Hi everyone!
Lately I've published a picture of 4 different flowers made using one set of dies on social media.
Since then I have received lots of lovely comments which I am very very grateful for.
You have no idea how much they mean to me.
I also received questions about foamiran flowers and foamiran itself,
so I've decided to write this post, which I hope you will find useful.
What is foamiran?
Foamiran is a special kind of foam, manufactured in Iran, dedicated to flower making.
It’s 0.6mm or 0.8mm thick and very easy to shape when warm.
It can be coloured, amongst other things, with pastels or pigment inks,
but if you don't have any of these don't worry, because foamiran is available in many many colours.
How do I warm foamiran?
To warm your foamiran you will need an iron.
It can be a regular iron which you will have in your house,
however I would recommend buying a small travel iron. Not only is it easier to use…
it's smaller and some of them can fold away, which is quite handy…
Most importantly, you wont risk ruining your clothes in case you forget to clean it afterwards.
All the colouring and shading is done before shaping the flowers and sometimes ink
or a piece of pastel can stain your iron.
Its not a big deal if you have extra colouring on a petal,
but I can be a massive problem if its your favour dress or work shirt!
You will need to use a lower heat - around number 2, or the "silk" setting.
Do I need metal dies to make foamiran flowers?
The straight forward answer is no!
You don't have to have dies, because you can easily cut your petals and leaves with scissors.
The internet is full of flower templates, which you can print & cut out
and follow the shape with a cocktail stick.
However, using dies makes your life much easier
and making flowers can be done much quicker.
You can cut out many pieces of different sizes in one go,
especially after folding the foamiran a few times.
What can I use as a centre for my flower?
For the centres of your flowers, you can use different kind of stamens
as well as gems, plastic centres, glass beads, glitter… the possibilities are endless.
All these are available in many craft, florist or sewing shops.
How can I glue my petals together?
For that I usually use a hot glue gun. The glue dries fast and clear.
Luckily I managed to find a gun which has an on and off button, doesn’t leak, and has a very fine tip.
That can be very helpful, especially if you are trying to glue together very small elements.
The flow of the glue can be controlled much better as well.
Please be very careful while using your gun, because the glue is hot and can burn your fingers.
For finer work, I use a nail glue with a brush.
It is perfect for attaching not only the petals, but wires too.
It dries in a couple of seconds,
so it doesn't give you much time to rearrange but it’s cheap and lasts for a long time.
However you have to be very careful to not spill it over the table or to glue your fingers together.
If that happens acetone is very helpful, so make sure you have a little in your home.
Useful tools and accessories
Scissors
Cheap washing sponge as a flower shaping mat
Moulds - very useful if you would like to make real looking flowers.
They give an impression of the structure of petals or leaves.
Wires - to pull stamens trough the hole or to arrange flower compositions.
Lots of different wires are available on the market...
from very thin to thick, from bare ones to paper covered ones.
I use all of them depending of what kind of flowers or composition I am making.
Cocktail sticks, bamboo skewers or craft awl tool - to make holes
Flower shaping tools
Wire cutter
Mini long nose pliers
Tweezers
Florist tape
Cheap kitchen foil or styrofoam balls/eggs - very useful for making rose buds and roses.
How to shape flowers?
First you have to warm the foamiran, then roll it between your fingers
(by doing that you squeeze out the air and make the foamiran thinner)
and then shape the petals by stretching them.
Unfortunately rolling can cause lots of blisters on your fingers,
especially in the beginning when you're just getting started
and also some pain if you have problems with joints.
Due to that, many crafters thinks that they can't make flowers which isn't true at all.
The flowers I made a week ago are created without rolling…
so if you have any problems with your joints caused by injury or illness,
or you simply would like to try something new… foamiran is perfect for you.
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I hope you find this post informative and useful.
Please check back in a few days as I will be publishing a tutorial on
"How to make 4 different types of flowers using one set of dies".
Thank you for your time and see you soon.
M. xxx
