I am SUPER excited for today’s DIY Wednesday tutorial feature coming to us from Lindsey of Elusive Photo Design. You all know how much I love the unique, different, and offbeat when it comes to weddings [especially in the Washington, DC area], so naturally, I jumped out of my seat when Lindsey sent me this:
DIY Origami Paper Flower Bouquet
From Lindsey:
These kusudama origami bridal bouquets are remarkably simple to make, and can be made to your taste using a variety of different types, colors, patterns and sizes of paper. I recommend doing a few practice flowers with pre-cut, thin origami paper first. Once you’ve become more adept, try cutting squares out of magazines, vintage books — not antique (!!!), just old — or using thicker scrapbook paper for a different “look.”
As someone who didn’t use live flowers in my own wedding, I am always pumped when I find other ideas for non-floral bouquets. Other than the vintage brooch bouquet, I haven’t seen any other newer, alternative wedding bouquet ideas, so I am just so excited to get to share something to unique, but also new & fresh!
I love how unique this bouquet is, and that it’s a DIY bouquet! I can just imagine smaller ones being held by all the bridesmaids too!
So now, here is the best part ~ Lindsey has given us the actual DIY Tutorial, including step-by-step instructions and a TON of pictures, so that you can make this totally unique & alternative wedding bouquet too!
- Paper (most patterned paper will do! You can get this from a craft store, or buy paper like this Origami Patterned Paper
on Amazon)
- Wooden Dowel Rods (like these Wooden Dowels
)
- Craft Glue (our favorite is the Elmer’s Craft Bond Fabric and Paper Glue
)
- Paper Clips
- A Foam Ball
Step-by-Step Instructions & Pictures on how to make the Origami Paper Flower Bouquet:
1. Begin with a perfectly square piece of paper …
… and (if the sides aren’t the same colors) place it pattern/color side down on the table.
2. Fold corner to corner, and crease firmly.
3. With the open end facing away from you, take both bottom corners of the “triangle” and bring them up to the top-center point creating a “diamond” shape.
4. Fold the center edges (both sides of the paper that meet in the middle of the diamond) in half to meet the outer edges, creating points that protrude from the diamond to the right and left sides.
5. Open these folds completely, and “smush” at the middle fold to flatten out what should now look like two awkwardly shaped diamonds on top of your squatty square-diamond.
6. Bring the top points of your outer diamonds down “into” your fold and crease until it is level with the rest of your paper.
7. Fold the outer edges both back in on themselves.
8. Now you should be able to bring the edge folds together to “kiss” each other in the middle, creating a loop of paper, that you’ll soon discover looks like a flower petal.
…place a line of glue on one of the inner folds, and then paperclip together while it dries.
This is one out of five petals you will need for your flower! Repeat steps 1-8 to create the other four petals.
9. Squeeze a line of glue along the inside edge of one of your petals, and stick it to another petal, setting them gently on the table to dry, and allowing them to prop up together. Do this with four of your petals.
10. Once those are relatively dry, you can glue four of them together, using paperclips as you go. Once you have a few of the petals together and semi-dry, you can squeeze a line of glue down the center of all the petals, and place in a wooden dowel. Once all of the petals are glued to the dowel, you should have a flower!
From there, you can break off the dowels and stick them in the foam ball, or use them with the long dowel “stems” in a vase! :)
There’s endless possibilities of uses for these awesome little flowers. The DIY bouquet shown here was made using the 1/4 size of standard origami paper from Michaels.
I’ve found that the martha stewart craft glue has the best tip for making these, and that you should choose your dowel size based on the size of your paper/petals.
I cannot thank Lindsey & Elusive Photo Design enough for sharing my absolute favorite DIY Wednesday, DIY Tutorial yet. This alternative bouquet is my absolute favorite thing right now. PLEASE let us know if you make this origami paper flower bouquet for your own wedding!!!
90 comments
I love this bouquet- I remember seeing it on Lindsey’s Synergy Shoot. I love how colorful it is! Also? Photos of cupcakes during the workday = not appreciated. I’m now drooling over the thought of eating one.
it’s adorable and i love it!
Love the flowers! I checked out your Elusive Photo website, you have some great pictures and creative ideas. Thank you for sharing.
OMG, love love love, must make soon!!!
That bouquet is beautiful! Such a nice alternative to real flowers!
I will be making two mini ones for my girls who love to play wedding day!
feel free to share the results Leilani!! :)
How did you make the “stems”/the part you hold on to? Also, did you cut all of your wooden dowels to the same size? Any tips would be appreciated.
I love this bouquet:X it’s adorable
I’ve been looking around for paper flower tutorials since I plan on making paper flower bouquets. This looks pretty and easy! I just have one question. What was used as the stem of the bouquet for you to hold on to? Thanks!
This is such an excellent post and the time taken to take the photos and put together the tutorial is amazing. I’m not that keen on flowers simply because they die and had I seen this post when I got married I would have used this. They look stunning!
I used 1/4 ” dowels found in a bag of 12 at JoAnn’s Fabrics. I cut each one in fourths using a special mini wood saw by Kobalt that I bought at Lowe’s. I also made a “drying board” out of a rectangular piece of floral foam. Instead of gluing the petals together I ran a strip of glue down the edge of each petal and allowed to dry. I also pre-glued the dowel. While waiting for the glue to get tacky I would make my next set of 5 petals. I would then attach the glued petals to the glued dowel. I found this method looked much better than the one shown in the above tutorial. For more enhancement I added faux pearls and rhinestones to the instead of the flowers on the tip of the dowel. Another idea is to go to the Paper Jade website where you can find many varieties of origami paper. Keep in mind that each flower takes about 15 minutes to make. (Not including drying time.) In addition to the bouquet for the bride I also made a small bouquet, a corsage and 2 boutonnieres. Go here for pictures: http://facebook.com/melissa.grigsbyhamilton.
I love the look of that bouquet! What size of paper did you use for that? I could not find anywhere that the 1/4 size origami paper is.
Would you be willing to make these if I pay you????!!!!
How may flowers were used to make this bouquet??? I would love to know because i am making several and i love the size of that one!
I love this origami flowers and they are surprisingly easier than you expect for origami that is so beautiful. But I must say you have the best picture tutorial i’ve seen on the interent. Your’s will be the go to link when I want to make this again. You tutorial is also the first one I’ve found that shows how to make them into a bouquet. Thank you for sharing this information.
I LOVE this but it would take SO long to make it! My mom used to make origami and it would take a really, really long time to make simply just one, I couldn’t imagine making that many for a bouquet. So beautiful though!
Thank you for this post. I’ve started making my flowers, i would love to know what size ball you used and how you finished the part you hold.
I absolutely LOVE this! I’m making it for my cousin’s rehearsal instead of the boring bouquets made from bows and ribbons. It’s so fun! Thanks for sharing!!!
Hello I made a Flower Bouquet also it was very pretty .I use like old wrapping paper and made my squares 3 1/2 inches and used 1/4 dowels rods(cut them 3 inches long pieces(I got 10pcs at Michael’s)…….I brought a 6 inch ball to put the flowers on ..
Hi,
I love this origami’ flower. I link you blog with your photo for my article today about the bride’s bouquet.
Tell me what do you think about.
Thanks and see you
Can someone please post a link to where to buy the foam balls from? I’ve been to my craft store and looked online and can only find polystyrene or styrofoam balls, which are either too firm or crumbly. What should I be looking for?!
Thanks
Thank you for this wonderful idea. I’m in the process of making my bouquet and I absolutely love it!
I made my first flower yesterday with scrap paper, it was a little big, but beautiful. Today I went and picked up some origami paper from Michael’s and it looks to be the same paper that was used in this tutorial! Absolutely love it. I plan to make nine of these bouquets before my wedding in May to be used as centerpieces. I decided to go an alternate route after getting quotes from florists…and besides we are getting married in a garden so there will be plenty of real flowers around. =) If I’m not a complete failure at this, I’ll send some pictures! Thanks for this wonderful tutorial!
Awesome! I love making these! I use bamboo skewers from the dollar store and Elmer’s purple school glue stick followed by a drop of craft glue. Also, to give it a finished look you can add a rhinestone or other embellishment to the center of the flowers, which will also hide the end of the dowel or skewer. You can also make smaller bouquets by using pipe cleaners for stems and then wrap the stems with ribbon to make a handle.
Could you tell me what you used for the handle to hold the bouquet. I am making this for my wedding and have the flowers made and the ball, but don’t know what ot hold onto. Thanks!
Seriously I have found paper flower bouquets at other places where I could buy but I want this one– Can you e-mail me a price? ;o)
WTF i love it
what about the underside? how do you make the handle for the end of the bouquet?
Hi. How do you make the handle for the end of the bouquet? Do you have Diy? Thank you for your attention.
I did it! For my wedding in September we made this and it’s PERFECT. Takes a lot of time, but when you are watching TV, might as well do something with your time.
Post:
http://crunchygreenmom.blogspot.com/2013/07/origami-paper-flower-wedding-bouquet.html
thanks for sharing Suzanne!!! so happy the tutorial helped you out :)
We did make one, and it was a huge hit! Such a pretty bouquet for a rainbow wedding! Does anyone have any idea how we can preserve it, now that the wedding is over?
Is the paper used for these flowers extra small? All of the origami paper at Michael’s seems to be in one standard size. I started making some flowers and they seem so large.
This is awesome!!!! It is creative and beautiful!!!! Thanks for sharing!!!!
wow! so beautiful and lovely :)
I’m making a bouquet for each of daughters. I just want to thank you for such an easy to do DIY.
I was looking for some help with making flowers for my wedding centerpieces. With my fiancé and mom both allergic to bees, I thought real flowers at an outdoor wedding would welcome too many chances of being stung at a spring wedding. My fiancé and I saw this and HE loved it! So now there will be NO real flowers and all origami. I stared with a standard piece of origami paper 6×6. WOW that was huge! I trimmed it down with a paper cutter to 4×4. Perfect! I used a double sided craft glue to seal the edges. I didn’t clip them and a lot of them came undone. I will need to try something else. All the folding took no time at all. I am so excited to add this unique DYI to my wedding. Thank you for these instructions.
Am making this right now for my daughter’s wedding bouquet, also for my other daughter, who is the matron of honor. Instead of dowels I am using floral wire folded in half, and glue it into the center of the four petals, then add the last one. Also I am using a glue gun. After they are all made I will assemble into a bouquet and braid ribbon around the wire stems. This is so gorgeous and I love making it. I am also making some larger ones with 4″ square paper and six petals to add to the centerpieces, which is made of rosettes and pinwheels. This is beyond fun!
Thank you so much for helping me!
I love this flowers and I want to make this bouquet for my wedding! Thank you for these instructions. ♥
Xoxo!
i love this idea this help me alot
Done! For a friend’s wedding, though. And these are a variation of the flower that requires no glue for each individual petal
Angelus, what did you use to hold onto the bouquet?
Thank you very much for this DIY. I make my bouqut for my wedding last two month ago. If you want to see it : http://madamecoquelicot-mariage.com/2015/11/22/laurie-xavier-un-mariage-tout-tendre-aux-portes-de-lautomne/
It’s website of my wedding planner !
Laurie – you CRUSHED it!!! Love love the paper you chose. So beautiful (as is your whole wedding really). CONGRATS!
hey!
i’m making paper flower bouquets for my school project and i really love this one. how do you arrange the flowers as a bouquet?
Hi Bree, how amazing are these Origami Flowers <3! Thanks for this blog, i love it!
Kiss Silke