Foxy Sparkles: January 2019

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Ribbon Flowers by MakeBowsandMore.com: How to make a 5 Petal Ribbon Flower

Ribbon Flowers by MakeBowsandMore.com: How to make a 5 Petal Ribbon Flower: Cut Five Lengths of 7/8" Ribbon, all the at 2 1/2 inches long. Heat seal the ends. Tip: Cut the lengths with a woodburner, which cuts ...

Present Perfect Creations Studio Flower Creating Hot Tools

Greetings, flower lovers..From

Present Perfect Creations Studio

To make the most of the flower making tutorials I and other tutors offer one must have a set of flower shaping tools.
Flower shaping or otherwise known as millinery tools... We use millinery tools to shape fabric or leather in order to create realistic or artistic petals and leaves which we then assemble into flower pieces. They are essential for the craft (and ART) and yet they cause more questions than any other aspect of flower making.

Traditionally millinery tools have always been on separeate handles and required heating over an open flame or using other sources of heat.

The famous Atelier Legeron which supplies Parisian fashion houses with silk flowers still use traditional tools like these.
However there is another option available to us, flower artists, now. I am talking about an electric iron and millinery tools that are inserted inside it to be heated.

To use a traditional set or a more modern electric flower iron may be down to personal preferences but I believe that the electric iron set allows to work quicker. It is advisable to have 2 or 3 flower irons so that when shaping a flower you could have 2-3 tools that are required for shaping it, heated and ready to be used at the same time.

Sets on separate handles come from the times when there was no electricity. So why not use the achievements of the civilization to our advantage? If you have inherited a set of tools on separate handles or you have already got one of those, you can of course continue using it. For those of you who are thinking about purchasing a new set I would recommend to go for an electric flower iron with a set of interchangeable tips (see the photo of the tips above).

I am often asked by students about what flower iron to use.

Whilst I offer flower tools on my website, I do not sell flower irons. This happens for several reasons, mainly because soldering irons are not a particularly specialist piece of kit and can be easily obtained (although you will need to know which one to buy). Another thing is that my students live all over the world, which means your sockets and plugs might be very different from mine.
Luckily I can recommend the flower iron I have been using myself for 5+ years, that seems to be a popular global model and sells in different countries with the right socket that suits each country.

This flower iron is compatible with different tools I have seen, used and owned myself. However, in case if your tools are wider than 6 mm at the part which is inserted into an iron, this model is not for you.

You can easily pick up the right soldering iron on Amazon in your country. You need this Weller SP40N 40 Watt High Performance Soldering Iron (see the photo above).

For the UK please use this link to find out more about the iron.

For France and other European counties please use this link to find out more about the iron.

For the US and Canada please use this link to find out more about the iron.

FLOWER SHAPING TOOLS

I am expecting a limited number of flower making tool sets back in stock by the end of this month.

These are the exact same sets I have used myself for the last 7 years for making flowers, teaching and filming my tutorials. Please see the details of the flower shaping sets below.

Here is the picture of a 22 piece set of flower shaping tools I have on offer. Below you can also see a smaller set and an individual tool that can enhance your own set should you already own one.
If you would like to order tools, make sure you place your order as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.