Christmas Roses

As mentioned in last year's Christmas Crafts post, I found some 1859 instructions in The What-Not for making paper roses. They are said to look well in a vase or basket in the parlor, and to be likewise appropriate for decorating a ballroom or schoolroom at Christmas-time (especially when arranged in evergreen branches), or for decorating the tree. White, pinks, red, and yellows are the recommended colors. I tried white, since that was the tissue paper I had to hand.

They got a little crushed in transit.

As promised, these are a relatively simple craft: cut out the paper, twist a square of paper over some cotton for a base, arrange each row of petals and twist the wire stem around, cover the edges of the last set with some green paper. I found positioning the green paper the most challenging bit, but by the third one, they were noticeably improving. There is a certain need to fuss with each petal in order to achieve a full and graceful rose.