several bunches of silk flowers
spray paint
acrylic top coat
glitter
floral wire/tape-optional
wire cutters
vase
jazzicles/embellishments(I am making jeweled branches, for those you'll need glass beads, branches and hot glue)
Disclaimer: Excuse my photos. The natural lighting is limited in my house and as such my pictures turned out a little wonky. I'm building some lighting. If I can manage to get better snappies, I'll replace them...
1. Separate flowers by type and 'prune' them as you would if you were working with live flowers. You may need to use your wire cutters to snip apart the factory bunches. Loosely arrange flowers to plot out your final arrangement, if you haven't already.
2. Wipe stems and leaves down with a damp paper towel to prepare them for paint. If the flowers have been sitting in your house for awhile, gently knock the blooms together to shake off excess dust. Let flowers dry fully before painting.
3. Paint it black. Or, you know, what ever you choose. I'm going for a Gothic look this year, so I chose an exaggerated grayscale to play up the creepy elegance. To keep everything tidy, I sprayed one color at a time. It made arranging easier.
4. Pour some glitter into a dish or tray. Once the paint has become tacky, put on your gloves and grab your bloom. Lightly press the petals into the glitter until you achieve the desired look. Shake off excess glitter and let flower dry completely. This is a great place to practice editing. You can always glitter more flowers, but if you go to gaudy right away, there's no going back.
5. Spritz dried flowers with acrylic top coat to seal paint and glitter. This will make the flowers much more durable, which in turn makes them far easier to store.
To make jeweled branches: spray your branches along with the flowers. Once dry, set up your glue gun and dump your glass beads into a tray. Apply glue to the tip of a branch and turn it slowly to even out the hot glue. Wait about 30 seconds before pressing the glue into the glass beads. Cover glue with beads and let dry.
6. Once top coat is dry, arrange in your favorite vase and display!
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