Lilac Bush

Lilac Bush The Endless Steppe

The morning it happened-- the end of my lovely world-- I did not water the lilac bush outside my father's study. The time was June 1941 and the place was Vilna, a city in the northeastern corner of Poland. And I was ten years old and took it quite for granted that all over the globe people tended their gardens on such a morning as this. Wars and bombs stopped at the garden gates, happened on the far side of garden walls. Our garden was the center of my world, the place above all others where I wished to remain forever.

The Endless Steppe ch1

Leaves

This kit requires the use of a flame. ONLY USE THE CANDLE UNDER PARENTAL SUPERVISION.

Cut the green ribbon 2-3 inches long.
Cut one side of your leaf and singe the edge so it doesn't fray.
Cut the other side and singe the edge.
Fold the leaf in half and warm the crease in the flame.
After taking it off the flame, wait for a moment and then press. Make sure you are not doing this when it is hot.

Creating a Lilac Flower

Cut the purple and pink ribbons into dozens of mini rectangles. You want them to be just slightly longer than they are tall.
Hold each side to the candle flame to seal the edges.
Do this very lightly. Just enough to seal without creating a thick melted edge.

Sew a rough diamond shape on each square.
Make sure you wrap the thread around each side.
Each point of the square will become a petal and the space in the middle will swallow up the bead.
Either proceed to the next step to make one flower at a time or continue sewing the rest of your squares.

Make the petals

Cut a wire 6-8 in long. Use the very back of your scissors to cut so you don't damage the regular cutting area.

Fold the wire in half and add 1 seed bead.

Poke the wire through the center of your ribbon. Make sure to leave a gap between the two wires. You don't want to accidentally pull the bead through.

Gather the ribbon and start pulling the string ends.

You want to hide the bead. It will be inside the little bag you've sewn.

Make sure the flower is snug.

Tie a knot.

Grab the flower firmly and twist the wire at the base.

Cut a pice of floral tape the same size as your original ribbon square. Wrap this around the wire just under your flower. Pull snuggly as you wrap. The floral tape becomes slightly sticky when stretched.

Creating a Sprig

Gather 3 flowers.

Cut a piece of floral tape just shorter than the length of your flower.

Wrap from the base of the previous floral tape all the way to the end.

Start arranging your flowers.
Gather stems together. Use floral tape to bind.
Bend the individual flowers out to fluff your lilac branch.

Cut more wire 4-6 in. long.
Run this wire through the base of a leaf.
Use floral tape to create stems.
Connect the stems to each other and then to the lilac branch.

You Did it!!

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Appreciate

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