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Monday, May 24, 2010

DIY Hydrangea Pomanders

This weekend I knocked out another project on my DIY TODO list- pomanders.

Earlier in the month I asked your opinion in my great silk vs. paper debate, and after a lot of hemming and hawing, I made a decision:

Silk. and I will tell you why.

1. Time. I did a run-through of the paper flowers with printer paper and pen. It took about 20 minutes for me to make one flower. I do not have that kind of time and/or patience to take on a project like that. Not at this stage in the game.

2. Water. If it rains the day of the wedding (God forbid) or even if someone accidentally spills water on the paper pomanders, they are toast. With silk, if they get wet, all we will have to do is shake them out a little and they will be ok.

3. Resale Value. I would like to resell these later, and I feel the cardstock would not hold up too well in the shipping process. I would actually be concerned about just transporting them to the venue and back!

Time to get down to the knitty-gritty of it all. Let's start with the supplies:

20 hydrangea Spray (I ordered mine from Afloral.com, and I specifically ordered these)
5" Styrofoam balls (you can get them from Michael's but the best price is from LACrafts)
Hot glue gun
Ribbon
Bedskirt Pins (more on those later)

First, I want to show you my trial and error- focusing more on the error.
When you get the flowers each stem has about 5 blooms on it. I was cutting each stem and sticking it in the styrofoam ball. This made for two problems: first they were obnoxiously large




and after 20 spray, I only had 6 pomanders done, and all of them were bald on the bottom.



So I had to reassess my situation.
I plucked each bloom from the stem (no cutting required) and separated them into two piles- big blooms for outlining and little blooms to use as filler flowers






Next, I figured out where I wanted the bloom, stuck it in the styrofoam, pulled it out*, shot some hot glue in the hole*, and stuck the flower back in.






I began with a perimeter around the ball


then I would divide each side

and filled in each area until it was full.



The ribbon was a little tricky. I wasn't sure how I was going to attach it to the ball. I was afraid that if I hot glued it directly to the ball, it might make it harder for the next bride to switch out the ribbon. Then I had an ingenious idea.

About a year ago, I picked up a bunch of bedskirt pins after reading about them on All Things G&D. I still had a bunch left over, and thought they would be perfect because their corkscrew shape would hold onto the stryofoam without having to use more hotglue. I used a blue chiffon ribbon that is very similar to my bridesmaids dresses, stuck the bedskirt pin through the ribbon, and then into the styrofoam. I have to say, it's super durable!

It took me roughly six hours to finish this project- and that included deconstructing the 6 pomanders I had already done, pulling apart the stems, and reassembling each one.

If you are going to attempt this project, I highly recommend finding a place to hang them until the wedding date. I had them sitting in a box over the weekend and they got incredibly flat. For the next month and half, they will be hanging the utility closest




Whew. That was one major project that feels good to get checked off the list!

Always & Forever,
ME


*that's what he said.

9 comments:

  1. They look beautiful. I think you made a savy choice.

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  2. Very cute! They look lovely. I am curious to see your mock paper one.

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  3. Good choice my friend, they look fantastic!

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  4. They are really beautiful! Can I ask how much each one cost you to make? Also - which sprays did you order off of Afloral?

    Thanks!!

    (I tried a tissue paper pom and really don't love it - plus it took a TON of time!)

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  5. I guess I left no way for you to let me know...here's my contact info.

    Thanks again.

    Katie

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  6. I'm trying to make these for my wedding...do you still have these available to buy off of you?

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  7. Anonymous-
    Sorry, I sold these about four years ago, after my wedding.

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  8. Would you say that afloral had good quality silk flowers? I am looking to make a hydrangea centerpiece for my dining room table but want the flowers to look as real as possible.

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  9. How obnoxiously large were they when you first put just the stems in? I'm trying to make the most cost effective, largest poof of flowers that I can to sit on eiffel towers vases for our centerpieces.

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