Boîte de Fleurs

By Anne Marie Fowler - February 20, 2019

Boîte de Fleurs

MATERIALS

ARNOLD GRUMMER

Arnold Grummer's PAPERMILL Complete Papermaking Kit https://arnoldgrummer.com/arnold-grummer-s-papermill-complete-papermaking-kit.html

Cotton Lintner Sheet Pulp (8 oz.) https://arnoldgrummer.com/8oz-cotton-linter-sheet-pulp.html

-or-

Cotton Lintner Pre-shedded Pulp (8 oz.) https://arnoldgrummer.com/cotton-linter-pre-shredded-8-oz-package.html

Gold Dust (Copper would look great, as well) https://arnoldgrummer.com/gold-dust.html

Petals: Summer Gold https://arnoldgrummer.com/petals-summer-gold.html

OTHER
Paper (I suggest white or beige)Medium Round Paper Mache Box (4-inch diameter)Round Wood Plaques (4inch)

Small Wood Star Accent
Mini Wooden Peg

Dot and Flower Embellishments

Stencil for lid design

Tacky Glue

Acrylic Paints in your favorite colorGesso

Food Color

Versamark Pen

Gold Embossing Powder

Angel Mold
Flower Fondant Mold

Ribbon (1/4 inch wide and as long as you need for the layers of wafers)
Red Onion Skins (Hint: Buy one red onion but pick up some loose skins as well.)
Flower seeds of your choice
Circle Tags to fit in the Paper Mache Box
Creating the base components

Step 1: Using the papermaking kit, make two sheets of paper. Add acrylic paint in your choice of color. Remember that the color will lighten quite a bit when the paper is dry.

Step 2: Using the cotton lintner sheet or pre-shredded pulp, create the angel embellishment in the angel mold.

Step 3: Create twelve flower wafers using the flower fondant mold and cotton lintner (sheet or pre-shredded pulp). Be sure to add food coloring, onion skins, and a few flower seeds when mixing.

Step 4: You should allow everything to dry completely. You might also consider placing the flower wafers in the over for thirty minutes at 200 degrees. Be sure to watch the wafers to be sure they don’t burn. After thirty minutes, mine had toasted nicely, which gave a bit of character to the pieces. It really helped define the flower print from the fondant mold.

Step 5: Trim the flowers to fit the interior of the box if needed.

Creating the Boîte de Fleurs

Step 1: Gesso the entire box except for about one inch (the measurement of the lid lip) near the opening.

Step 2: Paint the entire box except for the one inch that was also not gessoed. Also paint the entire round wood plaque.

Step 3: Measure the two paper to fit between the bottom of the box and the line where the lid lip ends (about three inches) then cut them so that they only overlap about a half inch or an inch on the sides. Glue the papers with tacky glue and use snug (not tight) rubber bands to hold them in place.

Step 4: While the papers are drying, Emboss the top of the lid with the stencil and the very edge of the lip. Once the paper is dry, emboss a very thin edge on the body of the box just below the lip of the top. Also emboss the wide edge of the wood plaque.

Step 5: Emboss the wooden star and the peg.

Step 6: Glue the box to the wood plaque ensuring that the smaller portion faces down.

Step 7: Glue the embellishments on. (Angel, flowers, dots, crystals, wooden star and peg).

Step 8: Glue the ribbon in the bottom of the box with the end glued next to one wall and the point at which the ribbon meets the box wall across from the glued ribbon tip.

Step 9: Cut out twelve circles about three inches in diameter and write a one-word prompt on each one.

Step 10: One top of the ribbon glued at the bottom, layer one of the circle prompts then a flower. Fold the ribbon across the flower. Add a prompt, then a flower. Lay the ribbon back across the new flower. Repeat this process until you get to the last flower then lay the remaining ribbon across the top flower.

The Beauty of this Project:

It is a fairly easy project to create with some beautiful results.
The prompts can be used for an artist creating art, a poet writing poet, or a novelist writing a novel. The prompt is brief enough to allow for many interpretations.
The flower wafers contain flower seeds. Each time a flower and prompt are retrieved from the box, the flower wafer can be planted in the ground. Thus, the process promotes growth in several ways.
When the box is empty, you simply fill it up again.

Anne Marie

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