Wooden Bouquet
In the previous ible Recycle Flower I made a single large flower out of wooden circles to decorate the shed door.
In this next variant I will use very much the same process to make a bouquet of smaller wooden circular flowers.
The main difference will be that the flowers will be made of plywood and require far less screws and brackets.
Supplies
3.6 mm Plywood
9 mm Plywood
30 mm Hole saw
55 mm Hole saw
Saw
6 mm dowels
Paint - mixture of colours
Exterior Glue
Sanding Paper
2 x M6 bolts x 60mm minimum length
2 x M6 nuts
2 x M6 flat washers
Wood (L) 25cm x (W) 12cm x (H) 2.4cm - Qty 2
Cutting the Flowers
Each flower is made of 9 mm plywood from which seven 30 mm circular discs are cut.
Clamp the plywood to a sacrificial board on the work surface.
With the Hole-saw cut seven discs.
Once the discs are cut, sand smooth any rough edges and surfaces.
This project consists of 6 flowers therefore 42 discs are required.
Cutting the Backing
Each flower is held together by a larger disc that sits behind the smaller discs.
The support disc is made of 3.6 mm plywood.
Using a 55 mm Hole-saw, cut seven discs.
Once the discs are cut, sand smooth any rough edges and surfaces.
This project consists of 6 flowers therefore 6 discs are required.
Painting
The central part of the flower (pistil), consisting of 6 discs will be painted in yellow.
The remaining 36 discs (petals), are split in to 6 groups of 6 discs and will be painted using 6 varieties of colours.
The colours chosen are Red, Dark Blue, Light Blue, White, Orange & Pink.
First all 42 disc are given a coat of white undercoat and left to dry.
Once dry lightly sand flat any rough areas.
They are then painted in one of the chosen colours in batches of 6 discs and left to dry.
Apply two coats of your chosen colour.
Flower Assembly
Take a yellow centre and surround it with 6 discs of the same colour all face down.
Using an exterior glue suitable for wood apply this to the support disc, centralise it with the central disc by aligning the drill holes and apply firm downward pressure while it sets.
Placing a weight on the flowers while they set removes the requirement to apply manual pressure.
Once the glue has set remove the weight and set to one side.
In the meantime cut various lengths of 6 mm dowels for stems to suit each flower.
Glue and/or staple the dowels to the back of the flowers.
Support Assembly
The support consists of 2 pieces of wood into which the flowers stems are sandwiched.
Arrange the flowers as into a hand fan shape and staple or glue into what will be their final positions on to one of the supports.
Place the next support directly over the lower piece.
Clamp the two support pieces together and drill two 6mm holes into which two 6 mm bolts will be inserted.
Fit a flat washer to the back followed by a nut and tighten.
Display
Display on its own inside or outside or attached to something else.
If leaving the flowers outside protect with a clear lacquer/varnish
Job done.