I actually started this physalis or Chinese Lantern plant a week or more ago, but have somehow managed to lose all of my heart punches in some weird place. However, during our sorting process of a friend's stash, there was a triple heart punch the right size. Just one small problem, the actual die-cast punch part is in the plastic housing the wrong way around. This means punches have to be extracted from the works with tweezers. Things can get a little complicated, sometimes....
However, yesterday our meeting did not happen due to other things, so I decided to work on the plant. It is in a pot because, although very decorative, it is also very invasive! The original instructions came from a Jicolin Advent Calender in 2011, by Minipat, a French blogger. She used tissue paper for her flowers, which I usually replace with coffee filter paper. The backwards punch would not punch this light paper, so I decided to use computer-weight coloured paper instead. The flowers are made of a seed bead in the colour of the flower, glued to a stem. Two hearts are applied points up, and when they are dry, two half hearts are glued over the sides of the "heart sandwich".
As my paper was stiffer, I creased each heart down the centre and then rounded out the lobes of each heart. The half hearts are also rounded out before being applied. Although not entirely successful - the seed bead shows in some places - I am pretty happy with this version of a Chinese Lantern in miniature. It would look good in miniature "dried" flower arrangements. along with lotus and milkweed pods, which I have made in polymer clay in miniature....
We miniaturists are sort of crazy....
It looks great to me, Marijke! Thanks for the tips on how to create it! I'll really enjoy trying to make them, one day!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jodi. It's always a fun challenge to try to make paper, wire and other weird stuff look "realistic", and if I do it again, I have learned what not to do!
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