Foamiran orchids - a tutorial

Hi, DT Henriëtte here today sharing a tutorial on how to make this 

foamiran orchid branch.

I have a step-by-step photo tutorial on how I made this branche.

First I looked on the internet for a free orchid template.  

There are a lot of templates or example on Pinterest. I used this one. 

Before printing I did scale it down a bit.

With a wooden skewer I traced the cut out template pieces on white foamiran.

All pieces 5 times and then I cut them out.

For the 15 smaller leaves I used a simple leave template I drew myself..

With a baby wipe and oil pastels I added yellow colour to the centre part of the orchid.

(I think these parts of the flower are called the column and labellum).

Using a wood skewer and a ink pad I added the pink dots.
You can use other coloring media like chalks, inks or paint.

Then I held the foamiran pieces shortly against a medium hot iron.

While the pieces are still warm I pressed them on to a mold to get more texture.

You don't have to use a special orchids leave mold. Crafteezee has suitable molds 

available like this one or this one.

You shape the petals a little with your hands.

Using a heat gun I glued a single stamen on a piece of green wire.

I pricked a small hole in the centre piece and carefully pushed the wire through the hole.

Then I pricked a hole in the 2 leaves part, pushed the wire through and with a dot of hot glue  attached it to the first part.

This is repeated with the 3 leaves part.

The stem was to slender so I added a double folded piece of wire and taped it 

together using green florist tape.

I made 5 flowers repeating the above steps.

The branche also has 3 flower buds. 

I shape a cone using tin foil and glued it on a double folded wire.

Crafteezee has ready made buds in store.

I colored the leaves on the bottom part with green pastels. 

Then I glued on the 5 little leaves. Each leave overlapping the previous one a little bit.

I used flower tape for the stems.

Crafteezee also has wired stems available in the store.

Finally I made the branche.

I started with a long piece of taped wire and begin by adding the first flower bud, 

wrapping the tape around the two wires.

 After a little bit you add another flower bud, wrapping the tape 

around all the wires and so on.

The result is a beautiful orchid branche.

With just a sheet of white foamiran and a few other supplies you can make 

these lovely flowers which last for a long time.

Thanks for visiting the Crafteezee blog.

Hugs, Henriëtte.