DIY Idea: Faux Flowers

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have gorgeous flowers brightening your decor all year round? The thing is, you can. Gather a selection of artificial flowers and make a blooming beautiful display out of ordinary materials.

WHAT YOU NEED

• A selection of artificial flowers in the same colour scheme
• 2-mm x 10-mm aluminium strips
• Tin cutter
• 4-mm pop rivets
• Decorative chain
• Florist’s wire
• Jewellery pliers
• Long-nose pliers
• 4-mm metal drill bit
• Fishing gut
• Glue gun
• Ribbons

WHAT TO DO

1. Remove the flower heads from the stems.

2. Cut five aluminium strips to the following lengths with the tin cutter: 80 cm (two); 135 cm (two); 118 cm (one)

3. Make five rings by bending each aluminium strip into a circular shape, overlapping the edges by 5 cm. Make a mark coinciding with the end on the outer edge and drill a hole through each ring. These five rings form the tiers of the flower chandelier.

4. Use a 4-mm pop rivet to fasten the edges through the drilled holes; this will keep the form of the rings.

5. Place each ring on a flat surface. Imagine drawing a vertical and horizontal line through the diameter. Where the ends meet the circle draw with a marker and drill 44-mm holes into these markers in the rings.

6. Cut four lengths of chain per tier to the following lengths: Tier 1, ring size 80 cm (to hang the chandelier) – 30 cm; Tier 2, ring size 135 cm (second from top) – 40 cm; Tier 3, ring size 135 cm (middle section) – 10 cm; Tier 4, ring size 118 cm (middle section) – 10 cm; Tier 5, ring size 80 cm (middle section) – 10 cm

7. Attach the chains to the rings and suspend the chandelier.

8. Decorate the chandelier with flowers threaded onto the fishing gut as well as with individual large artificial flowers, and accessorise with ribbons to your heart’s delight.

This is an extract from 50 Upcycling Projects: From Trash to Treasure by Misi Overturf, published by Human & Rousseau. The book, which retails at R325, is available in both English and Afrikaans.