Thursday, July 30, 2009

diy pinwheels

How-To: Pinwheels

070909HowToPinwheelYou can have so much fun with pinwheels at your wedding. Use them as favors or escort cards, or just great décor anywhere. They're easy to make and you can play with different colors and patterns that match your wedding theme. Here's how to make them:

Materials
cup of water
thin balsa wood dowels
Cardstock in bright, fun patterns (look for repeating, consistent patterns)
scissors
adhesive spray
decorative push pin
small bead for the end of the pin (or tape)


070809HowToPinwheel_directions

Step 1: Soak your thin wooden dowels in water. This will prevent them from splitting.

Step 2: Grab paper in two different coordinating colors or patterns (we're still using that awesome paper from our paper boutonnieres tutorial) and cut each piece into uniform and exact squares. Spray the back of one piece with adhesive spray and stick to the back of a coordinating sheet. Smooth it out so there are no air bubbles.

Step 3: Fold in quarters, bringing points to each other. (So if you have it with a flat side facing down, there will be a creased X.)

Step 4: Next, cut inward on each crease, stopping about an inch and a half from the center.

Step 5: Fold alternating corners into the middle, bringing just the point in, and letting the rest of the side kind of curve up. This makes the pinwheel shape. (It might help to put a dab of adhesive spray between each point as you fold them in and on top of each other.

Step 6: When they're all in, punch a decorative pushpin through the center and push it through a dowel rod behind the flower. Put the pin about an inch or so from the top of the dowel to prevent it from splitting. Finally, either put a bead on the end of the pin, or bend it up or down and wrap it in tape.

1 comments | post a comment
1

These are cute, would be cuter as escort cards!