Happy Autumn Sunflowers

These sunflowers are sure to please! They are fun and easy to make and a bouquet can make a great gift for anyone with allergies to floral scents or a table centre piece. Use them to make fridge magnets, hair barret, paper weights or a bouquet of flowers (add backing and stems)

Materials: 

  • medium to large pine cones
  • cone cutters
  • scissors
  • glue gun, superglue or tacky glue
  • paint
  • paintbrush
  • water cup
  • palette (a plastic lid)
How to Make:

1. Cut the ends off a few cones. Tidy them up by using pliers to remove extra scales. (lower right)
Place  cone ends on the table, scale side up.









2. Prepare pine scale petals by trimming the thinner end (where it originally attached to the cone) to create a point. Sturdy scissors work well for this.


 






3. Layout the scales around the flower centre to determine how many will be needed. In the photo below, 11 may be needed. 









4. Paint the scale petals the desired color. I use a flat size 4 paintbrush below. I use a paint palette to keep the pieces together. Let dry.









5. Next, paint the cone end to become the centre of the flower. I choose a darker color but you can vary it. Let dry.








6.  With the flower centre scale side up, glue the petals on one at a time. You may have extra when you are done the layer. Save them for a different project.

  





7. Here is what it looks like so far. 
Top side.









Back side.








You can stop here and finish the other side by filling glue into empty spaces. This will add strength to the flower. 

8. To make the sunflower more realistic, you can add a second layer of petals. Place these curving face down to match the top layer of petals. I have added 3 petals of the second layer at 3, 5 and 6 O'clock.









Here is the what it looks like from the front and side. The second layer gives it a 3-Dimensional look.










9. Turn the sunflower over and fill in any holes or weak spots.








10. Make more and play with the color! For the sunflower with the blue centre, I used the pine scales rounded ends out. It created a different look. I could have added a second layer on this one too.




I left alternating scales natural in this one. 







Add Googly eyes to add some fun!

Enjoy! 

Pre-cut comes and pine scales available for purchase from us! 

Location: Nanaimo, BC, Canada

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