Hello fans,
today I present to you the Corsage (Rose & Prairie Gentian) by Canon / Emiko Yamamoto which you can get here.
I made this for a dear colleague who left us to gain experience in a different branch of the nursing profession. The template was printed on my trusted 160gsm paper. The only change I made was I combined parts pages 1, 3 and 5 into two to optimize the layout and save one page.

Almost all parts have to be folded in the middle and laminated together so that they are textured on the front and on the back side.


Cutting out the parts was the hardest work (but it was not hard to do
).
Now I was facing a dilemma. The laminated parts were to be pre-shaped carefully into naturally flowing petals and leaves. However, due to the lamination they got pretty sturdy and thick. Any pre-shaping would create big and nasty creases on all parts which would ruin the final look. So something had to be done to soften up the parts. Usually I would use a brush and some water to make the paper malleable. However in this case using water straight on the template was not an option because this would destroy the printed texture. The texture would be stained and the colours would run. So another way had to be found.
After some careful thinking I had the idea to use water - but not directly on the parts. They were supposed to get soft but not wet in order to be shaped without creasing or disintegrating. So I chose to use - steam!
First I filled a pot with some water and made it boil. Then I reduced the power to avoid popping water bubbles which might leave stains on the parts and put a part directly into the steam to moisten it.

It takes a few seconds till the part is soft enough to be shaped but as soon as the moment comes everything must be done fast.

Several rods with various diameters were used for pre-shaping. I used a rod with a bigger diameter first and then continued with a smaller diameter. This way the part is shaped gently and does not crease.



In this picture you can see particularly well how soft the part has become due to the steam.



Big diameter first ...

... smaller next.


The part has become so soft that I could even pre-shape it with my bare fingers.



Pre-shaping complete!


A nice petal. No creases. No stains. No running colours.

From time to time I put the power up again when I noticed that the amount of steam was reducing and filled more water into the pot if it was about to get empty.
The more steam comes up the faster the part gets moist. However more steam means more heat. You may use some tweezers to hold the part in place or wear some gloves to avoid steam burns. And hold the part securely so that it does not fall into the pot!
today I present to you the Corsage (Rose & Prairie Gentian) by Canon / Emiko Yamamoto which you can get here.
I made this for a dear colleague who left us to gain experience in a different branch of the nursing profession. The template was printed on my trusted 160gsm paper. The only change I made was I combined parts pages 1, 3 and 5 into two to optimize the layout and save one page.

Almost all parts have to be folded in the middle and laminated together so that they are textured on the front and on the back side.


Cutting out the parts was the hardest work (but it was not hard to do

Now I was facing a dilemma. The laminated parts were to be pre-shaped carefully into naturally flowing petals and leaves. However, due to the lamination they got pretty sturdy and thick. Any pre-shaping would create big and nasty creases on all parts which would ruin the final look. So something had to be done to soften up the parts. Usually I would use a brush and some water to make the paper malleable. However in this case using water straight on the template was not an option because this would destroy the printed texture. The texture would be stained and the colours would run. So another way had to be found.
After some careful thinking I had the idea to use water - but not directly on the parts. They were supposed to get soft but not wet in order to be shaped without creasing or disintegrating. So I chose to use - steam!
First I filled a pot with some water and made it boil. Then I reduced the power to avoid popping water bubbles which might leave stains on the parts and put a part directly into the steam to moisten it.

It takes a few seconds till the part is soft enough to be shaped but as soon as the moment comes everything must be done fast.

Several rods with various diameters were used for pre-shaping. I used a rod with a bigger diameter first and then continued with a smaller diameter. This way the part is shaped gently and does not crease.



In this picture you can see particularly well how soft the part has become due to the steam.



Big diameter first ...

... smaller next.


The part has become so soft that I could even pre-shape it with my bare fingers.



Pre-shaping complete!


A nice petal. No creases. No stains. No running colours.

From time to time I put the power up again when I noticed that the amount of steam was reducing and filled more water into the pot if it was about to get empty.
The more steam comes up the faster the part gets moist. However more steam means more heat. You may use some tweezers to hold the part in place or wear some gloves to avoid steam burns. And hold the part securely so that it does not fall into the pot!
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