Crimsonheart Creations

Coffee Filter Roses.
A Completed Rose
In a previous blog post I showed you my attempt at a tutorial for Coffee Filter Flowers. I really enjoyed making them and they came out pretty good! The tutorial I followed was really easy, but being the kind of person I am, I wanted to find my own way of doing it. I also wanted to try to make them smaller for other projects I have in mind. So I took to playing with Filters, Acrylic Paints, Tape and more throughout the day.  Finally, later in the evening, I struck gold! I made a beautiful rose that I was so proud of. So I decided to write up my own tutorial on my new method and share it with anyone who might want to give it a try. If you look at the post I did before.. you will see that I found the hardest part was dealing with the masking tape... so in my new method that was the first thing to go!
Supplies Needed :	A Coffee Filter Acrylic Paint in your choice of color A Little Water Paint Brush or Sponge Brush Hair Dryer (Optional) Q-Tip Hot Glue Gun Scissors Tweezers (Optional)
The first thing you want to do is get a little of your paint out, and without adding any water to it, take your Q-Tip and roll it around in the paint covering all the cotton. I roll the Q-tip around a little more to make a more elongated shape. Then set aside and let it dry. Note : The Q-Tip is going to be the very center of the flower... if you look at the picture on the top of this post, you will see my bud is yellow. I was experimenting. So you can use any color you want, or a variation of the color you are using for your filters. For this tutorial I am making a yellow flower, so I wanted a yellow center as well.
Now pull out your Coffee Filter and lay it flat. Splash a couple drops of water into your paint and blend it together. This will help you to saturate both sides of the filter at once. Don't use too much water though, or else your filter will be pretty delicate to work with. Once you have the entire filter painted, flip it over to check for any spots that may not have gotten the paint to soak through and paint it up. Pay special attention to the outer edges of your filter because that is the part you will be using most.
Once you have your filter covered... it's time to pull out the hair dryer and blow it dry. I usually place the filter in the palm of one hand, spreading out my fingers so it won't fly away or rip and aim the dryer in the center of my palm and just wiggle it around to the edges. Your filter should be completely dry in less than a minute. :)
Now that your filter is dry, it should feel a little bit stiffer and more sturdy. It's time to fold it. Fold it in half, 4 times. It should look like a elongated cone. I can't tell you if folding it 4 times makes much of a difference, but that's how I do it.
Now we want to cut straight across, about one inch down.  Unfold the piece you just cut, and cut one slit so you now have one long piece instead of a circle. You'll notice when you lay your strip out, one side is kind of curvy, and one side is pretty straight. The straight cut side will be the bottom.
Next comes the creating!!  Grab your painted Q-Tip drop a little dab of hot glue on the stick part just under the cotton area. With the straight side of your filter strip down, attach it to the Q-tip but have the cotton area a little lower than the strip so that the "bud" will stay indented into the flower.
Now we are going to twist the strip. I lay my thumb down and then gently twist the strip twice, around every inch or so. You need to be pretty gentle so that the strip doesn't rip. But don't worry, little rips are fine if they happen. This makes a sort of bowl shape in the strip. You want to try and make sure that the edges of the bowls are all cupped inward, these will be your petals. Click the thumbnails to see larger images.
Now to roll our flower... Hold the Q-Tip by the unpainted end in your hand and start to roll the strip around the top of the Q-tip. You can do some shaping as you go along. I do my rolls fairly loose so I can have some room to play with the shape when it is done. Drop a dab of of glue down at the bottom of every other bowl to ensure they all stick together. You may have some spaces where you can see through the rose don't worry about that during the rolling process. We will take care of that at the end.
Now your Rose should be all rolled and glued together. This is your chance to play around with it's shape a little. Move some of the petals around if you want to, spread some out wider etc. This part is all on what you want to see. Once your rose has the shape you are happy with, from the underside of the flower glue down any areas that are not stuck on. Then just clean up any glue strings you may have. (I use tweezers for this part so as not to mess up the shape with my fat fingers).
VOILA!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I tried to add a lot of images because I am a more visual learner. Feel free to show me your results!!  Thank You! Kelly