I was wondering about whether I could make wired wafer paper centers for some larger flowers to avoid having to combine gumpaste and wafer paper in one flower, and yes, you can.
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Materials needed:
*Wafer paper
*Round paper punch in the size of the finished center
*Food coloring or petal dust to color the center
*Floral wire in a gauge around 18 or a little smaller
*Water or vodka to stick the layers together
*A silicone flower center mold (optional)
How To Make The Centers.
1. To make the centers, start with a flower center silicone mold, or if you don’t need the texture, just layer round wafer paper circles on top of each other, using some vodka to stick them together. You can use scrap wafer paper on the inside of the center, the outside will be what people see when you’re done.
2. Punch out 10-15 rounds and stick about half of them together in a stack inside the center mold.
3. Take an 8-10″ length of floral wire and bend a circle in it, then bend it so that it can stand up straight with the hook on the flat surface and the wire coming up out of the center of the circle.
4. Attach the wire to the stack of wafer paper rounds by placing it on the round, then layering more on top of it.
5. Attach more wafer paper rounds over the stack, sandwiching the wire inside more layers of the paper.
6. When you’ve securely enclosed the wire, place the entire center on a wafer paper round that’s about 1-2″ larger than the main stack, and fold the edges around to the back where the wire sticks out, That will cover the edge of the center so that it doesn’t look like layers of paper.
7. Let the flower center dry completely, with the wire sticking straight up to dry in that position. Color the center with petal dust or liquid food coloring.
Add the petals.
8. When the center is totally dry, add the petals around it in layers by attaching the wafer paper petals to the back of the center.
9. Start with the smaller petals in the center of the flower and surround the center with smaller petals.
10. Add the larger outer petals to the center in as many rows as you need to in order to create the flower.
I used 3-4 layers to give the sunflower a full appearance.
To shop for colored wafer paper on Etsy, click here.
For another article with tips on making wafer paper flowers, click here.
This video shows the process:
You could make centers for all types of flowers like ranunculus, daisies, sunflowers, etc. Basically anything that has a flat center if you’re using this method.
Start with wafer paper that’s colored in the final center color to make it easier, or paint them after they dry completely.
Wafer paper supply list:
Shop for materials to make wafer paper flowers on Amazon (#ad):
- Wafer paper, white or colored
- Silicone flower center molds
- Petal veiners
- Petal dust
- Floral wire
- Tylose glue
- Fluffy paintbrushes
- Flower former
- Craft scissors
- Liquid Food Coloring
- Food-grade glycerin to make wafer paper conditioner
- Corn starch
- Flower paper punches
- Steamer to shape wafer paper
