TRUMPET DAFFODILS

EASTER SHADOW BOX SECTION 5: FLOWERS OF SPRING

PART 1: TRUMPET DAFFODILS

To make things easier on myself I am adding flower tuts separately over the next few days.  When they are done they will be shown, in place, to fill section 5 of the shadow box. 

We will start with Trumpet Daffodils, the most popular variety of Narcissus.  Their large, showy blooms are one of the first flowers to arrive in the spring.  As in real life, Daffodils are beautiful  “growing” in our miniature gardens and displayed as bouquets, alone or in flower arrangements in the home.     The most common color is yellow…either one solid color or a bright, golden  yellow for the trumpet and a pale shade of yellow for the petals.  As seen here, they are all one color. These can vary in size but the trumpet part is usually as long as, or longer than the petals.

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You will need:  size #24 cloth covered wire + a  golden-yellow & a leaf green acrylic/craft paint + wire cutters + lightweight yellow paper + round toothpicks + tacky glue + small sharp craft scissors +  paper punch with approx. 3/16” long petal/leaf or diamond shape +  very small seed beads + leaf green medium weight paper   

Instructions:

Cut wire to lengths slightly longer than what you want the finished height of your flowers to be.  Dip about 3/32” of one end of each wire into golden-yellow acrylic paint to form the stamen.  Poke the other end into a scrap of Styrofoam, or what-have-you, while the paint dries.  You will need one prepared wire for each daffodil. 

The trumpets (center) of the daffodil are as long as or longer than the petals.  Cut a long strip of lightweight, yellow paper, 3/16” to ¼” high.  Scrape a knife or scissor blade back and forth across one long edge of the paper strip to make it rough or ragged.  

Wrap the beginning of the strip around the center of a round toothpick, overlap a bit, cut off excess and glue the overlap to form a tube/trumpet. 

Remove the trumpet from the toothpick & tightly fringe around its bottom edge (smooth end), about 1/3 of the way up.  

Insert trumpet back on toothpick with fringed end towards point.  Using toothpick to shape, pinch and squeeze fringed area until a bell shape is formed.  

Remove trumpet from toothpick and put a dab of glue around inside trumpet bottom.  Insert a prepared wire/stem so yellow center is about 1/3 of the way up the trumpet.  Squeeze & smooth glued area of trumpet around wire.  Set aside to dry.

When glue has set, use scissors to finely fringe around top (rough) edge of trumpet about 1/64” deep.  Use fingertips to push back fringe to a right angle to trumpet.  If desired, a dark yellow water color pencil or felt-tipped pen may be used to dab on a bit of color around outside edge of fringed lip.

 Insert a tiny seed bead (look for the smallest ones that will slip onto wire used) onto the stem and push it up just so it sits just under the trumpet.  Paint it and the wire green.  

For petals, punch 6 diamond or oval petal shapes from the same yellow paper (or pale yellow if desired).  I used the approx.. 3/16” long, oval petals from Martha Stewarts Deep Edger Floral Vine paper punch punch image http://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewart-Crafts-Edger-Floral   It is a bit pricey but lots of usable shapes on it and it punches like butter.

Lay the petals in the palm of your hand and use a small round stylus or the pointed end of a metal nail file to “draw” three lines on it with medium pressure.  Petals will curl-up up slightly, giving them dimension.  Pick up petals at one tip with pointed tweezers and dip the other end into tacky glue, picking up a dab.  Place on stem, between bottom of trumpet and top of bead with the concave side facing up, and very slightly pointed upward.  Place three petals spaced evenly around trumpet and then one in between each.  

Use tweezers to bend the stem just short of a right angle just under the bead.  

For a daffodil almost in bloom, add the petals so they hug the trumpet.  For buds, eliminate the seed beads and with glue wrap 2-4 petals tightly around the wire.  Make a wash of tan color acrylic craft paint & water and lightly feather it from the stem up onto the end of the bud.  This wash may also be used on the upper stem & bead parts of the full flowers.

Daffodil leaves are tall, slim, and fairly straight.  They have slightly rounded off tops.  Fold a piece of green paper and cut very thin, long shapes on the fold. Slightly open on the top half of the fold.  

Daffodils may be planted in pots as is seen here, planted in a landscape, or used in flower arrangements by themselves or with other flowers.  Plant surrounded by leaves, which should be of a height just short of the blossom or shorter.  I used a large clay pot filled with unbaked Fimo.  The Fimo was coated with a layer of glue and fine dust (bottom of package?) from sphagnum moss was pressed on.  Holes were poked in the “soil” to take the stems and leaves.

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

An Asian inspired table arrangement. 

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A simple bouquet of daffodils in a clear vase makes a showy statement.

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A garden basket full of fresh cut daffodils can be displayed indoors or outdoors.

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Fill a bucket or watering can with fresh cut daffodils to display in a garden room or on a potting bench.

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And we will end with one more photo of the 1" = 1' potted daffodils.

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Ummm, I can smell the spicy fragrance of the vase of daffodils sitting on my desk.   And it is really fun to look at its miniature version sitting next to them.  Wonder if I could find some way to make them smell as good?  

Enjoy the tut and I will see you shortly with another flower.

Happy Spring....

Joann

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