How to Make Papel Picado Flowers At Home

Have you ever wondered how to turn pieces of paper into magical art that transform your magical fiesta?Let’s go over in detail how to make papel picado flowers, which are surprisingly simple and enjoyable.

Traditional Mexican Papel Picado

Mexican papel picado is an ancient folk art uses sheets of various colors with intricate design patterns to celebrate different occasions such as day of the dead, birthday celebration, wedding feast in Mexican culture It symbolizes transience of life to celebrate nature of beauty.

It has different symbols drawn on it for different occasion like symbols over any religious event, flowers designs at different birthday and wedding celebration’s and skull design at day of the dead event. It has both cultural and traditional values in Mexican culture.

Where does papel picado come from?

Papel picado is quite well-known in modern world. People in ancient times primarily Aztecs used tree barks to draw their arts used in their religious celebrations to honor their gods Then, When the Spanish arrived they brought invention of paper and all the artist abruptly adopt it to their collections for the making of art. This allow making light weight decoration for events like day of the dead festive and other celebrations.

How to make papel picado flowers step by step

1ST STEP

First of all I take several sheets of paper or tissue paper and then I cut  them into small equal squares. According to me the ideal size is about 88 inches (20 20)per sheet. You can also make them small or large according to your own preference.

2ND STEP

After taking sheets of paper and cutting them I used to stack them all over one another, the fold stack of tissues diagonally to make it a triangle. Then again fold it to make it half again in a smaller triangle.

3RD STEP

Then take a pencil and draw the petals of the desired Mexican flowers over it. You can make it round or more jagged edge for more realistic designs’ also cut these flowers with a small notches into edge to give it more realistic touch.

4TH STEP

By using your pencil, carefully cut along the lines you made. To keep the petals joined at the base, avoid cutting all the way through the folded edge.

5TH STEP

You can add more texture by making tiny cuts along the petals’ margins, which is common for papel picado flowers, to give them a fringed appearance.

6TH STEP

To see the shape of a desired flower, i gently unfold the tissue paper. You should have a multilayered flower with petals, depending on how many layers you stacked and how much you cut.

7TH STEP

To make the flower fuller, carefully separate the individual petals and fluff them out.

Adding additional layers of tissue paper behind the flower and cutting them into slightly larger or smaller petal shapes will help give the impression that the flower is “blooming” if you want a more layered feel.

Tips for making papel picado flowers

• To make it more natural and realistic add a separate layer or curve them from the edge to make it more bloom and fuller look.
• you can use different colors to add a touch of joy to your event. You can also match the colors of the flowers with the theme of the event like you can make them orange or yellow for day of the dead event.
• You can choose a variety of flower shapes, such as round, edge-shape, or marigold flowers, which have long, round petals, depending on the sort of Mexican flower you wish to utilize for your event.

Uses of papel picado flowers

• Garlands
• home decor
• wedding decor
• Mexican themed events
• altar decor
• wall decor

How to Make Papel Picado Flowers : A Video Tutorial

FAQS