Good Morning all you Hot Helmar fans! It is L. Grace Lauer here!
Today I am going to share with you how to make fabric flowers from polyester with Helmar glue! These were made for my Sister's wedding. I am going to take a quick moment to shout out "Congrats to Sheay and Tom".
WARNING! Long post... grab a cup of your favorite comfort beverage and a snack! I am pretty sure you will enjoy it!
Now, lets get started - How to make the fabric flowers...
Step 1: Make sure you are working with 100% Polyester! ALL natural fibers are flammable as well as Rayon and a few other man made fibers... however Polyester with mostly melt when heated. Keep a close eye on it.
Step 2: Cut a circle out of the fabric
Step 3: Fold circle in 1/2 and then in 1/2 again (Skip to step 6 if you are wanting the round lollipop flowers)
Step 4: Cut two or three slits from the outside curve toward the center about 2/3 of the way in.
Step 5: unfold the circle
Step 6: hold OVER open flame (not in the flame) from a candle,to gently melt the edges of each petal.
Make many of these with different sized circles and then layer them up!
HELMAR STEP: I used Helmar Premium Craft Glue to adhere each layer to the other and to also adhere the hair "fastener" (clip, wire twisties, comb) to the flowers. Though this glue dries fast to the touch you need to let it cure for a bit longer. Let set for the glue to cure completely before testing it in your hair... I speak from experience!
***Make sure there is ventilation in the room (watch for a breeze though it tends to blow the heat and flame around and you can easily get burned when the flame is unsteady.
Lets look at some examples...
Hair piece #1 - Bridal flower (this one is made from the remnants of her dress when she got it altered) Helmar Premium Craft Glue was used between every layer and to attach the sliver eyelash ribbon and even the metal center piece. Helmar Gemstone glue came to the rescue when I noticed there was a gem missing in the metal center piece, shhh... don't tell my sister!
Helmar Gemstone glue was used to adhere a spare gemstone (yes I have a selection of those handy just in case... hehe) into the empty place drying totally clear to let it shine! Because this piece was made with the chiffon from her dress it was quite flimsy. I used Helmar Fabric Stiffener & Draping Liquid to give the petals some rigidity.
Here it is in action on the big day! (This photo is courtesy of Sarah Christine Photography in Fort Collins, CO, I highly recommend her!) Isn't my baby sister beautiful?
Bridal Shoe Accessories: The flowers attached with safty pins. (This photo is courtesy of Sarah Christine Photography in Fort Collins, CO)
Flower Girl Accessories! Hair pieces #2 and #3 - All the blue, yellow and grey flowers in the top photo were used to adorn these lovely little ladies with mass amounts of hand crafted Helmar infused pretties! Everything from their hair to their belts to their flowered poms have Helmar all over it! Here is my precious little daughter and her hair piece. (This photo is courtesy of Sarah Christine Photography in Fort Collins, CO)
Their Hair pieces were created like the Bridal Hair piece as well as their belt flowers only I used a large safety pin to attach them to the belt.
Their poms on the other hand started off as a $1 store styrofoam ball (2 for a $1) Using Helmar Craft & Hobby PVA Glue, which is rated for styrene, all over the balls and then wrapping them with strips of the silver taffeta fabric (left over from their dresses that my sister made, yes I come from a very crafty family) made the perfect base for the flowers. After the Helmar Premium Craft Glue was dried on the flower they were pinned into the Styrofoam balls with strait pins and for some extra security they were also glued with Helmar Premium Craft Glue . The handles were done the same way and even after some friendly battles with the Ring Bearer the poms had no mishaps and stuck together like all my Helmar projects do. (This photo is courtesy of Sarah Christine Photography in Fort Collins, CO)
The Ring Bearer Boutonniere - this was created with this technique explained HERE in a great video tutorial (I skipped the inking and misting). I used Helmar Acid Free Glue to adhere the layers together again to make them very secure because they were in the hands of children for hours... and well kids will be kids. Then I used Helmar Gemstone Glue and sprinkled them with an iridescent glitter from PK Glitz. We added these yellow flowers to the flower girl poms also to bring in more of the yellow shade from the programs and invitations. The Card stock was from Coredinations Foundations.
Matron of Honor and Mother of the bride hair flowers - Now since I was the Matron of honor at this wedding I did not get photos of my hair but these were the hair pieces I had the stylist twist into my side fishtail french braid. (This photo was taken prior to the gluing process on the burned flowers...)
Here are three of these little guys clustered in the Mother of the Bride's Hair.
I made these the same way as the bride's but much smaller about 1 1/2" circles. I used wire on the backs to be able to twist them into any hair style or bobbie pin cluster. To secure the wires I used... You guessed it Helmar Premium Craft Glue.
I know, I know... but I warned you this was long! I am almost done!
I had to add to this post that this technique was used again just yesterday while adding leaves to my son's Peter Pan Costume! The leaves are attached to the costume made by my mother... with Helmar Premium Craft Glue because it is washable! If you have a question about wash-ability or what glue is right for what surface... please check out this chart HERE on our blog.
Well that's all folks! I hope you were able to finish your beverage and snack in time. I hope you all have a Happy Helmar Day and please leave a comment below! Thank you for your time!
Helmar Design Team Member
