Have you tried making rolled paper flowers? While they might look easy, I have always found that my rolled paper flowers never turn out as good as the ones I see online. That is why I was excited to try the new Flowtool that is specifically created to help make projects with rolled paper flowers easier!
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Flowtool Honest Review
Since I wanted this tutorial and review of making rolled paper flowers to be totally honest and coming from a true beginners point of view, I enlisted my college aged daughter to assist me. While she has inspired some of my crafts, and even helped me to make a few of them over the years, she has never made a rolled paper flower.
Not only did she feel that the Flowtool was easy to hold on to, once she placed the end of the paper flower spiral into the slot in the top of the tool and I told her to simply turn it she was shocked to see how easily a flower was forming right in front of her eyes!
I also love how the Flowtool has a flat piece at the top for the flower to sit on. This helps to keep the bottom of the flower aligned and level. One of the challenges I have had in the past is that my flowers seemed to unroll or spiral out from the bottom, but the Flowtool solves that!
Additionally, the tool has a round ball on the end that you can use for shaping your flowers. I love this feature since it combines a rolling tool and a shaping tool into one item! And there is even a hole in the handle so you can hang the tool up on a peg board in your craft room!
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Watch the Flowtool in action!
The best way to introduce you to the new Flowtool is to see it in action. I really wanted you to see just how easy it is to use, so I had my daughter who has never made a rolled paper flower before help me with this video. You can also see this video on my YouTube channel HERE.
Making Rolled Paper Flowers – Tips
Because rolled paper flowers are cut in a spiral shape, make sure to use a cutting mat that is brand new or very sticky. Since the Cricut will be moving in a circular motion, if your mat is not sticky enough your paper will shift around on your mat. There are ways to clean your Cricut mats, but honestly I would start with a brand new fresh mat for your first time making rolled paper flowers.
So that you do not have to go searching all over for a design to use, I even have a rolled paper flower template that I have made. You can download the SVG file by clicking on the button below. If you have never used a SVG file before, please read through the information HERE first.
Normally when you are working on paper crafts, I recommend that you use a trick to help make sure that your cardstock does not curl up. If you don’t know that trick, you can check it out HERE. When you are making a flat project, it really ruins the look if the edges of your cardstock are curling up. Luckily with making paper flowers that curve will add depth to your project!
I also recommend using a cardstock that has a solid colored core. This means that the color runs all the way through the paper, so then you do not have a white cut edge on your flowers. In the past, when I have cut things from cardstock with a white core, I have hidden that white edge by using a marker or ink pad to ink the edges of the design. You could do that with these flowers also, but that would be a lot of work so starting with solid core cardstock will be easier.
As long as we are on the topic of cardstock, let’s talk about the weight of the cardstock you will use. In basic terms, the weight of a cardstock refers to the thickness of the paper. Thicker paper will produce a stiffer flower. Normally a weight of 65 – 80 pound cardstock is preferred. This range will allow you to shape your flowers but still keep the petals stiff enough that they are not flopping over.
That brings up another good topic . . . shaping your flowers! Some people will simply roll their paper flowers up and glue them, but others like to give their petals some shape and movement. This helps each flower to look different since in real life no two flowers would be exactly the same. For the flowers I made I placed the flower spiral on a mouse pad, so that it was not on a hard surface and then rolled the end of the Flowtool on the petals before rolling the flower. Below are some before and after photos so you can see the subtle difference in the flowers.
The photo below shows two flower spirals both before and after rolling them with the Flowtool. You can see how one spiral is flat and the other one is shaped in the Before photo. Then in the After photo you can see the slight difference in how the flower forms when the petals are shaped.
Once you roll your flowers, you want to glue them with a fast drying glue otherwise they will start to unroll before the glue is set. I used a hot glue gun for mine and it worked perfect. Just roll your flower on the Flowtool and then you can either grab it by the sides of the flower or even put your thumb over the middle center of the flower to slide the whole thing off. Then put the hot glue on the end of the spiral, meaning the last dot or even the last two dots. Then just sit the whole flower down on top of that glue and allow the inner spiral to press down into the glue.
Do you want to learn MORE about making Paper Flowers?
Once you have mastered making rolled paper flowers you might be looking to take your paper flowers to the next level. I would recommend taking a course from someone I consider an expert in making paper flowers, Abbi Kirsten. Not only are Abbi’s flowers amazing to look at, but she has even created online courses and tutorials so that you can learn to make these stunning works of art from paper!
Below is a list of some of Abbi’s paper flower resources.
