Spoon Flower: the Ornament

December 18 2012, 9:50 pm

Spoon flowers really lend themselves to an ornamental construction. They're slightly more complicated than the regular ones, but not by much. Wouldn't hurt to practice on a smaller one first, though.

10 Spoon petals, 4 transparent, 6 opaque
2 Strands of 1.5mm nylon cord in jungle green, 60" long
2 Strands of 1.5mm nylon cord in flo green, 30" long
Kumihimo disk
8 Large hole brass beads, about 5mm in diameter
Scissors, Lighter, Small bag with weights, Tape

Line up all the strands at one end with the darker green strands on the outside, and the flo green on the inside. Find the center of the light green cords. Tape all the cords to a table, about 4" from the center of the flo green strands.
About a 1/2" below the tape, start tying square knots. For a great tutorial on how to tie a square knot, click here.
Tie about 7" of square knots. All the strands should be about the same length at this point (give or take an 1").

With the lighter, melt the tips of 1 side of flo green strands and carefully (they're hot!) press them together. Repeat on the other side.

Fold the knotted section in half and pair up the outer strands. Melt the tips and press together as with the flo green strands.

String the 4 transparent petals onto each pair of strands, going from the back to the front. Push the petals all the way to the knots.

Thread up the disk as shown. Make sure each petal is laying flush on the bottom of the disk.
Braid the strands for 1 rotation in a spiral pattern (for a refresh of how to work spiral braid, click here)

Add an opaque petal to each pair of strands on the underside of the disk(for photos of how to add petals to the strands while braiding, click here. Braid another full rotation.
String the last opaque petals to the dark green strands, on the underside of the disk as above.

Once all the petals are strung, continue to braid the cords for about 1".
Remove the braid from the disk, and tie an overhand knot. Slide a bead on each strand and knot the end. Trim the tails off and carefully singe the ends to prevent fraying.