DIY Craziness :: Book Roses

So I found this cool tutorial on Pinterest and surprised myself by actually wanting to try it... I'm not a really crafty person (yes, I consider 'arty' and 'crafty' two different things. One requires glue (or tape) most of the time, whilst the other does not) so this was a really weird thing for me to do. Especially since all I had for the instructions were images... without words... I mean, sure, they were easy-ish to understand... But personally, I would've liked a bit more reasurance I was doing the thing right (or had some measurements for the petals at least). 

And so, after making just one paper rose, I naturally consider myself an expert (pfft no.) and have decided to make a blog post so others can also make them :D

'Cos it's fun y'know?

Note: I started writing this blogpost near the end of July.. so the word goal thing was still relevant then xD 

What you will need to create Awesomeness.

These items.

 Or, to be more specific:

Old Books that a friend got for you from the book fair. (Merci encore :D) (To everyone: Don't worry, she was quite aware I was going to tear them up for crafty reasons.)

Wire.... Stuff. - Prefferably the stronger stuff but I dunno. I think it's metal.

Scissors - To you know... cut things. 

Masking tape - To finish stuff... not sure if it's mandatory but I'm adding it anyway. *chucks over shoulder into the materials pile*

Stanley knife - To cut the pages out of the book. (Do not, under any circumstances rip the pages you need out of the book... It does not end well. *ahem* Not that I would know anything about that...)

ARGH- AND ALSO A HOT GLUE GUN... My evil nemesis; my main foe; the idea of putting peanut butter on a pepperoni pizza; the main... er, other bad things... (Okay, I've fallen off the creativity train for names now).  After ages and aaaaages of giving it the silent treatment, I was forced to come back and ask for its assistance. Long story short, it grudgingly agreed, and the paper crafting of the roses soon began.

The... uh... Whats-it-called... The Method! Yah, that's it.

Find your wire. Take a long piece of said wire... Fold it over in half and then twist it around eachother until it more or less resembles this:

Nice. Put that aside for now. (You don't want to accidentally poke some in the eye with it now do you?) 

Once done that, go and rip er, cut those pages out of the old book you have (using the stanley knife, of course). 

....and then basically cut them into little 'petals' (using the scissors). I've figured that specific size doesn't really matter, providing you have a range of small to large petals.

So take five pieces of your paper and cut them up at the same time.

Boom! There's one pile of petals all done for you. Moving on to the next size until basically you have this:

*Edit* I had to redo the pile on the far right 'cos it wasn't wide enough. Just so ya know.

Next, you'll need to take those petals.

And neatly curl/fold the edges in like so:

Eh.... close enough.

And whatever you do.... do not mix them up.

...Darnit.

So after you've sorted out all the sizes, feel free to bring out the weapon of doom.

And also don't forget about it after plugging it in.... like I did...

Next, go ahead and take one of the smaller petals and do this:

-whilst trying to keep glue away from hands if at all possible.

Okay! So taking a quick break from the "tutorial" I would like to point out that isn't a good idea to almost drop the camera in the midst of taking a picture.

"AHH- NO" -Me.

...Just so you know.

So anyways, go ahead and wrap the petal around the wire stem.

Don't burn your fingers.

Don't worry if it's messy. (*whispers* no one else will knooooooow.)

Anywho, if you're quite happy with it so far, go ahead and add more petals 'n stuff. (Prefferably without the stuff.)

Once you've glued the petal on, take the top edge and gently curl outwards until it looks petal-ish.

Don't worry too much if the paper rips or doesn't look as good as you want it too. It happens. Keep going anyway, it'll look better when you're done. (if it still doesn't look good in your opinion, keep trying. You'll get there eventually).

Ow ow *grabs camera* ow ow ow.

HELP I'M STUCK.

Kidding, kidding.... I'm fine.

*ahem*

So just keep layering the petals in a rose-ish fashion. If you don't know what a rose looks like... well.. That's what the internet is for ;P (Or you know... Going outside might help.)

If you run out of one specific smaller petal, go ahead and move on to the next size up. Whatever you do, don't get distracted.

-Half an hour later-

Look, I made a weird slug thing out of hot glue!

nom nom nom.

...It's eating the scrap paper in case you were wondering. 

SORRY-- Back to the thing now.

So now, providing you've used up all your petals (or as many as you ended up actually using) and it looks muchly like a rose...

I'd say you're done!

Most recent one on the left, first one on the right.

(Warning: Don't keep them near an open flame.)

Now go and revel in that amazing feeling of self-accomplishment and take plenty of photos.


-Sarah

August Art Dump! Woot.

So... Just like my 'September art dump' from last year, this is basically just a collection of sketches and sometimes coloured drawings that I did in the previous months... (a.k.a mostly my favourite ones.) It's kinda also like a small note to future me. (*waves to future me-- probably one day reading through this*)

(P.S A reply letter to 'Younger Self' from 2016: Yeah, I've been practicing the left eye... Still not getting it perfect (see below-- oh wait) but I've been much better at it lately *nodnod*. As for hands...? Haha...ha...ha *dies* I'll get back to you on that... Or, you know... not.)

(P.P.S- A letter to 'Older Self': HIYA-- MAKE SURE YOU PRACTICE HANDS AND WORK ON POSES. PLEASE.)

A completely random portait of a completely random, unknown character, of whom I do not know their name... with a flower in her hair.

Big sister.... Little sister

Having the characters drawn with crossed arms ('cos I have mostly figured it out now) is probably my instant-go-to way for whenever I attempt to draw the lower half of a character's body... Just so I can avoid drawing hands. (I have a problem.) (also, you may see the crossed-arms thing pop up in my drawings a whole heap.)

My lil’ super-powered, secret agent Ember.

*Gasp* I DREW HANDS?! 

*further gasp* OH WAIT, WHAT AM I SAYING-- DON'T LOOK AT THE HANDS. *ahem* Just ignooooooore the hands.

I did this one a while ago (t'was my test drawing from when I first bought my new drawing tablet) and I think I did okay... 'cos all of a sudden I could BLEND COLOURS AND PEN PRESSURE WAS A THING. *happy sigh*

A Ginger Ninja :D

Probably got in trouble for something or other.

A quick rough sketch I did of a younger [and genuinely happier] Valencia, yet another one of my OCs xP (I have way too many to keep track of, agh..). 

Brinley :D

I started with a DTS (draw the squad) but lost my motivation for it about halfway through and decided to just draw Brinley by herself ;P

(It was this one, if ye were curious)

(Not my drawing, I just found it on Pinterest)

“Stay away from her.”

I don’t know who these kids are yet… but I love ‘em.

I just randomly drew them and thought:

'Awh. Das cute... I should give them actual personalities and names... And friends... And a villain.... and their own story... and allll the feels."


*glances at schedule and sighs* One day I'll get around to it.

* * *

BUT ANYWAYS-- That's my art from the last couple o' months and stuff!

-Sarah