Perennials from My Garden

By Dellys Presnell

This book offers you the chance to become the artist you always dreamed of - and to save you money at the same time!

With this book you will be able to:

* Create sumptuous bouquets for weddings

* Handcraft an original centerpiece for Thanksgiving or Christmas tables

* Make a beautiful arrangement for Mother's Day

The book includes a step-by-step guide to making over fifty different flowers using crepe paper and other materials.

There is a whole chapter on orchids. The colored photographs of my own work show you how you too can embellish your home with floral creations. And the flowers are so realistic no one will believe you made them yourself! I hope this craft gives you as much pleasure as it has given me over the years.

Dellys Presnell

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638814757

Book preview

Title Page

Copyright © 2022 Dellys Presnell

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-63881-474-0 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63881-475-7 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

To the memory of my beloved sister, Doris, and brother, David, a highly decorated veteran of Vietnam.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Beauty—a Reflection of Our Souls

Chapter 2: Techniques

Chapter 3: Roses

Chapter 4: Lilies

Chapter 5: Sunflowers

Chapter 6: Orchids

Chapter 7: Water Nymphs and Blue Round Mirror

Chapter 8: Rembrandt Tulips

Chapter 9: Daffodils

Chapter 10: Gladiolus

Chapter 11: Chinese Trumpets

Chapter 12: Magnolias

Chapter 13: The Morning Glory Flower

Chapter 14: Poinsettias

Chapter 15: The Zinnia Flower

Chapter 16: Hollyhocks

Chapter 17: Mums

Chapter 18: Dahlias

Chapter 19: A Pot Full of Gloriosa Superba Flowers

Chapter 20: Foxgloves

Chapter 21: Pansies

Chapter 22: Ranunculus

Chapter 23: Carnations

Chapter 24: Gerberas

Chapter 25: The Colors of Autumn

Chapter 26: A Festival of Blooming Cherries

Chapter 27: Adorning with Green Leaves

Chapter 28: Hydrangeas

Chapter 29: Creations—Adorning with Fake Cakes

Chapter 30: A Snow-White Dream Wedding Bouquet

Chapter 31: Topiaries Full of Roses

Chapter 32: Sweethearts and Valentine’s Boxes

Chapter 33: Giant Buds and Styrofoam Bricks

Chapter 34: A Pineapple Decked with Sunflowers

Chapter 35: Halloween and Pumpkins

Chapter 36: Anthuriums

Chapter 37: Sophisticated Orchids

Notes and Glossary of Terms

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I need to acknowledge and give my deepest thanks to my daughter-in-law, Katya, and both my sons, James and Johnny, who lovingly and unselfishly, from the very beginning of my writing the book had been deeply involved and committed to make sure the book will be a success, and my sister, Damys, who helped me choose the photos.

INTRODUCTION

I have written this book with the personal hope of bringing back a forgotten but beautiful and rewarding art form: the creation of true-to-life-looking flowers using duplex crepe paper. This craft was very popular some sixty years ago or longer. As far as I can see, this art form has been replaced by silk and plastic flowers coming from China.

I know there are thousands of crafters out there who will be thankful I have taken the time to create this book. I have inserted my own crude illustrations and beautiful photographs, stencils, descriptions, and narratives on how to assemble them easily. When ready to assemble the flowers depicted here, bring the book over to a copy machine and copy the specific stencils you plan to work with, then glue the paper copies over to a sturdy cardboard, and name each stencil and the flower to which they belong.

In addition, in each chapter, I have added a short story and description of where the flowers originally came from. In other words, I have tried to make it functional and interesting to the best of my ability. Furthermore, I have greatly enhanced and improved this art form by adding tints and aerosols; also, at times with spectacular results, I use beads, spangles, yarns, and glitter to embellish their likeness and the beauty of the roses and flowers I have created.

I have also made it user friendly, with easy-to-follow steps. I hope you will pass it on to others, especially younger generations, like daughters or granddaughters, who, like myself, did learn this craft while I was very young, and in the future, they might like to accomplish something big and rewarding with it. Besides, this book is not only a hobby for one’s own personal enjoyment, but also it has commercial appeal for those crafters who wish to make use of my labor and turn it into a lucrative business. If you wish to start a business in your hometown, here you have all the stencils and steps necessary to accomplish it.

By the way, with respect to some of my own narratives regarding where the flowers originally came from and the like, I remember how this one teacher who so patiently taught me and others this art form handed down to us a simple piece of paper typed with very short instructions.

Page after page, the sole description of each specimen of flowers began with something like this: This flower is named so and so…below, copy and draw out the stencils…then using such and such crepe paper color, create them…period. In other words, no history or description followed to describe any of the flowers. I believed at the time it would have made it much more interesting if it were included. However, what I lacked in prose, I made up for with an incredible artistic ability and talent!

Therefore, in contrast and consideration of what was done in the past, I have tried to make the job depicted here as attractive and interesting as possible for you. I am describing each flower, and I am trying to give information of where originally each flower came from and who brought it to America.

Thank you very much for your interest, but most of all, for practicing this beautiful art form and for keeping it alive for many, many more generations to come.

Tools of the Trade

Materials Needed

Aerosols (all colors)

Gold and silver fast enamel

All shades fast enamels

Glitter (all colors))

Gloria duplex crepe paper

Gloria fine crepe paper

Regular scissors

Pinking scissors

Small scissors

Pliers

Wire cutter

Wires (gauge #18, #20, #22)

Thread (all colors)

All-purpose Elmer’s glue

Cotton balls

Brown cake powder

Red-rouge cake powder

Beads (all colors)

Spangles (all colors)

A professional craft glue gun

Gloves

Facial masks

Paraffin

Round blue mirror

Craft punchers

Carbon paper

Coloring pencils

CHAPTER 1

Beauty—a Reflection of Our Souls

Perennials from My Garden, as I have said before, has been written for thousands of crafters like myself, who also loves to create and surround ourselves with beauty, day after day, year after year; and what is a better way to accomplish this personal longing for beauty than by creating and handcrafting all kinds of beautiful flowers.

I have a passion for beauty, and to quench this personal thirst, I consider flowers to be the answer. We crafters go about creating beautiful things in spite of domestic chores or busy job schedules. We walk the extra mile to accomplish this. For many of us, the most important thing in the world is beauty! Furthermore, I honestly believe that the majority of us not only wish to provide food and shelter for our significant others, but also we look for ways to surround them with beauty.

In my humble opinion, I believe, that beautiful and welcoming surroundings help convey feelings of love. Also, when we contemplate beautiful things, immediately we experience an internal joy. In fact, what we are experiencing is the spiritual exultation beauty conveys. Those inner feelings of exultation are a reflection of our own souls. Through beauty, we are acknowledging life is worth being lived; life is beautiful! Beauty is an invitation to exist and to survive. Beauty is the reflecting mirror of our own souls.

Embellishing Your Home with Flowers

Well, and while we are talking about beautiful things, I would like to ask you a question: Is there a nicer way to decorate and embellish a home than with the use of flowers? Flowers add elegance and color to any room. Flowers can help create harmony and show good taste. In fact, flowers are the ultimate means of decoration.

Displaying flowers and green foliage all over the place adds an air of grandeur. The addition of flowers and plants to a room helps that room vibrate with life, coming alive with raw energy. Flowers are among the most beautiful things the creation has offered to embellish our surroundings and our planet; meanwhile, there is also a very sad fact of life regarding this. While nature has been working so diligently and arduously to create these gorgeous things, on the other hand, their life span is so incredibly fragile and ephemeral.

In desolation, we watch without being able to interfere and help how the petals of the beautiful rose fall away one by one, disintegrating completely right in front of our very eyes, and like Humpty Dumpty, we cannot put it together again! This sad trend of nature leaves us with a bad taste in our mouth; we had wished the beautiful rose would have held intact, forever! But wait, nevertheless, we still can find other means to emulate and keep their enchanting beauty alive! For example, how about using duplex crepe paper, aerosols, tints, paraffin, and glitter to recreate them and continue nourishing our eyes with their beauty?

My personal quest is to perpetuate their gorgeous beauty at all cost. I promise you that with the help of this book, stencils, and drawings, you will have the opportunity to create with crepe paper enchanting-looking roses and flowers appearing so real they are capable of fooling the eye. You will be able to display them on center tables or windows sills, hang from ceilings, or perch them on trellises and pedestals. Likewise, you will be able to fill up vases with flowers of many different colors and forms. Also, you will learn how to create beautiful water nymphs, delicate roses, and lilies submerged in water, of course, by covering them first with paraffin.

In addition, you will also learn to create wedding bouquets, Christmas wreaths, green foliage plants, corsages, buttoners, swags for your walls. You can also have trees painted on canvas, with plenty branches on which to hang magnolias or garlands placed around tables for any wedding party or fantasy cakes covered with petals and roses or topiaries constructed out of paper matched with inflated balloons covered with peonies or chocolate heart boxes covered with red roses for Valentine’s Day celebrations or sunflower bouquets and wreaths for Halloween and Thanksgiving parties or poinsettias covered with glitter for Christmas celebrations and many, many more, and all this, at a fraction of its cost.

My Personal Experience with the Craft

I would like to share with you how I learned this craft. I reckon you might be curious. For some of you, if you are my age (something I am trying very hard to forget) or even older, this craft might be familiar to you; for others, it will not. This form of art was very popular many, many years ago.

Anyway, at the time I learned it, I was only a child, living in my little and beautiful island nation Cuba. Well, at the time this took place, I was twelve years old. I don’t even remember the year this took place. Furthermore, I have to confess that I don’t even remember the name of the artist who offered and taught me this beautiful and rewarding craft.

A Magical Glass Window Garden

At any rate, as far as I remember, for the event I am about to describe, this artist and sole creator of this flower show chose the windows of the most elegant store in town, which by the way, was named La Elegante (meaning literally, the Elegant). Of course, her exhibition took place during the spring season.

She chose the windows of this magnificent and popular dress shop store, using for this event the most colorful array of gorgeous-looking flowers any one would have cared to imagine. The bouquet of flowers were perched on high and low pedestals, providing easy visual access from the street to an eager audience.

These windows were literally filled with chock-full of colorful bouquets of roses in white, red, yellow, and pink. Some were on very tall vases resting on Corinthian and onyx pedestals; others with small round vases were holding orchids, peonies, carnations, gladioluses, pansies, sunflowers, and morning glories, etc. In addition, there were water lilies, resting on pale-blue round glass mirrors resembling quiet ponds!

Inside these windows there was a true magical garden, not only exhibiting diverse types of colorful flowers but also tiny fake butterflies and birds complimenting the scene; meanwhile, there was a soothing noise of cascading water in the background, while soft spiritual music completed the picture. All this inspirational surroundings helped create the marvels of creation in its most spectacular majesty and splendor.

What is more spectacular about this all is the garden was created using only two-sided color duplex crepe paper!

At the time this took place, my mother, who was a lover of art in general and plants and flowers in particular, attended this exhibition. When she returned home, all she spoke about with delirious enthusiasm was this magnificent flower show. She especially kept mentioning the water lilies resting on blue round glass mirrors, depicting ponds!

Later on, at her insistence, I went myself to see the flower show. At the time, like the majority of children, I liked drawing. I think every child does. On account of this, I guess, my mother thought I was good with my hands, and I guess, she extrapolated I would be good with this. She was right!

To my great surprise, I found out that she had registered me to learn it! As I said before, I was only a child; therefore, I followed orders. It never occurred to me to question her Why me? (after all, I had two other sisters) much less, to have said, No, I don’t want to learn it. In retrospect, I felt proud I was chosen, and I will always be glad to have happily consented, now I can pass this knowledge to others.

I was a very docile, skinny, smile-eyed, happy-go-lucky child, always bubbling with great enthusiasm and unbound energy. Among other things, at the time, I did not know the meaning of fear, much less failure. This is the blessing of being a child; when one is a child, one learns to believe and to trust.

In this respect, I have always believed that I can learn anything—that is, of course, if given the chance to learn it. Anyway, I was told to go to class and introduce myself; so I went to class with notebook, wires, duplex crepe paper, scissors, paraffin, and all.

After the lady had met me, she came back to see my mother and told her, But your daughter is only a child, and these classes are geared for adults.

My mother replied, She is only small in stature and young in age, but she is very capable. My mother’s comment settled the score and the lady’s worries. I began dutifully to attend classes on the due date.

In retrospect, I remember, how this artist at times rebuked her adult students complaining over what they thought were difficult tasks; she would look at them sternly and said, Shame on you people, look how well this little one is doing. At that point, they all looked at me, lowered their heads, and in shame, proceeded quietly on their tasks; my presence in the class kept them in check.

This is how I was able to learn this beautiful and rewarding art form. Therefore, on account of this experience, I am able to write the book and pass my own beautiful experience over to you. When you get ready to start using this book to create your own flowers, do not go about it in a hurry; do not do anything sloppily, take your time. This is a labor of love. Once assembled, the flowers will last for a long, long time, especially, when you add aerosol paint to them. The aerosol makes them sturdy, look brighter, and therefore, longer-lasting.

Also, always cut the petals and leaves double, or what I call mirrorlike fashion. In addition, as the years go by, if the original color fades, adding aerosol will revive them again, making them look brighter and brand-new. This is a simple and exquisite form of art that will help you bring up your own artistic talent.

CHAPTER 2

Techniques

How to Create Gorgeous Flowers Using Gloria Duplex Crepe Paper

Being able to create flowers using duplex crepe paper is lots of fun and highly therapeutic. I personally get a kick out of watching how by using this simple medium, we can imitate nature in all its splendor—so close to the real thing as to fool the eyes.

It is amazing to watch how that rectangular fold of hard and stiff-looking paper, once cut and molded to the desired shapes, takes the exact form you intended to give to it. Duplex crepe paper like gold is pliable, moldable, resilient, and forgiving!

Once a Very Flourishing Industry

Another compelling reason for which I have decided to write this book, as I said earlier, is it worries me that the creation of flowers using duplex crepe paper has died out or has been forgotten or is not as well-known at this time as it was long time ago, and I want to revive this rewarding and prestigious craft again. Therefore, with this book, I have committed myself to keep it alive for this generation and many more generations to come. From now on, you will be able to fill up your homes with gorgeous roses and flowers without the need of water or sun; these flowers will never wilt or stink up your place.

Once you have been exposed to this craft, you will always have opportunities to use it, not only for yourself, but as well for your friends and family; you will also be able to create flowers for important occasions, such as anniversaries and festive occasions like Christmas, Halloween, weddings, etc. The sky is the limit!

The steps and directions on how to handcraft them are easy to follow, and the results spectacular! Once you have learned the ropes and gotten the hang of it, honestly, you won’t believe your own eyes.

The Magic Language of Flowers

Flowers by themselves can create universes; whether real or recreated, they have magic. Flowers are very capable of changing the mood of places and things; besides adding elegance, flowers help any occasion spark with finesse. Would you imagine a wedding party, anniversary celebration, Mother’s Day celebration, or grand dinner buffet without flowers?

Too Expensive a Bill!

On the other hand, I know what you have been thinking all along. Of course, you would prefer if we were dealing here with natural grown, cultivated flowers, perfume and all. I understand, but can you imagine what our monthly bill would escalate to? Insurmountable. This luxury is saved for the rich and famous.

Poor me, at this time, I am having a hard time making ends meet, never mind freshly cut flowers!

Besides, while taking in consideration the above-made comments, consider that creating our own garden with duplex crepe paper is an incredible economical feat, and if treated nicely, the flowers can last forever!

The Drawbacks of a Real Garden

In fact, imagine, a real garden, which, by the way, is something to be reckoned with and seriously thought about. Of course, nothing takes the place and pleasure of cutting and smelling the roses early in the morning, but if we cannot afford it, at least, we can substitute and create our own garden with crepe paper!

Don’t forget, a real garden has its own drawbacks—such as, dealing with the plant’s viral diseases and too many other plagues common to gardening, needing to water them, dirtying our hands with compost, and spending money on soil improvement.

We also need to worry about squirrels, rabbits, and mites; about buying commercial repellents, digging, flooding, or crying over the last rainfall, which squashed our beautiful peonies. In addition, we have to worry about cat litter, slugs, snails, and quite frankly, many other vulnerable mishaps, which commonly accompany natural grown plants, not to mention, the poisonous resins stemming from their leaves.

Well, I hope, I have been able to demonstrate graphically the horrors entailed by dealing with a real garden, and I hope that I have convinced you to see my own point of view; flowers made out of duplex crepe paper are better. So make sure to keep your hands clean of dirt and grime and create your garden using duplex crepe paper. And, oh, regarding perfume, you can always sprinkle your favorite one on your paper roses.

Divisions of the Flower Plant Kingdom

Out there, in the realm of the plant kingdom, besides many other types of botanical classifications and divisions with strange Latin names, there are simpler categories and divisions of them; for example, and I am sure you already know, they are divided into annuals, perennials, and biennials.

Annuals flourish in early spring, and the perennials last for several months, even years. The biennials take from twelve to twenty-four months to complete a growing cycle.

For our own purpose, ours will always be considered perennials, which means, perpetual, so in our own case, we will always have exuberant flowers, no matter the season or whether it rains, shines, or even, if we are experiencing blizzards.

Flowering Plants

Today, in our own planet, according to the book Incredible Plants published by the Nature Company, there are over a quarter of a million flowering plants! Please don’t you panic now or remain awake all night long thinking I am intending to put you to recreate a quarter million of them! No way; we are only going to recreate a few of the most popular and beautiful ones of the creation. For example, how about if we start first by creating the gorgeous cabbage rose?

Getting Organized

Before we get deeply involved here and to make it easier for you on how to get yourself organized, I am including some useful tips. For example, choose an area of your house or apartment where you will feel comfortable working—that is, an area with enough space for you to move your hands around and where you will have easy access to the tools of the trade. Also, and this is very important, use a very comfortable chair on which to sit, making sure to have a pillow to keep your back erect. I cannot stress how important this is; otherwise, your back will begin to hurt after a while, but if you do as I say, your back will never hurt at the end of the day.

In addition, we must not forget that creating something out of nothing requires, first of all, time in which to create it and patience to accomplish it. Most of all, the magic word here is patience. We need patience in order to create beautiful things, but the rewards will always be far in excess of what we might have expected. When I create my flowers, I get out of the way the things I consider more tedious—for example, if the flower has buds, and many of them do, this is the first thing I assemble and get out of the way.

Using the Assembly-Line Method

When creating my flowers, I always put to use the all-American assembly-line method of work to make my job and yours easier.

By using this method, any job ends up faster and easier on account of the constant and repetitive steps. For example, when creating a bouquet of roses, I figure out first how many roses I will need to fill up a vase. Therefore, first, I cut all the wires I know I will need to assemble each rose. Second, I twist one end of each wire or stem into small hooks. Third, and according to the type of rose or flower, I either create pistils for the center of the roses or create tiny buds when the rose in question demands it.

If this is the case, I proceed to create tiny balls using polyfill, placing the small piece of polyfill at the center of my hands, rubbing this piece until I create a small ball, and then I proceed by passing one end of the wire through the top of each ball until the hook grabs the polyfill ball securely. At this time, then using a square piece of crepe paper, four-by-four inches long, I cover each ball, squashing it tightly into the crepe paper, and using the fingers, I gather the ends of the crepe paper at the base of the ball.

Then using thread, I tighten the crepe paper firmly around the wire, trim off any excess of crepe paper hanging, and finally, by using a ribbon strip of green fine crepe paper, cover the rest of the exposed wire or stem with it. As you can see, by using the assembly-line method, your job will constantly advance in unison as you proceed and in an orderly fashion.

Duplex and Fine Crepe Paper

You have probably never before worked with crepe paper; in this case, I need to let you know that there are two different types—the duplex double-sided crepe paper and the fine crepe paper.

The duplex, two-color-sided, crepe paper is used for the petals and the leaves of the flowers, and the fine crepe paper is used to cut long, narrow strips of ribbons to cover the stems, branches, and exterior base of the branches. Sometimes it is also used to create filaments for the hearts, or the centers of many flowers.

Moreover, as in the case of peonies and ranunculus, both types of flowers have so many transparent petals that the fine crepe paper is ideal to recreate them. Cover the stems using narrow ribbons of green fine crepe paper; always use this thin, fine crepe paper for this task instead of the hard double-sided duplex.

To also save time at the very beginning of your job, cut enough strips of ribbons out of this big rectangular folds; of course, using the right color to match your specific roses or flowers. Once you get this out of the way, proceed by cutting the petals and the leaves using the mirrorlike fashion, or double.

When the petals or the leaves of a flower needs a different aerosol color for contrast or to enhance the likeness of the flower, make sure to do this step after the petals have their central veins or wires glued to them. Then set each petal aside so the paint and glue dry completely before attaching them to form the flower.

In addition, cut and group the petals and the leaves by order of size until you are ready to assemble the flowers. By doing this, you will always manage automatically to know the order in which to place each petal, without confusion, around its heart.

The Hearts or Centers of the Flowers

Pistils when called for can help enhance the beauty of flowers much better, making them look much more real; therefore, when they are required, you may want to buy them already assembled, but if the boat to China takes too long, you can also create them yourselves. There is more than one way to create pistils.

Creating Pistils

One easy way to do this is by cutting narrow strips of yellow fine crepe paper, then using short