Transcripts
1. Introduction: There. I don't know about you, but my favorite
holiday decorations are the handmade ones. The ones that involve
a glue gun, scissors, paper, big mess, and holiday music playing
in the background. Probably something
warm to drink. Right? Before we get
started on this workshop. Let me tell you just a
little about myself. I'm Jenny Whitaker, the artists behind the studio
toboggan avenue, where I license my artwork
on products for fabric, wallpaper, tea towels, beach
towels, and other products. So in this workshop will
cover making a paper globe, paper flowers, paper leaves
to go along with it. Assembling the Garland and a little bit on styling
the garland at the end. And other possibilities you can do with what I'm teaching
you in this workshop. This holiday season. Use up those paper
scraps piling up in your office and get
busy with scissors and glue gun while maybe listening to holiday tunes
and sipping something warm and relax and enjoy a
hands-on creative project. You could even partner up or host a holiday crafting event, invite your friends over, or have your kids join you
and work together to create a garland and maybe a
new holiday tradition.
2. Class Project: For your class project, follow along and create your own paper garland
for the holidays, using paper from your
creative practice or really any paper
you have handy. Be sure to check out the
PDF I've included for you with a template for the
flowers and the globes. Also, don't forget
to share a photo of your final projects so I
can see what you create.
3. Garland Supplies: Supplies you'll need for this project include
scissors, pencil, pen, paper scraps, either from pages that you've painted before
or plain papers. Also fine. You'll
lead rope or string. Something heavy enough
to hold because it will, the Garland will get heavy
but not super thick. A glue gun and some glue. You can also use other types
of glue if you prefer. You may need paints,
paint brushes. If you're adding your own
painted finishes to the papers, you want a hole punch that will make the job a little easier. And that should do it.
Let's get started.
4. Create the Paper Globes: There are endless options for papers you could use
for this garland. You could use even
old sketchbook pages. I opted to paint
new pages so that I can choose a holiday color theme that I wanted to stick with. Two match other decor I know I'll use around
the holidays. The first thing to do to
create the paper globes is to cut eight strips of paper. I cut mine three-quarter
inch wide and there are five-and-a-half inches long because of my paper size. But this also works
really well for the size Garland
that I'm making. The first thing I wanna
do with each strip of paper is to punch
a hole at the end. Just a standard hole
punch will work. This will both make it easier to line up the
papers as we make our globe and feed
our string through. When it comes time to
assemble the garland. Once the holes are punched, find it easiest to lay out
the globe your papers, making sure you have the inside
and the outside, correct. If it matters to you. So I'm using eight
strips of paper. This makes lining everything
up easy because I can do obviously the 90-degree
angles and 45-degree angles. And everything works out
nicely as you see here. For this project, I'm using a glue gun because
they tend to be impatient and want to keep
the project moving quickly. Plus memories of
holiday projects pretty much all include a
glue gun and some paper. So to assemble, I
find it's easiest to work with the 90
degrees first and then add in. Your angles. Means a little bit of glue. Working around this way. Helps keep things lay
a little bit flatter. It's okay if you're at a holes, don't line up exactly. As long as you still have room to put the string through
it, it'll be fine. Alright, so now I'll go back and catch these 45-degree pieces. Then can be lined up just so. All right. One more. There we go. So now we'll do the other side. And I'm gonna do
it the same way, starting with 90 degrees here, kind of skipping every
other one. Hole to lineup. Going this way and skipping every other one kinda helps it balanced out a little
better at the end. And since this whole
didn't line up exactly, I'll just trim that at the end. Last one. Kinda preaching inside to
keep that closed habit.
5. Create the Paper Flowers: Alright, now that
the gloves are done, we have these cute little
flowers to assemble. Each flower has five petals and a little center that will
make out of the same paper. So you could do the petals
several different ways. Um, you could draw your
own templates course. You could use the template
provided in the worksheet. I have the template
design so that it fits on a 2-inch wide strip of paper. And with an 11 inch
long piece of paper, you can fit five of these. So you can print it out, cut it out, and use that. Or you can just kind
of free hand it. It is a relatively simple shape. The rest of these, I'm
going to freehand cut these out because I
know what shape I want. This way I don't have any
pencil markings to erase later. Alright. Let's make these out of the way so we have a
little more space to work. Alright, so I have all
five petals cut out. And with each one, I'm going to cut
up about halfway, a little less than halfway
from the center on each one. Says where we'll fold it over. And then for the centerpiece, this is about three-quarter inches wide and
five-and-a-half inches long. I'm going to just cut a fringe. Cutting every eighth
of an inch or so. Doesn't have to be
exact. Of course. I'm just gonna go all the way down. One last cut. Alright, then I like to sort of zigzag the center so it
isn't just an open metal, but then finish off by
wrapping around in a circle, deb a glue at the
end to secure it. Then the last thing
I'll do is just kind of work these edges
out to open up. It's not quite so perfect. And we'll set that off
to the side for later. Now. For each pedal, go through and
decide first which side you want to have
inside and outside. Then for each one we're
simply going to bend it, twist it, folded on top of
the other side and glue it. Get a little bit of glue here
doesn't take much at all. That over. Hold
that for a second. Go on to the next one. You can vary the
amount of curl in it. Just do that for each petal. Alright, so we have all
petals ready to go. I like to play around
with my layout first before I glue
them all together. So you can kinda just
hold it one hand. You get a feel for how are
you going to place them? And then get to gluing. Just a little dab of glue. Set the next petal on top. Make sure you keep
that angle kind of open to fit all five. If you work quickly, you can adjust the spacing
before the glute fully dries. Not working quickly. It's fine. You can always slide that last petal right in there and glue on both sides
for this last one. Slip it in there. This one's a little more closed than
some of the other ones, but it'll be just fine. All right. We'll take our
center glue on the back. Drop that right
there. The metal. I have to hold it for a couple
of seconds to make sure it sets properly and are done. Just repeat that process. Over and over. You have, alright, so now that we have the globes and the flower is done, last thing we'll do is cut a few leaves just to
add a little bit more, little extra to the Garland. So for these again, you can freehand it. Simple leaf shape or you can use the template provided in the
worksheet with the course. And there we go, We have leaves. Next thing to do is assemble.
6. Assemble the Garland: Alright, so we have
everything prepared. The last thing to do is
assemble this garland. So first thing to do would be figure out what length
of string we need. I have, I have five globes and I'm going to alternate a globe and a flower. And I'm going to have a
flower starting on each end. So just to give you an idea, I cut a piece of string
that is 90 " long. I think that's gonna
give me a little extra to play with, but
we'll see how it goes. First thing you'll
notice is I added a little glue to the end
of my string to keep it from unraveling as I feed
it through these globes. All right, so I'm going
to start with a globe, although I think I want
a flower on each end. For me to get this
started here first, it's a little tricky. You reach inside. Feed that strength through without bending the
paper if you can. Alright? And will strengthen to the opposite side and
pull it down. Alright? So I have one globe strong and to keep it from
sliding into the flower, I'm going to tie a knot
on each side of it. Not there. I'll give it a little bit
of space to slide around, but not too much. Not here. So I'm going to add the flowers. Let's start with the flower at the end of my Garland here. Start with flower with a globe. I'll add another flower here and space them out as I
go over the flowers, I want it to be somewhat
equally spaced here, maybe just a little extra there. I'm gonna put two
flowers back-to-back, glued on either side
of those string. This way when it's
hanging, it balances. You could do a single flowers, but you'll probably
find that it's going to flip and hang upside down. So let's look at this gluten flour to give it some glue here. Press that down gently. Give that a moment to dry. Alright, I have one globe
and two flowers glued on. So before I put
the next globe on, I'm going to tie another
not in the string. And to keep that spacing. You could mark out each of these first if you're concerned
about getting it. Exactly so. Alright. Now that it's all assembled, you can either leave it as is or glue in the leaves as accent. Okay, I'll show you how everything looks
with it assembled. I have about 12 " here at the end to allow for a
hanging it up as needed. Flower to flower is glued
back-to-back and not hear. Paper globe, another
not on the other side. This will keep the globe from sliding into the flowers
if it's hung vertically. Another flower situation here, leaves glued in, not
a globe, and so on.
7. Styling and Final Notes: I love to mix a garland, a paper garland with fresh
greenery from the yard. Just set that their
Garland tuck in any ends. Add more greenery as needed. Maybe tuck in
battery-powered candle. And you've got yourself a
centerpiece for the holidays. There are plenty of options
for you with this garland. You can create it as I have
with flowers and globes. You could do only flowers. You could do on the globes. You could change the spacing, have two globes, one flower. Lots of options for you. I have another example here. This garland could be used
for spring or summer, just by varying the
type of paper used. Thank you so much
for joining me. I hope you enjoyed the workshop and I hope you enjoy making your own paper
holiday Garland did this year. I'll see you around.
Jennie Whitaker, Surface Design Studio
