For November’s paper flower tutorial, Quynh assigned me the happy task of creating a magnolia tutorial. The goal for this project was to create a magnolia branch that was small enough to arrange easily with other flowers, but that would still allow us to pack on a lot of blooms and buds. My first thought was to simply scale down a standard pink magnolia, but I became interested in the idea of creating a dwarf specimen with crepe. Often, dwarf varieties of plants are less willowy and elongated, and more dense and packed-in. What would that look like for a magnolia?

I turned to Pinterest and found magnolia bonsai images with thick, twisty, ancient-looking bark, and I became obsessed with recreating that gnarled, weathered, and mossy effect. Several partial branches later, I settled on a few texture and color techniques that I think really elevate this paper flower tutorial. 

But to me, the cherry on top of this piece is the little fuzzy green buds that are waiting to open....

I have a confession to make: I had actually never created a large flower wall-piece before I developed this month’s Itoh peony tutorial. Kind of embarrassing for someone who has been making paper flowers for over ten years. So I was a little bit unsure when I began designing my version, luckily with some helpful tips from Quynh, The Posey Box founder and CEO. 

Since Quynh was offering her spectacular heavy crepe peony, I decided to use doublette for mine to add variety to our projects. By itself, the doublette can be a little floppy and delicate when the petals need to be very large, so I laminated it, which made the flower much more sturdy.  

As I started to assemble my mock-up, I noticed that the layers had a subtle watercolor paper quality that I loved against the dramatic center. So I added a wash of color to the petal edges, and it pulled the whole project together. 

I’m proud of my colorful peony, but Quynh’s spectacular cloud of petals...

^{Post and photos by Kate Alarcon of The Cobra Lily.}

Last year, paper flower makers from almost fifty countries came together to celebrate our art form and our community. We shared our work, our experiences of love, and support from other paper artists. People called out artists who had influenced and inspired them. It was a day to lift up other flower makers and celebrate our passion for transforming paper into plant life. 

As I’ve been mulling over ideas for this year, I noticed that the neat thing about last year’s event was that it was so open. But Covid has changed every element of our lives. I’ve been thinking about all the flower makers locked away in our own spaces, making beauty flourish within those walls.

So here’s the theme I came up with: Secret Gardens. What are we making in captivity? What does flower-making mean for us when we can barely go out into nature? Does it help us hold onto our connection to growing things? Are there some kinds of...

When Quynh told me that the flower for the April Posey Box would be a calla lily, I was so intrigued! Although they grew in my yard as a kid, I had never made a calla, and I thought the unique shape of the flower would be a fun challenge. 

At first, I had the classic white calla with a yellow spike in mind—this was the variety my sisters and I used to pick—but after some research, I learned that this bloom comes in lots of other shapes and colors. I liked the idea of pairing a livelier color and pattern with the simple, elegant shape of the flower. By using two colors of spray paint and peach/yellow doublette, I was able to achieve a surprising amount of color variation. The large, single petal of the calla turns out to be the perfect canvas for a dramatic blend of pinks and corals.

 The really tricky part was the shaping. If you sculpt doublette crepe just right, it gives you enough stretch to create the curved trumpet shape of the calla lily spathe. I...