A Readerly Paper Flower Wreath

This last year I've jumped back into reading with vigor and thus have decided to celebrate my 30th birthday (April 2) in a very readerly way.  Book door prizes.  Bookish games and ice breakers.  And, of course, bookish decorations.  Yesterday I picked up a book from the table of withdrawn library books.  Now 100 pages of this Czech translation of Thomas Mann have given themselves up to the effort: a paper flower wreath.  To inspire other readers, I'm sharing the process here.  To make the flowers, I used this great blog post, with only some slight modifications.

Materials:

• discarded book(s)
• scissors
• glue stick
• tape (optional)
• sewing pins
• foam wreath form
• one chopstick

First I prepped the paper.  Taking a page from the book, I cut off the margins from the text, then made a diagonal fold, cutting away the excess to leave a square. (Four pages are necessary.) I then continued to fold the paper like one does to prepare a paper snowflake, finally cutting away a curve to make the petal shape (I found that making a more dramatic curve cut is more effective). I did not follow the original instructions to cut a hole at the cornered tip, since I was putting my flowers onto a wreath and not onto a wire.

Then after unfolding the four pieces, I cut away one "petal" from one, two from another, three from another and four from the fourth--i.e. in half (the original instructions don't call for the fourth, but I find it looks better to have it).  I also differed from the original instructions in that I discarded the one petal (it was too small and finicky to work with).  Next I used glue (and some tape on the smallest piece) to form the layers of the flower.

Finally I used a chopstick to slightly curl the petals and then stacked the layers inside each other.  Using a sewing pin and the chopstick, I pushed the needle through all the layers and added the flower to the wreath.

The wreath form I used is a foam one.  I used the excess paper from cutting away the margins to cover this form (secured just with tape at the back).  The wreath is not yet finished, but I plan to soon add the string for hanging the wreath, as I don't want to muss the flowers once it's finished.

Have you ever made an upcycled paper wreath?  How did it go for you?  I'd also love to hear any other suggestions for bookish decorations.  Next up on my list is bunting made from book pages.