Miniature Paper Hyacinths

My obsession with making easy paper flower crafts continues with Hyacinths.

I have actually tried to grow these more than once, but between the squirrels that kept digging up the bulbs, and our well intended but big-footed hound dog that squashed them like King Kong, they never fared well in the SuzerSpace yard.

I’ve seen a couple of posts on how to craft these up, and Pinterest is swarming with them, so I’ve course, I’m going to step in with my version as well.

This craft is super low tech – you need scissors, construction paper and glue.

To create the stems, you’ll first need to figure out which way the grain is on the green construction paper.

All paper has a grain- it’s the direction the fibers align when it is produced. If you try and fold or roll paper against the grain you end up with a cracked edge. Folding or rolling with the grain gives you a smoother finish.

I wanted to make a small vase of miniature hyacinths for my desk. I cut my green construction paper so it was 6″ tall with the grain running parallel to that 6″ side. I cut the pieces about 4″ wide so I’d have enough paper to roll them several times before gluing the edge. I want them to be stiff enough to stand in the vase.

My trick for making the stems is to roll them around a straw. Run a zigzaggy bead of glue close to the far edge of the paper, and use your finger to spread that thin and beyond the edge (onto a paper protector of some sort). You need glue at the very edge of the paper so it will glue flat without any lifting at the edges. I used Aleene’s Tacky Glue (not an paid endorsement) because you need something that dries pretty quickly.

Roll the paper, starting with the unglued edge around the straw and keep going until you get to the glue edge. Don’t roll so tight that you won’t be able to get it off the straw later. Use your fingers to press the edge down tightly, wiping off any glue that squeezes out as you go. Hold everything together until the glue cures enough to hold on it’s own, and then set aside to completely dry. I used some soft elastic hair ties to hold them together as I worked.

To make the petals, I cut a 2″ wide piece of colored paper (12 inches long – the length of the sheet). Grain direction won’t matter much here. Fold that sheet in half longwise, and then using scissors, snip along the fold edge leaving a small amount (something close to 1/8″ is what I left, but that measurement isn’t as important as keeping it fairly even down the length of the sheet as you cut). I cut the snips closer together at the edge that was going to be the top, getting a little wider as I got to the end (which will be the bottom row).

To assemble, run a little tacky glue on the first bit of the uncut edge of the petal portion, and then begin to wrap it up at the top of the stem. Add a little glue as that first wrap finishes, and hold it until it’s mostly dry. Then begin wrapping, angling down the stem as you go to get the look of the stacked petals. I added a little glue here and there as I went, making sure to finish with a straight wrapped row with extra glue at the bottom. Hold that row until it dries, and then prop it up and assemble as many more as you need to complete your arrangement.