Book Review: Paper to Petal

When I was a child growing up in a little village in Trinidad and Tobago, one of my favourite pass times was making paper flowers. I would save money for new sheets of tissue and crepe paper, and literally run to Haniff's shop. The shop was different from the other shops (parlours) in the village; it was bigger, air conditioned and carried some school supplies, stationery, knick knacks that made for great mother's day gifts, and lots and lots of tissue paper, crepe paper and other crafty supplies. Needless to say this was my favourite place to go in the village. Since I was always working on something crafty I was a permanent fixture in the store. I can still remember feeling excited whenever Mrs. Haniff would lay out the various coloured crepe paper and I would take forever to decide which colour to purchase that day.

Last year when I came across "Paper and Petal" by Rebecca Thuss and Patrick Farrell, I was so happy to see a new book being published on how to make paper flowers, but I did not get a chance to see the book beyond the sneak peek on Amazon. The book has been out since last summer and I am asking myself what took me so long to check it out. This amazing book is so inspiring and has rejuvenated my love of paper flowers. The book provides information about the materials needed, techniques for making paper flowers and provides easy to follow instructions. I picked up a copy of the book at the library, and will be adding it to my own library in the coming weeks.

Over the years I have made paper flowers from card stock and the beautiful paper selection available at the Paper Place in Toronto. However, it has been many years since I have made crepe paper flowers. I have tried finding crepe paper at the local art and craft supply stores without success. Over time I gave up on finding it and in the end simply forgot about crepe paper. I am therefore very excited to find a book that not only looks at how to make paper flowers, but focus a lot on crepe paper flowers. The book includes 28 pages of templates and a helpful source list, so there are countless possibilities and places to find supplies.

There are so many things to love about this book that I cannot pick a favourite. What I will say however is that I cannot wait to make several of the flowers and create a beautiful paper flower arrangement for my studio. Since reading the book I have found great online sources for crepe paper and I have also tried making some flowers using simple, inexpensive crepe paper streamers. I have always loved how pliable crepe paper can be and I have been inspired by the designs in the book. I now have a mission to create beautiful paper flowers. There are so many wonderful ways you can use paper flowers and with a world of paper to choose from the possibilities are endless.

  Paper to Petal: 75 Whimsical Paper Flowers to Craft by Hand / Book Trailer from THUSS + FARRELL on Vimeo.