Thermocol Crafts- Lotus tutorial

Thermocol craft lotus

For quite some time now I have been fascinated by thermocol /styrofoam ball ornaments .

You can dress up thermocol balls with ribbons,fabric scraps,pretty paper ,sequins or beads [lots of ideas!!]

I had a bit of a tough time following some of the pine cone tutorials on the net and finally decided to make my own version…it turned out looking like a lotus!!

Thermocol craft lotus

So sharing how we made our thermocol lotus ball!

Materials Required for the Thermocol Ball craft

Lotus flower tutorial

• Thermocol balls – we used 2 inch sized ones. If you are not able to get a thermocol ball dont worry you can still make your lotus using a plastic ball but instead of pinning you will have to do a lot of gluing !
• Ribbon ,fabric or paper -I used 1 inch width pink ribbon.Use sizes and colors you want.
• Pins
• Scissors

From the pink ribbon Cut one square[ 1 x 1 inch] and many 1 x 2 inch rectangles [cut rectangles double the width of your ribbon/paper]

Lotus tutorial

Fold the rectangles into triangles by folding up the lower corners to meet the upper edge.

Ribbon flowers

My ribbon is kinda satiny and stiff like paper so I could fold and the creases remained

Ribbon flower tutorial

If you are using fabric or normal ribbon you will have to  hold the fold with your fingers

Ribbon flower tutorial

When you have folded up the other corner you will get a nice triangle.Doesnt matter if you get imperfect overlapping edges!

Ribbon flower tutorial

Pin the square onto the thermocol ball

Ribbon flower tutorial

Take the triangle you had folded and Pin the lower 2 corners of the triangle on to the corners of the square as shown keeping the flaps hidden inside.

Ribbon crafts

Keep pinning triangles to cover adjacent corners of the square keeping the lower edges of the triangles in a line on the thermocol ball

Thermocol Ball crafts

You can even use one pin to hold 2 adjacent triangle corners as you get used to pinning on the thermocol ball!

Thermocol Ball crafts

On completing a layer of triangles atop the square start pinning the next layer lower down .

Thermocol Ball crafts

My next layer also had just 4 triangles. Here is the side view showing how the triangles are overlapped on the thermocol ball

Thermocol crafts

Complete the thermocol ball lotus by pinning more triangles and finishing off with green ribbon leaves!

Do tell me how you like this thermocol - ribbon Lotus!!

I think it would look cool as a home decor and for religious souls I guess it would be lovely as a  Pooja  decoration for goddess Lakshmi!

PS: the stand for the lotus may be familiar to some of you.Here is how I made it : Fancy fold card tutorial

Where to buy Thermocol Balls ?: Try your local fancy store.If you are in Bangalore its available cheaply in many sizes at a Packing Material Supply shop in Ebrahim street[ parallel to Commercial street].Also available at Itsy Bitsy. You can also check out my compilation of Craft Supply Stores in India

Edited :this project got Honorable mention at Crafter corner Festive theme