POTTED IRIS

EASTER SHADOW BOX SECTION 5: FLOWERS OF SPRING

PART 3: IRIS

Iris has always been a favorite garden flower.  There are many varieties and different colors…shades of purples, blues, and white and yellow.  Here I have made a simple lavender, bearded variety but do explore others.  

You will need:  #30 cloth covered wire + ¼” round paper punch or ¼” long petal shaped paper punch + lightweight paper in your choice of colors (purples, lavenders, blues, yellows, white) You may also choose to color your own iris paper using an ombre method (a shading from light to dark)  + medium ball stylus + yellow acrylic paint & small pointed paintbrush (if you are adding beards) + scrap of thin Fun-Foam + medium ball stylus or metal nail file (using the tapered/pointed tip) + fine pointed tweezers Crafter’s Pick The Ultimate glue + green floral tape + leaf green color acrylic paint + medium weight leaf green paper

Instructions:

Cut wire to needed lengths and dip the tip of one end into golden yellow acrylic paint.  Poke into a scrap of Styrofoam to dry.

These flowers have three inner erect petals that surround the stamen and three outer sepals between the petals that curve back.  To create the petals and sepals you may choose to fold/crease a piece of your chosen paper, measure and mark a line 1/16” away from the fold/crease and then use a ¼” round paper as shown.  

Or you may use the paper punch as shown or something similar to create the petals/sepals. 

If you are adding beards to your sepals, use a small pointed paintbrush to feather yellow paint out from the pointed end of the three sepals…I suggest you look closely at actual photos.  As seen, I just paint an illusion but if you are so inclined you may be more precise with the beard or markings. 

Lay the petals and sepals on the fun foam, bearded side of sepals face down.  Using a stylus or similar tool, “draw” lines down each edge and then the center of each petal and sepal, causing them to curve and curl.

Using fine pointed tweezers pick up a prepared petal by the rounded end, dip the very tip of the pointed end in glue & place on a prepared stem, just below the painted stamen.  Add two more petals in the same manner, evenly spacing them from each other and in an almost upright position. 

Pick up sepals in the same manner, add glue to tip and place them on the stem just under the petals & in-between the petals, so they are curving out and slightly down.

For the ovaries cut 1/16” wide by ½” long pieces of floral tape and gently stretch them out.  Wrap one around a stem just up from the bottom.  Use fingertip to shape it into a slightly elongated ball.  Push it up the stem until it snugs up to the underside of the flower. 

Use leaf green acrylic paint to blend the ovary and stem and to slightly feather up and out on the bottom of the flower.

Iris leaves are cut and prepared as was described previously for the daffodil and narcissus leaves but with a more pointed, sword-like shape.  Leaves may be attached to a flower stem or surround the potted flowers.

Unopened buds are made by wrapping ¼” wide by ½” long pieces of green floral tape around the stop of a stem, stretching the tape as you wrap.  Use finger tips to form the top into a point.  Add an ovary as described above right under the bud and then use green paint to meld bud, ovary, and stem together.

Partially open buds are created by adding glue to the face of a petal and wrapping it around the stop of a stem.  Add 3 or more petals in this manner, depending on how open you want the bud, and then pinch and roll the top to a point. Add an ovary. Use leaf green paint to meld everything together, letting the paint go up in points on the petals.

As with the Daffodil and Narcissus, Iris may be potted, as is seen here, planted in a landscape, or used in flower arrangements by themselves or with other spring flowers.  Surround stems by lots of leaves, which should be of a height just short of the blossom or shorter.  I used a clay pot filled with unbaked, scrap Fimo.  The Fimo was coated with a layer of glue and fine dust from sphagnum moss (bottom of package?) was pressed on.  Holes were poked in the “soil” to take the flower stems and after they were in place buds and partially open blossoms were added.  Leaves filled in space in and around.

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Here are some real-life images & illustrations to help inspire you to add miniature Iris to your collection.  

ARRANGEMENT BY CARL STARKERS 

1953

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I will be back soon with the Daffodils, Narcissus and Iris in place in the 5^th section of The Easter Shadowbox.  BTW you may be interested in making some other spring blooms too… Calla Lilies, Pussy Willow, Forsythia…if so they are to be found in my Easter Peddler’s Cart, Basket & Bunnies

 http://joannswansondiyminiatures.blogspot.com/2011/04/baskets-and-bunniesan-easter-peddlers.html

 Now  just one more section to go…like the flowers it will be miniatures that can be used in many scenes or added to a collection. 

Joann