Welcome to my first tutorial! There are other tutorials out there for these pens, but I've tweaked it to suit my Girl Scouts. They've been making them to earn money for our trip to Savannah. I think they've made at least 100 already and they don't want to stop!
Step 1: Assemble your supplies. You'll need a stick ballpoint pen, silk flower, floral tape and hot glue. I prefer the pens pictured. They are inexpensive, but write well. And the cap on the end of the barrel is easy to remove (other brands are not!). I've been buying silk flower bunches at the dollar store and Walmart. For a fancier pen, you can buy nicer silk flowers. The floral tape can be purchased in the floral department of craft stores, the craft department at Walmart, and sometimes at the dollar store. Use whatever hot glue gun and glue sticks you have handy.
Step 2: Pop the cap off the end of the pen barrel. As I said earlier, some brands are easier than others. For the last batch we did, the girls had to "saw" the ends off. These pop right off with a steak knife. This is not a job for little kids, but you knew that.
Step 3: Pull the silk flowers off of their stems. (Sorry, no photo, but it's super easy.)
Step 4: Put a blob of hot glue in the end of the barrel. Also not a job your young children.
Step 5: Insert the silk flower into the glue at the end of the barrel. Hold a few seconds until the glue starts to harden.
Step 6: Start wrapping floral tape around the barrel, starting at the base of the flower. Be sure that none of the barrel shows at the top. As you turn and wrap, stretch the tape slightly and it will become sticky enough to stick to itself.
Continue wrapping, twisting and overlapping to cover the barrel.
Step 7: Wrap the tape around the barrel, covering the entire thing. Don't stop until you get to the black (or blue) ink cartridge. Tear off the tape.
Step 8: Enjoy your fun and fancy flower pen! The tape will be a little tacky for a few days. Eventually, it will dry completely. Trust me.
Special thanks to Julia for being the hand model and to all of Troop 554 for being so enthusiastic about this project. It has become their favorite troop activity (possibly tied with making chocolate-covered Oreos). We hope you enjoy making these pens for fund raisers, teacher gifts, and birthday presents. Don't forget to keep one for yourself!
Tina
3 comments:
So clever,my project for tomorrow. I,m of to watch -Dr Zhivago on dvd now . nice to meet you -cottonreel
I have made them before and just love them. In fact, I have some sitting on my desk in a little clay flower pot!
These are super cute! I have found that teachers love flower pens in the classrooms. It's a great gift for your kids to give to their teachers for the holidays.
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