COFFEE FILTER ROSES (1)

COFFEE FILTER ROSES:

Have you seen this? This is an image from http://www.mommymakesroses.com/ It is one of the assortment of colors and types that she makes. I am trying to make something like this.

This is the link to the Martha Stewart site. The directions are written, click on the 'video' part to watch them being made! 
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=225e759a91841110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=coffee%20filter%20roses&rsc=ns2006_m1
by Cassie Mae Chappell.

The gal has a website to sell them, I put the link here cause they mention it on the MS site.
http://www.mommymakesroses.com/

They LOOK so REAL! All with a $4 package of cone coffee filters and some water colors!

I set out to try a couple of these roses! Here are my pictures! I got the coffee filters at Costco as was recommended! Under $4 for 400! BTW, this stash makes about 50 roses! It takes 8 to make one depending on the size. If you print the directions and then copy the pattern again at 30% shrinkage for example, you can get a smaller rose. I want to try this next for a white topiary I want to make!te in the crevices and interior. Then I used white water based paint on the individual petals. I dried them with my low-air hair dryer. This made the petals more opaque.
Below: shows one rose made with painting the edges green and leaving the petals alone. The light from the sun through the window shows how see-through it is. The 'rose' on the right shows how opague the watered-down white water color paint made that rose. I did want the rose white on purpose.

I played with natural color filters I had in my home already and that we use for making coffee.Here are two pictures of how that rose came out. I am going to try another one with the petals stained in coffee first.

I used this spray sealer on the roses after they were dry to keep them with more body and to preserve them longer. It makes removing dust much easier.

I took the orginal pattern from the Martha Stewart site and reduced it on my copier to 60% and 75% of their original size. I am playing with scale to see which sizes will work best for the topiaries I want to make for Christmas decor.

The next picture down shows the roses from the front view. I have painted the (two smaller ones) this morning, so the petals are a bit limp. The 60% is on the bottom. In that picture it looks like the two smaller ones are so similar in size, but in real life the 75% does show more volume.

Since the petals stay limp for a while, I used a small dixie cup (bathroom size) to hold the rose until it is completely dry. I just poked a hole in the bottom of the cup and slipped the wire through.

At the smaller sizes, the roses take up 1/2 the wire length and 1/2 the cone filters. So, instead of yielding 50 roses or so from the 400 pack, you will get about 100 roses out of it!

Below: Pictures of the 8 more 50% sized roses I made along with the ones I had done. Double click on picture to see it larger. In that bottom picture are MY roses too!

I got these elements together for a topiary arrangement. This is why I wanted to make roses in the first place. Light green reindeer moss, faux pearls, and the coffee filter ivory/white roses.  

Coffee Filter Roses  (2) link here