In gardening, a topiary is a curly cut of plants. The needlewomen took this idea as a basis and began to create interesting topiaries from artificial flowers, satin ribbons, paper, vegetables, dummies, cones, sweets, beads, coffee beans, pasta, and waste material.
The florists most quickly create trees, which use ready-made material (flowers, branches, berries, leaves, grass, foam blanks). It only remains for them to collect everything in vivid compositions in just a few minutes. Consider several methods for making such a tree from artificial flowers.
Fundamentals of Topiary Production
Russian craftsmen teach beginners to create trees, starting from the trunk and crown, and then pay attention to the roots. This is due to the fact that the bottom of the topiary is filled with gypsum. Foreign masters and florists use ready-made special polystyrene foam, cast-iron containers.
That is, in the classical method, the crown is mounted on a foam ball. Instead, you can take foam rubber or a newspaper ball (crumple a newspaper, rewind with threads, forming a ball). It all depends on the method of attachment: foam and foam allows you to pierce it with a blunt end, and a newspaper ball needs to be pierced with needles or glued material.
Flower topiary can have a long (straight, zigzag) or short trunk. Attach it to the ball until a crown forms. This is necessary in order to start fixing elements from it. When using glue, read about its properties, as many varieties simply “burn” polystyrene.
An ordinary branch, a bar, a thick cardboard, plastic, wire can act as a trunk. Some craftsmen wrap a newspaper with a newspaper, and then a cloth dipped in plaster. Such trunks will only have to be painted with acrylics and varnished. The budget option is to wind the trunk with brown threads.
The classic way to make topiary
The bottom of the topiary is often represented by a pot, a vase that is decorated. Inside, a trunk with a crown is inserted, plaster is poured and a layer of paper, thread, grass is placed on top, twigs, beaded flowers are inserted. This is due to the fact that nothing is glued to the gypsum, and flowers, insects and other elements can be attached to the threads in the form of grass.
Consider the classic way to make a tree from top to bottom. To get a topiary of flowers, you will need:
- artificial roses;
- glue;
- scissors;
- foam ball;
- glass bulb in the form of a glass.
First, cut off the heads of the flowers, leaving a centimeter tail. Next, put a foam ball on the flask . Some craftswomen use ordinary inverted wine glasses. Then you need to use durable unbreakable material.
Starting from the place of attachment, glue the roses, piercing the ball with its tail. Try not to leave voids. Otherwise, have on hand various butterflies, beads, berries that will be in harmony with the product. Decorate the trunk with a bow, and the tree is ready to decorate the wedding banquet.
The reverse way of making a tree
Topiary made of artificial flowers can be made starting from the roots. To do this, take a pot or pot, decorate with beads, bows or simply paste over with beautiful corrugated paper with decorative ribbons. But more often masters find unusual forms: baskets, jugs, cones, which do not need to be decorated.
Fill the container with a foam base, which is sold in a florist shop. It looks like a gray brick. It is cut to the size of the pot and inserted inside. Top decorated with special grass, piercing with a knife or fastening with glue. Next, proceed to the manufacture of the crown. Take the same foam brick and plan with a knife until a ball or other shape is formed.
The appearance of the topiary depends on its shape. Now the base is covered with grass and stabbed with pins. Take a ribbon with artificial flowers (they are used for wedding decorations) and wrap the ball like a ball of thread. Now the barrel is inserted into the ball, and the other end, coated with glue, is installed in the pot. Then take artificial petals to match (sold by florists or handicraft hypermarkets) and stick them on the grass to the trunk.
Unusual topiary: a master class with a photo
Pay attention to the foam base. It is sold in a wide variety of forms. An elongated shape similar to a lampshade is especially popular. To work with such a foundation is the simplest.
- Take a pot of green, decorate on the sides with rosebuds. Insert a foam piece inside, cover with grass.
- Pierce the lampshade base with the stem of a tree, paint in green. Leave to dry.
- Take a satin green ribbon, stick artificial roses on it.
- Insert the stem with the crown into the pot. Decorate with rosebuds or petals.
- Glue the ribbon with roses in a spiral on the painted base.
- Decorate the trunk with a bow.
Those who do not like minimalism decorate completely topiaries from artificial flowers (photo with two lampshade trees). As you can see, the base can be decorated with flowers so that the tree is bright, or wrap with green branches, achieving a natural look of plants. In these cases, you can use the usual “flower pots” under the “roots”.
Topiary for the site
Those who love wildflowers are invited to the next workshop on making topiary on a garden plot. To do this, you will need:
- Plastic branch with rare green leaves. This will be the trunk, so choose a thick and strong base.
- Field artificial flowers.
- Ceramic flowerpot.
- Foam base, decorative grass.
- Satin ribbon.
- Glue, scissors, plastic fasteners.
How in this case to make topiaries from artificial flowers? You decorate the vase in a known manner, that is, cut foam plastic under its size, mask the voids with sisal, cover it with lawn grass from above.
Next, take a branch and apply artificial flowers to its base. Determine the length, cut off the excess. In fact, you need to cover the trunk with branches of wildflowers, and then tighten the plastic mounts. You can drag a transparent electrical tape. Insert the topiary into the pot. Then cut one branch with flowers into small twigs and insert it into the polystyrene near the trunk. Decorate the trunk with a bow. The garden tree is ready.
Tea workshop (step by step)
Topiary can have a completely different shape and can be created without a foam base, gypsum and other familiar tools. For this master class you will need:
- cup and saucer;
- artificial flowers;
- glue;
- thick wire that can withstand the heaviness of the cup (you may find plastic beautiful cups).
Now bend the wire, apply a cup to determine the length of the craft. Glue it. The stronger the wire, the more inclined the cup can be placed, as if simulating the process of pouring tea from a cup in a saucer. Now take artificial flowers for the topiary, cut off the heads without tails, since you will glue them to each other.
You can buy dummies of berries, grass, leaves. Glue the flowers on the inside of the cup, closing the wire. Then glue it on all sides and proceed to decorate the saucer. This type of topiary is not as complex as it appears at first. The main thing here is to buy a good glue, a durable thick wire and bright cups.
How to achieve unusual shapes?
If you look at the work of the masters, you will see that the trees are made not only round, but also square, triangular, pyramidal, zigzag, double, heart-shaped. For this, masters use ready-made basics for the crown or apply some tricks:
- A foam piece is planed with a knife to the desired shape. Then it is pasted with sisal or green grass.
- Any shape is cut out of cardboard, pasted on all sides with balls of napkins, newspapers. The form is pulled by threads and covered with the necessary objects.
- Several crowns are glued to one trunk (look at the red topiary). The master class is simple. As in the previous examples, the pot is decorated. The trunk is inserted. One ball of flowers is planted on it with glue, then the second.
- Several trunks and antennae are inserted into one crown.
- Masters build the shape of the animal and paste over it with artificial plants.
- Sew forms from fabric and synthetic winterizer. Paste them with flowers.
Summarizing
Topiary can make a variety of forms. Walk around flower and construction stores, pay attention to different materials. For example, a ready-made woven hollow ball is sold, which is wrapped in grass and pasted over with flowers.
Topiary made of artificial flowers created in the evening. Their cost depends on the size of the tree and the material. Typically, a 30-centimeter topiary leaves from 500 rubles: a pot, artificial flowers, hot-melt adhesive, gypsum. And if you walk around the "men's" shops (building materials, fishing and automotive products), then it is quite possible to find analogues for a lower price.