Let’s face it, sometimes you just want things to be quick and easy and still look as fabulous as if you’d spent forever and a day making it. When you are in a hurry, these wafer paper tulips will make a big visual impact, without a big time commitment.
Wafer Paper Tulip Tutorial
by Pamela Heun
Components:
- Spray bottle with water
- Egg whites
- Scissors
- 32-gauge wire for petals cut into 1.5″ pieces
- 28-gauge wire for stems
- White floral tape
- Tulip cutters
- Tulip veiner
- Green petal dust
- Icing spatula
- Light/white straws
- Brushes
- Colored wafer paper
Step 1: Start by cutting wafer paper into strips, then into squares slightly larger than your tulip cutter. You will need two squares of wafer paper for each tulip petal.
Step 2: Take a 32-gauge wire and dip the end in egg white, then set aside. Next, dip your brush in egg white and wipe excess off. You do not want too much egg white on the brush. Quickly and gently, brush egg white on one of your wafer paper squares, being careful not to get the paper too wet. Less is more.
Step 3: Now place the dampened wire about 1/4″ up into the moistened wafer paper. Carefully align the second piece of wafer paper and gently press together to make sure that everything adheres together well.
Step 4: Turn your cutter upside down so that the sharper side is facing up. Lay the wafer paper on top of a cutter, aligning the wire accordingly. Using your spatula, slowly start pressing and scraping around the cutter until the wafer paper is cut through completely. This may take a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy.
Step 5: Holding the spray bottle about a foot away, VERY LIGHTLY spray one side of the wafer petal.
Step 6: Lay the wafer petal in your tulip veiner, moistened side up. Gently press the two veiner pieces together for about 5 seconds.
Step 7: Using an upside down deviled egg tray, lay the petal to dry completely. (Hint: It doesn’t take long which is one reason I love using wafer paper vs. gum paste. These should be ready in less than 30 minutes!) Continue making petals with the above process. You need six petals for one complete tulip.
Step 8: In order to prepare the stem, you need about 6″ – 8″ of 28-gauge wire and a small straw that is cut slightly shorter than the wire. Start wrapping the floral tape around the straw and wire, making sure they are securely connected to each other. Continue wrapping the tape around until you’ve covered the entire wire and straw.
Step 9: Because I wanted to keep these quick and simple wafer paper tulips, I didn’t add stamens and a pistol, but you could certainly do so if you prefer a more botanically correct tulip.
Since we are foregoing the tulip centers, we just start attaching petals with the floral tape. The first go-around should have three petals, like so
.
Step 10: Continue attaching the outer three petals. They should be offset from the inner petals as shown.
Step 11: Now all that’s left to do is dust the stem and blend up onto the bottom of the petals. I also like to bend my stem wire a bit so that it looks more natural. That’s it! You’re all done!
The Finished Product
Aren’t they so much fun? I absolutely love the vibrant yellow ones! They are so perfect for Spring and Easter. You could do these in so many different colors and they’d all be gorgeous! I hope you have as much fun making these as I did.
