I was so excited to see Susan’s Spring Flora Collection launch on Spellbinders Art. Susan’s detailed floral dies are so unique and I learn so much about seasonal plants from her collections.
This time, I especially loved the Kerria Japonica die set. These flowers are also called the Japanese Rose and are native to Japan, China and Korea. The details in this die are amazing and when you fold the petals inwards, the look is so realistic that I was in awe.
I thought it would be fun to use these dies a little differently this time. My daughter is a spring baby and she has recently gotten into accessorizing — matching scarves, bracelets, bows, masks…you name it and she’s on it!
So, I decided to make her a custom coordinating hair clip and brooch set with the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. I love that the dies tell you exactly how many of each petal you need to cut to create the three-dimensional layered flower. It’s foolproof!
If you follow me on my social media channels, you’ll know how much I enjoy working with Grafix’s Dura-Lar archival polyester film. I painted on the film with alcohol inks and used the dies to cut out multiple flowers.
Why Dura-Lar?
Dura-Lar is a great product to work with when making functional art because it lays flat, provides consistent color clarity, is non-yellowing, heat resistant and has amazing tensile strength.
The biggest thing for me in this particular project was knowing that is tear-resistant! I also really like how it’s translucent like acetate so the petals look almost luminous.
The assembly was simple with Grafix Double Tack Mounting Film in the center of each layer holding the top and bottom petals together. I affixed the flowers to a blank barrette clip with Red Line Tape and then affixed a little jewel in matching colors for each flower.
I followed the same process for the brooch. And I am now thinking of ideas on how to use them for earrings, bracelets, and maybe even sewed on to some journal covers!
I hope you enjoyed learning more about this project…it’s a far cry from paper crafting. But I’m sure I’ll be using these dies in some cards in the near future! I hope my daughter will enjoy these two pieces of wearable art for a long time to come.
These flowers are gorgeous. Need to get some of the film and am wondering how they would look done on vellum paper.