You'll need:
- White basket coffee filters
- Size: 1-4 cups size for small flower, 8-12 cups size for large flower.
- Quantity: 5 filters per small flower, and 6 filters per large flower.
- Semi-Moist Oval Pans Watercolor Set
- Flat 1 inch paint brush
- Small bowl of water
- Surface for drying (that you don't mind getting paint on)
- Small rags or paper towels
Instructions for Large Flower
Painting Outer 5 Layers:
Take five coffee filters (size 8-12 cups) and flatten them out completely. Then toss them on the table loosely on top of each other so that the ridges do not align perfectly. This is important so that it is easy to peel them apart when they are wet. Now stack them so that the edges are generally even. Fold the entire stack into fourths.
Using a flat 1 inch brush, fully wet the top curved edge of one side. While your brush is wet, smear your brush into one color of your watercolor paint so that it is very concentrated with the color. Using the flat edge of your brush, paint a thin line along the rim of the curved edge. Immediately soak your brush in water, then, with a clean soaked brush, paint downwards from the solid line to gradient the color downwards. Repeat on the other side.
You could add color to the middle and at the point at the bottom if desired, potentially with different colors. Remember to always soak first, then add concentrated color, then spread for gradient effect with clean water.
Before you dry, brush lots of clean water all over the entire stack to make sure that all layers have color.
Take the folded stack of painted coffee filters to your drying area (some place it's ok to get paint on). Use a small crumpled rag or crumpled paper towel and place it on the drying area surface. Start to peel apart your painted coffee filters. Stack the coffee filters one by one, putting a crumpled up rag or paper towel in between each one to give breathing room for them to dry. If you are using paper towels, you can reuse them for each round after they are dry to minimize waste.
Let dry. It takes a couple of hours until they are fully dry.
Painting Inside Yellow layer: Do the steps above, but only with yellow. Make one of these for every flower.
Assembling the flower:
Once dry, stack 5 colorful filters, and then one yellow on top (6 total).
Fold the entire stack into a fourth. Trim a pattern along the edges to give it a petal look.
Unfold the stack and adjust the layers so that the petal designs overlap in different places to look more natural.
Fold the entire stack in half. Fold a third of the stack forward, and a third of the stack backwards to make a three part accordion fold.
Staple the stack together as close to the bottom point as possible.
Starting in the very middle of your bundle where the yellow inside coffee filter is located, spread the entire stack out so that the yellow inside coffee filter is on the top in a circle and the stapled point is on the bottom.
Grab the top yellow inside coffee filter layer and start to bunch it upwards together so that it looks like a little flower bud. Repeat this step for each layer.
Once all the layers have been bunched upwards, fluff them down a little bit with the tips of your fingers to spread them out and help them look more natural.
Attach with glue or clothespins to whatever you'd like!
