How to Create Dahlia Paper

A paper dahlia is a beautiful paper flower made from scrapbooking paper. Of course, there is a real dahlia plant, which is a beautiful, bushy plant found in Mexico. They come in a vast array of colors and sizes, making it simple to create your own from scrapbook paper. Dahlia papers are often used in weddings for paper wedding bouquets, center pieces or toppers for a nice gift. You can create a wide variety of styles depending on the type of paper you use to create the flower, from metallic to soft blush colors. In this piece, I’ll give you a few recipes to create your own dahlia paper.

Giant Paper Dahlias

You can create oversized paper dahlias using a very simple strategy. You’ll need 7 pieces of scrapbook paper in a solid color, double-sided tape, a cardboard cake circle and a paper cutter. All of these are simple to acquire without spending very much. Cut 60 squares that are 4 inches by 4 inches out of the scrapbook paper to kick off the start of your paper dahlia. You’ll need to put together the paper cones using the tape and the top end of one of the squares. Put a strip of tape on the top end, pull the opposite corner halfway over the square and attach the corner to the taped side. You’ll be doing this with the remaining squares of paper.

Once you’ve made all of your cones, you can start to put the dahlia together. Flatten the bottom of the cones with your finger, apply a layer of tape to the cardboard circle and start placing the cones onto the tape a finger apart. Start on the second layer by adding more tape and placing the cones between the cones in the first layer. Continue placing cones until you fill the cardboard circle. When you’re done, you can easily attach them to the walls, door or tables for a nice display.

Metallic Paper Dahlias

To make a metallic paper dahlia, you’ll need to print out this pattern onto metallic text weight paper of a solid color, such as purple or gold. Cut the petals from the paper carefully and trim them. Add a slit on the 3 center petals midway through the circle. Create a cone by curling the petals with the scissors and gluing it into place. Make a second cone, and glue the first cone into the center of the second one. Complete the center of the paper dahlia by forming one final cone to place in the center of the second cone.

To begin the next section, you’ll need to start with the three largest of the paper petals. Using the chopstick, curl two of the corners around the stick and glue these corners together. Once you’ve completed all three, glue them into a stack. Do the same with the next set of three cones, and stack the two sets together. Glue them in the center to prevent it from falling apart. Glue the center cluster, which you made in the beginning, to the center of the paper dahlia. Take the largest 12 single petals, curl them into cones and glue them into the bottom layers of the flower. Do the same with the smallest single petals and glue them into the top layer of petals.

You have a lot of options when it comes to creating dahlia paper. You can use them for a number of events, from birthday parties to new year’s celebrations and even to Halloween parties if you use black and orange paper. You can incorporate different themes or colors into the dahlia to create a unique paper flower for your home.