How to Make Bouquets Made With Vintage Brooches
- 1). Cut two 2-foot-long strips of floral wire for each brooch. Thread one end of the strip through one side of the pin back and bring the ends together folding it in half. Repeat with the other strip on the other side of the pin back. Brooches differ as far as the design of the pin back, so you will have to look for a loop like construction on each side of the pin back that you can thread the wire through and that won't allow the wire to slide around. You may need to wrap the wire around one side of the pin back a few times before folding it in half in order to accomplish this, or there may be a convenient loop for you to use.
- 2). Bring the two pieces of wire together right under the brooch. Twist the wires together a few times before wrapping the full length of wire in green floral tape to create the stem of the flower. Repeat the wire and taping process for each brooch.
- 3). Arrange your bouquet. You want to keep the brooches tight together so you can't see through the top of the bouquet to the flower stems. Place a thin layer of silk flowers around the outside of the bouquet to hide the bottom of the brooches.
- 4). Wrap all the stems together with green floral tape all the way down once you are pleased with the arrangement. Wrap the stems as tightly as possible to hold the flowers together tightly.
- 5). Cut a foot of 5-inch wide wire ribbon. Grab the wire at one end of the ribbon and hold it as you push the ribbon up on the wire to gather it. Leave the other side of the ribbon alone. Keep gathering the one side of the ribbon in this manner until the length of the ribbon on the gathered side is just long enough to wrap around the base of your bouquet. Wrap the gathered edge of the ribbon around the bouquet and twist the exposed ends of the ribbon before trimming them.
- 6). Wrap the stems of the stems of the bouquet in a 10-inch-long piece of the 5-inch-wide ribbon. Use a hot glue gun to glue both the collar of the bouquet and the wrap of the stems in place.
- 7). String five yards of 22-gauge beading wire with seed beads in colors that coordinate with the ribbon. Use the round-nose pliers to loop one end of the wire before you start stringing beads and the other end of the wire when you are done stringing beads. Place one end of the wire at the top of the ribbon-wrapped stem of the bouquet. Wrap the bouquet's stem in the beaded wire working down and then back up. Hook the two loops at the ends of the wire together to hold the wire tightly around the stem.
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