DIY Network

Flower Power Everything's coming up roses -- and daisies and pansies and other blooming beauties -- when you create these floral fantasies. From "Creative Juice" episode DCRJ-607

Flower power is blossoming as Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza show off some blooming craft ideas. They soak up some rays with amazing pressed flower suncatchers, use light-sensitive photo paper to make a floral masterpiece and make an edible flower salad that’s as delicious as it is beautiful.

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Pressed Flower Window Suncatchers

Let the sun shine in with pressed flower suncatchers that look beautiful in any window.

Pressed Flower Window Suncatchers

Materials:

2 old matching frames (thin glass) or a double glass clip frame
glass cleaner
1/2"-wide sticky-backed copper foil tape (found with soldering and stained-glass supplies)
office-supply binder clips
copper wire
pressed flowers and greenery (packaged or hand-dried and pressed)
tweezers
suction cup with a small hook
round-nose pliers

1. Remove the glass from the frames and clean with glass cleaner. Discard the "frame" or clip portion of the frame. Place both pieces of glass flat on a work surface (figure A).

2. Working on one piece of glass, arrange pressed flowers and greenery in a pattern of choice, handling the flowers with tweezers to prevent breakage and to prevent the petals from coming in contact with skin oils (figure B).

Figure A

Figure B

3. Place the second piece of glass on top and seal the edges with copper foil tape. Peel the backing from the tape; beginning at the bottom edge, align the center of the tape over the 2 pieces of glass and press the tape down on either side. Use your fingers to burnish the tape to the glass (figure C). Have a friend help sandwich the pieces of glass together as you work, or use office-supply binder clips to hold the glass together.

4. Working with a freeform style, wrap copper wire around the glass to create a hanger. Begin at a top corner and wrap several times; continue until all corners are wrapped (figure D). Return to the starting point and cut the wire with wire cutters. Use round-nose pliers to wrap the end of the wire around itself to prevent sharp exposed ends.

5. Cut a 6"-10" length of wire for a hanger. At the top of the frame, use round-nose pliers to wrap the hanger wire around the top corners of the frame wire (figure E).

Figure C

Figure D

Figure E

6. Attach a hooked suction cup to a window and hang the suncatcher.

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