Boy, its nearly Oct 31rst and another Halloween is dead set to arrive! Where does the year go!!
This year I suffered through some illness and so my Halloween is weak this year, but we did decorate the patio - I may be down at times, but I'm not out, lol!!!
However, before Fall came along I had done an interesting project with COFFEE FILTERS. And the results were SPECTACULAR -- I dyed plain ol' generic coffee filters and turned them into flowers and I swear to you that when they are adorning a wreath, or gathered into a 'floral' arrangement, they look so real!
I am not showing the process of the flower creation - for that you can Google or Youtube " DIY Coffee Filter Flowers" and you will see plenty of tutorials on this subject, pick and choose your favs.
Here is one type flower 'version' tutorial: Tutorial Haleighanna's Hands DIY Coffee Filter Tutorial
Here is two type flower 'version' tutorial: Elegant Coffee Filter Rose
But I will give a few musings about how I DYED the coffee filters after cutting them into 'petals'.
I used food colouring to dye them. I found that food colouring gave beautiful vibrant shades of colour. Neon brights and Regular packs worked great.
I had tried using INK refills from my own collection, but only a few colours transferred well whereas some colours namely the green inks seem to turn out dull. The purple ink "Elegant Eggplant" and the yellow " Daffodil Delight" from Stampin' Up! worked beautifully. So part of the charm of this project IS the dyeing process and discovering through experimenting which colours you create. Just like being a kid :)
While I used several colours: I did not use much liquid to dye the flowers. If you water down the food colouring {or ink} too much, the intensity will not develop, plus you can always rinse some of the colour 'out' if you want. I put a good many drops of one colour each into separate shallow vessels like clean margarine containers or short narrow juice glasses and added a wee bit of water. Next I dipped my crumpled or folded coffee filter in and afterwards squeezed out the excess liquid back into the container. {and this is probably where I should of wore gloves, duh!}
Some filters I 'dipped' one end into one colour, flipped and dipped the other end into a different colour....or I dyed the filter a light shade, then dipped the one half into a deeper shade.....either way you do it, you can combine colours for some really super results.
Drying was easy - as you can see :)
Here are my pictures......hope you give this project a try!
This year I suffered through some illness and so my Halloween is weak this year, but we did decorate the patio - I may be down at times, but I'm not out, lol!!!
However, before Fall came along I had done an interesting project with COFFEE FILTERS. And the results were SPECTACULAR -- I dyed plain ol' generic coffee filters and turned them into flowers and I swear to you that when they are adorning a wreath, or gathered into a 'floral' arrangement, they look so real!
CLOSE-UP DYED COFFEE FILTER "FLOWERS"
{note the dyed coffee filter "flower" beside the rust sunflower - pretty good, eh?}
MORE PICTURES BELOW and SUPPLY LIST
Click on pictures for enlarged view.
I am not showing the process of the flower creation - for that you can Google or Youtube " DIY Coffee Filter Flowers" and you will see plenty of tutorials on this subject, pick and choose your favs.
Here is one type flower 'version' tutorial: Tutorial Haleighanna's Hands DIY Coffee Filter Tutorial
Here is two type flower 'version' tutorial: Elegant Coffee Filter Rose
But I will give a few musings about how I DYED the coffee filters after cutting them into 'petals'.
I used food colouring to dye them. I found that food colouring gave beautiful vibrant shades of colour. Neon brights and Regular packs worked great.
I had tried using INK refills from my own collection, but only a few colours transferred well whereas some colours namely the green inks seem to turn out dull. The purple ink "Elegant Eggplant" and the yellow " Daffodil Delight" from Stampin' Up! worked beautifully. So part of the charm of this project IS the dyeing process and discovering through experimenting which colours you create. Just like being a kid :)
While I used several colours: I did not use much liquid to dye the flowers. If you water down the food colouring {or ink} too much, the intensity will not develop, plus you can always rinse some of the colour 'out' if you want. I put a good many drops of one colour each into separate shallow vessels like clean margarine containers or short narrow juice glasses and added a wee bit of water. Next I dipped my crumpled or folded coffee filter in and afterwards squeezed out the excess liquid back into the container. {and this is probably where I should of wore gloves, duh!}
Some filters I 'dipped' one end into one colour, flipped and dipped the other end into a different colour....or I dyed the filter a light shade, then dipped the one half into a deeper shade.....either way you do it, you can combine colours for some really super results.
Drying was easy - as you can see :)
Here are my pictures......hope you give this project a try!
DYED COFFEE FILTERS DRYING
ASSEMBLED FLOWER #1
ASSEMBLED FLOWER #2
BEGINNING MY WREATH DESIGN
Sun Flowers and Burlap Ribbon new from Michaels*
FINISHED FALL WREATH
SUPPLIES
coffee filters (8 per flower)
scissors
glue
(liquid, paste or hot glue gun)
food colours - variety of shades
(or ink refills)
wire
(lite gauge, or bamboo skewers for 'stems')
containers
(for dyeing)
drying spot
(use portable clothes dryer rack, or string up a line - you can dry the flowers faster
if you use a hair dryer on them but they dry pretty fast on their own)
and water!
** Wreath form or other decorative piece
plastic gloves
protective surface to work on.
TECHNIQUE TO CREATE FLOWERS: GOOGLE or YOUTUBE " DIY Coffee Filter Flowers and you will find loads of 'how-to' examples - pick your favourite and have fun!
Comments