Plaster of Paris Flowers

So, when searching for fun crafts to post about I ran into Plaster of Paris Flowers. Now I thought that sounded like a ton of fun, so I decided I would make a few and show you them on two different projects.

First thing’s first (I’m the realist), the items you will need for this craft:

1. Plaster of Paris

2. Water

3. A measuring tool

4. Mixing tool(s)

5. Paints - optional depending on if you decide to paint your plaster and/or your blanks

6. Cups for mixing

7. GLOVES - do not skip this item they will save your hands from getting disgusting and drying out

8. Flowers - silk or foam fake flowers

9. Leaves - if you decide to add leaves, you obviously don’t have to

10. Toothpicks if your flowers do not have stems

11. Foam/Foam core - poke holes in this with a toothpick so that you have a drying rack

12. Parchment paper - learn from my mistake, I forgot this step and paid for it

13. Drop cloth/plastic tarp/disposable plastic tablecloth - this gets messier than you think, trust me I forgot this step as well

14. Craft glue/Hot glue gun - whichever you prefer for sticking your flowers to your blanks

15. Last but not least items to use the flowers on (blanks) - I chose a jar and a shadow box picture frame

My flowers came without stems, so the first thing I did was skewer them with toothpicks. Be sure to go all the way through the flower, as the plaster can be thick and may suck the flowers off the toothpicks. I speak from experience here, it is not fun trying to re-skewer a plaster-coated flower. Do not skip this part, you’ll thank me later.

My next step here was to paint the lid of my jar. If you go to the first picture above, you’ll see that the lid is a red and white checkered pattern. This is absolutely not my style, especially because I’m looking to put the jar in the bathroom, so I gave it new life with some lovely gold acrylic paint. You can use any color on your blanks, or don’t paint them at all. I left the picture frame blank because I liked the idea of the white frame with the pop of color from the plastered flowers.

I did two coats here, letting the first dry completely before going over it in a stamp-like motion to give it this fun texture.

Next up was mixing my Plaster of Paris. PLEASE read the box/bag your specific brand comes in and follow those instructions. I went ahead and added a bit of paint to mine as I wanted my leaves to be green and my flowers to be either pink or red. I will say that I used a lot more paint than I thought I was originally going to.

I added the plaster into the bowl, although I used a cup for the flowers as I found it easier, then I added the paint and then the water, and then I stirred until it was fully incorporated. The color was not visible so I went ahead and mixed in more paint. If you are not using paint that is fine, these steps will remain the same minus the paint. I then dipped the leaves individually, using the mixing spatula to help coat the leaves, and tap the stem to release the excess plaster.

Here is where I made a huge mistake. The stems were too weak to hold up the plastered leaves, so I decided to just put them down on the black shiny cardstock I was using to protect my craft table. What I should have done was grab the parchment paper and place them down on that. In the drying picture that you will see further down the page, you will see globs of plaster without stems, those are the bottoms of the leaves that stuck to the paper before adhering to the leaves. OOPS!

This is the start of the plaster for the flowers. This was the amount of ‘bright red’ I used, but after mixing, I had to add almost as much ‘crimson’ to make the color show at all.

Once the pink was fully mixed I dipped the flowers one at a time, again using the spatula to help cover the flowers in plaster. I then tried to spin the plaster off, just for the flower to shoot off the toothpick. I tried not to spin the rest so quickly. I did tap out as much extra plaster as I could, tapping the toothpick on the rim of the cup.

Caution - You may wear some plaster during this step.

Once each flower was spun and tapped I placed the toothpick in the foam core to dry. This for me is the hardest part because I am terrible at waiting. To be honest, while everything was drying I started typing this out, in the hopes they would dry by the time I was done writing and editing.

I’m also hoping that once everything is dry it will look better. I may or may not use these leaves.

Plaster of Paris usually takes about 30 minutes to dry, but since these were dipped flowers I let them sit for an hour just to be safe.

Here’s the easy part. Twist the toothpicks to remove them from the flowers, and cut off the stems of the leaves, you’ll want to do this over your drop cloth as it can get messy. I did also wet a piece of sandpaper to touch up the bottoms of the flowers, wetting it prevents dust. Set the flowers up the way you want them on your blank, and then glue them down, and enjoy your new craft.

Next time I will remember the drop cloth, and maybe try regular fake flowers and not the foam ones. My jar will hold my cotton balls for the bathroom, as for the picture frame I’m not sure yet.

Let me know if you decide to try this out, show me how much better yours came out!