Coffee filter topiary tutorial

Hello everyone.  I finally had some time to post a tutorial of the coffee filter topiaries I made for a show that I had last week.

First of all, you're gonna need a pot, depending on the size of the pot, you will need a Styrofoam ball, the coffee filters add 3 more inches around to the ball, so make sure you get the right size.
You're gonna need hot glue sticks and a tree branch cut to the desired size.
In order for the tree branch to stay in place, I used a little bit of plaster of paris mixed with water, place your branch in the pot and add the plaster of paris, it only takes a minute to set if you don't add too much water.
Okay, too much chitty-chat, now let's get to the pictures.

When I bought this pot it was green, I painted it white and antiqued it with water based stain.

Here's the Styrofoam ball, make sure you make a hole for the tree branch

Here's how you need to fold the coffee filters, they need to be folded 4 times

Once folded 4 times, bend the tip of the filter and add the hot glue so it can stick to the styrofoam ball

Once applied the hot glue, hold the filter with your finger, pressing to the ball for a few seconds until it stays by itself

Continue adding filters one by one

Keep adding filters all around



Add more and more, this takes patience let me tell you.

These are used coffee filters, I rinse them everyday, let them dry and store them.

These are new coffee filters, the look of the topiary reminds me of a carnation

Almost there

Here it is finished, now put some hot glue in the hole you made to the styrofoam ball before gluing the filters and stick your tree branch

Mix your plaster of paris, put it in your pot with your finished topiary and ta-da!

I almost forgot to tell you, I filled the urn with shreded book pages.

I'm sorry, but this is the only picture I have of the finished white topiary.

This is the one I made with the used coffee filters

The look of the used coffee filters reminds me of a rose.
There you have it, I hope it isn't too confusing, I mixed the pictures of both so you can see how different the looks are with the new and old filters. Which version do you prefer, "the used" or "the new"?

If you have any questions please let me know.  I hope you like the "tutorial" 


Until next time mes amies.


Linking today to Faded Charm for White Wednesday &
Summer block party 
 
Ido