Miniature Roses Tutorial

Tools and Materials:

• coffee filter or japanese silk paper
• punches: 1/4" heart, 3/16" teardrop, 1/4" star 
• watercolor pencils or acrylic paints for petals
• colored pencils
• avocado green acrylic paint
• ball stylus tool
• needle or needle tool
• mousepad
• paper towel
• paper covered wire
• sewing thread
• tacky glue
• satin acrylic varnish
• tissue paper for box lining
• silk ribbon for bow
• tweezers
• leaf veining tool (optional)
• florist boxes kit

Step One: Petals

To make one rose, punch 5 hearts from the coffee filter or japanese silk paper. Paint hearts. For the dozen red roses, I used a combination of True Red and Moroccan Red acrylic paints. If you would like subtle colors, try using watercolor pencils (I used red and yellow watercolor pencils on the pink single rose). Keep a paintbrush and water close by so that you can blend the colors as you work on the petals. 

Subtle colors may be achieved with watercolor pencils.

Step Two: The Basic Shape

Glue 2 hearts together as shown in picture. Glue a painted, 2" wire stem to the heart. Allow to dry.

2 hearts are overlapped and glued. A stem is glued on.

Step Three: Shaping the Center

Place hearts and the assembled hearts with a stem on a damp paper towel. Let them absorb a good amount of moisture. Place the hearts with a stem on a mousepad. Using your ball stylus tool, press down along the edge of the left heart. Turn the hearts over, press down along the edge of the other heart. You want a ruffled edge.

Step Four: Making the Center of the Rose

Pick up the stem, add glue along the bottom edge of the hearts, and roll the hearts around the stem. This will create the tight center of the rose. Pay attention that the ruffles look the way you want them to. You may wish to look at some photos for reference. 

Shaping the petals with the stylus.

Step Five: Shaping the Petals

Pick up the damp loose petals and place them on your mousepad. Using the ball stylus, press down along the top edges of the hearts and the pointed bottom of the hearts. Turn the hearts over and press down in the centers of the hearts. The shape of the petals should look similar to the photo.

Step Six: Adding the Petals

Add a tiny amount of glue to the pointed bottom of the petal and glue to the stem. Wrap the petal around the center of the rose. Do this with more petals, overlapping the spaces between the petals as you glue them on. You may wish to cut the hearts in half down the middle to create smaller petals or use a variation of hearts and half-hearts.

Step Seven: Calyx

Punch a star from the paper. Paint with avocado green acrylic paint. Using your ball stylus, push down on each of the five points of the star. Turn the star over and push down in the center. See the photo for reference. With a pin or needle tool, poke a hole in the center large enough to go over the stem. Put a tiny amount of glue along the bottom of the rose petals. Push the star up the stem into place.

Step Eight: Leaves

Punch 3 leaves from the paper. Paint with avocado green acrylic paint. Using colored pencils, add some color variation to the leaves. I used orange-red, dark blue, dark green and black in very small amounts. These may be blended with your fingers. The back side of the roses may be painted a lighter color or colored pencils may be used to lighten the effect. To achieve a wonderful, realistic look to the leaves, you may wish to use the veining tool from Templewood Miniatures. Paint leaves with satin acrylic varnish to add a realistic shine.

Step Nine: Branches

Dab a bit of avocado green paint on a paper towel. Pull the sewing thread through the paint on the paper towel. Allow the thread to dry straight, hanging from a drawer pull or door knob. When thoroughly dry, cut a 5/8" length of thread off. Glue 3 leaves to the thread (you may wish to use the photo below as reference for leaf placement). When dry, glue the branch to the stem.

Step Ten: Adding Finishing Touches to the Rose

Paint over the joint where the stem and branch are glued together. You may wish to add tiny "dew" droplets to the rose or leaves using Diamond Glaze.

Step Eleven: Assembling and Decorating the Box

The precut boxes shown in the photos may be purchased through my shop. Assemble the boxes and glue the supplied acetate into the windows. Cut tissue paper of your desired color and place into box. (I used bright green tissue inside of the box of dozen roses, and sheer ribbon inside of the single rose box). Do not glue. Decide how you want the roses to be placed in your boxes. Some of the stems may need to be cut shorter. Glue the roses to each other - not the tissue paper (glue will generally make a mess of tissue paper). 

Flower boxes are available from my shop.

Step Twelve: Making the Bow

To make a bow, cut or punch a 1/4" circle from cardstock paper. Cut the following lengths of ribbon:

• four pieces, 1.5 inches
• four pieces, 1.25 inches
• four pieces, 1 inch
• 1 piece, .5 inch

Except for the .5 inch piece, glue all of the lengths of ribbon into loops. Glue the .5 inch piece into a circle. Dab a small amount of glue in the center of the cardstock circle. Position the four largest loops on the glue to form an "X". Glue the  next smaller loops in between the larger loops. Glue the smallest loops  on top of the largest loops. Glue the small circle of ribbon in the center. Cut a length of ribbon to go around the top of the box and inside the lid. Glue to the ends of the ribbon inside of the lid. Do not put glue on the outside of the box because it may stain the ribbon. Glue the bow to the box's lid on top of the ribbon. 

Enjoy your box of roses!

Here are some public domain photos to help inspire you! Click on them to make them larger.