Fringed Flowers

Fringed flowers are easy and need very little equipment to make. They are also a good way to use up small scraps of paper. Double sided paper is better, but you can make it from single sided paper as long as you remember to roll with the coloured side facing inwards.

To make the flowers you need a strip of paper approximately 1 cm wide and 10-15 cm long. The finished flower will be twice the width of the strip, so if you want a larger flower, just cut the strip wider. However, for a full flower, you will need to also use a slightly longer strip of paper.

This is the strip I made the blue flower from – approximately 1cm wide and 11cm long.
You will also need a pair of small scissors. I use a spring-loaded fine pair of scissors but nail scissors will do.

 Starting from the end of the strip, snip cuts close together, to about 2mm from the edge of the paper. The amount you leave will dictate the length of the stalk at the back. If you want to add quilled petals later, then leave 3-4mm. If you want the flower to sit fairly flat, leave only 2mm. The finer the cuts, the more delicate the flower.

 Keep snipping until you reach the end of the strip.  Now you need to roll the strip. if you have a quilling tool, slot one end into the groove or slit and begin to roll. If you don’t have a quilling tool, you can roll the strip around a toothpick. Quilling tools aren’t expensive – around about $5 from most big craft stores or you can order them on line. Alternatively you can make one by using a long headed needle, pushing it into a cork and gluing it in place. Cut off the tip of the needle with wire cutters and you have a slotted quilling tool. I’ve also heard of people using a thin bamboo skewer and cutting a slit in the end with a sharp knife. I haven't tried it since dedicated quilling tools are cheap and easy to come by.

What ever method you use, roll the fringed strip up tightly and dab a little PVA (white) glue on the inside of the end of the strip and finish rolling. Hold the end down for a few seconds for the glue to dry.
Start bending the fringing outwards, starting at the outside edge and working around and inwards.

Carefully slide the flower off the quilling tool and voila! One fringed flower!
If you want to add a centre, glue a short 3mm strip to the inside of the fringed strip before rolling.

 Begin rolling from the small strip. This flower was made with a shorter fringed strip about 7.5cm long and 1 cm wide, with a 4cm centre strip. The snips were slightly wider apart than on the blue flower.

 Here is the same flower with no centre. The strip used was the same width as the blue flower, but was shorter and so is not a s full when finished.

 This flower was made using two fringed strips of different widths

Each strip was about the same length, but the darker strip was wider than the lighter strip. Glue the strips together overlapping so that the narrower strip lays on top on the inside of the wider strip. Start rolling from the narrower strip.
As you can see, there are lots of variations that you can use to make simple rolled flowers into variety of interesting blossoms.
In the next tutorial,  I have coloured the edges of the strip to make Australian gum blossoms.