the floral arrangements,,,,,

9 comments:

  1. I love pussy willows! I have been contemplating how to make them. Thanks!

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  2. Wow - a lot of work but they look great! I just might give these a try,Marijke. Thank you for explaining the technique, and also where to find the tutorial if need be. I can hardly wait to see the arrangement! - Marilyn D., Oromocto, NB

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  3. Realmente es mucho trabajo,pero el resultado es fascinante,muy realista!!!!
    Besos.

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  4. Now I get to arrange them - kind of scary to get everything looking good. Then it's on to more stuff for the little flower shop vignette. Thanks for your comments!

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  5. Un trabajo fantástico , te quedarán unos arreglos florales preciosos:_)

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  6. The arrangements look pretty good! I hope to get some photos up this evening, if it is OK with the people who commissioned the piece. At the moment both are in the window of the flower shop, and they look made for it.

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  7. Your new pussy willow branches turned out looking GREAT!!! :D

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  8. Wow! The hard work really paid off! Those pussy-willows look so real!!!

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  9. Thank you! The idea wasn't mine, it came from About.com - they write good tutorials. And I just happened to have bought all available colours of flocking at my hobby store when they were discontinuing it. Sometimes pack-ratting is good!

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