tulips's stamens and petals

How to make a Crepe paper Semper Augustus tulip

Tulips became interesting to me a little bit later age. As a child I loved roses, the huge gerberas, the tiny violets and lovely daisies. Tulips were always too fragile, too easy to break; their petals started falling the second day. And on the last day of school for the year all the kids brought tulips for their teachers. How boring!

red and white petals of Semper Augustus tulip

Years later I discovered the amazing world of the tulip. All the surprising colours and unexpected shapes. And the Semper Augustus is the king of them all. Do you know that in the times of the Tulip Mania, it was the most expensive tulip? The price of one single bulb was 10 000 guilders. At the time, during the 17th century, this was the cost of a huge home in one of the most fashionable canals in Amsterdam. The most amazing thing is that this incredible petal coloration is caused actually by a virus…

I confess, I fell in love with the old pictures of Semper Augustus tulips – so elegant and precise. And started making my paper ones, following exactly these drawings.

So, to make a Semper Augustus tulip my way, you need white crepe paper and red acrylic paint. This is the most important. I prefer to paint the crepe paper myself for the petals of my flowers, because very often the sunshine makes the coloured paper fade. And nobody wand red flower to become sa sad, pinkish-white… But, if I am honest, I do often use green crepe paper for the stems and the leaves. When it fades, the green starts looking like expensive old velvet and I really like this effect.

The petals

First cut 6 rectangular pieces of the paper.

white rectangle pieces of crepe paper

Scratching the paper between your finger and nail, try to remove the lines, which exist from the production process. I don’t like them at all. Yes, this will take a lot of time, especially if you are making more than one flower, but it is worth it.

white crepe paper

Cut the rectangular pieces diagonally…

making the petals

… and glue both pieces together on the longer side. Be careful to keep the lines emanating from the middle in both pieces.

Semper Augustus tulip from a crepe paper

After the petals dry, open them. To help myself and to make the glue line almost invisible I very often roll a paint brush or a round pencil on it.

folding the petals from white crepe paper

Cut a round tulip petal shape.

how to make crepe paper Semper Augustus tulip

Paint the petals and leave them to dry. Here you can use your imagination or the pictures you can find online. Be sure that all your petals follow one style – like in real tulips. I very often use microwave oven to dry the acrylic paint. I am not sure if it is bad for my food or not, but for fixing colours and faster drying it is an amazing helper!

But be very careful not to put petals that contain wire inside the microwave – this can cause a fire! Or can destroy all your work. Be careful, in the first days of my paper flower making I often forgot this and the results in the microwave were terrible!

painting red lines in the white tulip petal

After the paint is fully dry, glue a thin piece of wire under the folded part. Keep it inside, as close as possible to the glue line. Leave the petal to dry. You can’t use the microwave oven anymore because of the wire! So, do something different – prepare dinner, make yourself a coffee and read a good book for half an hour.

gluing the wire on the petal

After the glue is fully dried, very gently stretch and twist the paper petals with your fingers to make them look realistic. Also twist the wire to help make the shape of a tulip petal.

tulip petal, shaped

The stamens

When all the petals are ready, it is time to make the stamens. I use the same thin wire and paper serviettes. Cut long lines and wrap and glue them around the edges of the wire pieces. Shape them with your fingers to make them start looking like the tulip stamens.

wire and paper serviette for the stamens

When the glue is dried, paint the tops in black using acrylic paint.

painting the stamens in black

When the paint is drying, twist some paper wire as shown.

twisting paper wire with wooden stick

This will be the “heart” of your tulip.

how to make crepe paper Semper Augustus tulip

Make little balls from the paper serviette pieces and glue them inside the round shapes. Paint them in light green.

how to make crepe paper Semper Augustus tulip

Also paint the wire part of the stamens and the body of the “heart”. Leave them to dry.

paper tulip stamens

When the paint dries, fold the petals as shown and glue them around the “heart” with a line of crepe wire.

tulip stamens from crepe paper

Twist two or three pieces of paper wire together and connect them again with string of crepe paper to the stamen part.

twisting paper wire for the stem

Your tulip stem is ready.

Final steps

After that glue the petals, using paper string again. Glue first three petals and then another three in a second layer. Be very careful to connect them well. Wrap all the stem with a few layers of green crepe paper.

gluing the petals

The heart of your tulip must look like this:

tulips's stamens and petals

The last thing you need will be to cut a tulip leaf shape from green crepe paper and glue it as shown.

gluing the leafs

And your Semper Augustus tulip is ready! I am not sure you can sell it for 10,000 guilders or whatever that is in today’s dollars, but it is still very beautiful – this I am sure about!

Twist two or three pieces of paper wire together and connect them again with string of crepe paper to the stamen part.

If you have any questions about the process or the materials, please ask in the comments.

For more paper flowers, you can see my Lavender.

If you are thinking about craft space decluttering and how to improve your craft skills, maybe will be interested to read my books about craft hoarding and capsule craft collection.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and buy something, I may get a portion of the sale at no cost to you. With these links I promote products and services that I am using and think are excellent. It also helps me make a living off of this site so I can keep creating content for you. Thank you for helping me! ♥

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20 Comments

  1. Could you please tell me what the dimentions in inches or centimeters are for the rectangle piece to make the petals of this tulip/ Thank you

    • Hello Lessli, thank you for the question ♥
      For the exact tulip (from the article) the dimensions are about 5 x 7cm / 2″ x 2,7″.

    • Hi! Yes, in some parts of the petals I am stretching the crepe paper. But after all the gluing and drying is finished. If you look at the second photo of the article, you will see an example for this stretching around the wire. Best wishes and Happy holidays! ♥ If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask me! Vihra

  2. Hello … Your flowers are so “beautiful” I love the look. Can you tell me how to make a Dahlia out of crepe paper? My niece is having her first child and I’d LOVE to surprise her with a bouquet of Dahlia’s! If you can’t could you refer me to someone who has this knowledge. Thank you for your time, anxious to hear back from you. ❤

          • What kind of paint did you use. How did you apply it? I am obsessed and want to try it. Thank you, so talented!

          • Hi, Donna! Thank you very much! ♥
            I am using simple acrylic paint, because the colours don’t fade and once applied, the paint stays almost forever on the paper. I prefer the Marabu paints, because the quality is very good and they are reasonably priced.

  3. Hello, it looks so beautiful, ill try some of your advices for cherry blossoms! Could you tell me please how did you hide the thin wire under the tulips?

    • Hi, Naomi! Thank you very much! ♥
      If I properly understand your question, you are asking me about the non visible side of the stamens? I am just pressing them when folding to not take much space and then wrap with a string of crepe paper again. Actually, for everything I have to hide, I am doing it with crepe paper string and glue. Please, if your question was for something else, tell me and quote me the exact photo or part of the text, I will explain in detail. Have a wonderful day!

  4. Greetings from your latest fangirl! Wow, I’m drooling over your gorgeous creations.

    But just a tip, you can quite safely dry the acrylic paint with ot without wires with a hand-held hairdryer/blowdryer thingy.

    Happy thoughts from Sweden 🙂

    • Hi, Riley ♥ You are absolutely right! But I am just lazy and also very impatient to see the flower ready, so the microwave oven is the fastest decision for me. But – yes, you are right, and especially if someone wants to add some more paint details to the flower – your suggestion is the best!

      Hot hugs from Australia!

    • Thank you very much, Pilar, for your nice words and support! ♥ Muchas gracias por sus amablas palabras y apoyo ♥ ♥♥

  5. Hi, it’s this is a beautiful flower you have said ( Twist two or three pieces of paper wire together and connect them again with string of crepe paper to the stamen part.) Does this mean, cut a piece of crêpe and stretch it and wrap it round the wire. I don’t understand as it says string of crêpe. Thank you

    • Hi, Janet, Thank you very much!
      Yes, wrap the the string of crepe paper around the twisted 3 pieces of paper wire – this is to make the flower stem longer and wider. Normally I am not stretching the crepe paper string first, but stretching it while wrapping – I believe this gives better “tightness” to the connection.
      Oh, I hope I explained it well, but English is not my first language 🙂 So, if you still need more clarity, please do not hesitate to ask me ♥

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