Sospeso Transparente Bouquet Tutorial

Sospeso Transparente 

      Hi friends many of you may be already familiar with the  beautiful craft of Sospeso Transparente but if you are hearing about it for the first time...Sospeso Transparente is a 3D Volume Decoupage craft invented and patented by Italian artist Monica Allegro .It basically involves heating and shaping  flat designs into gorgeous 3 dimensional beauties!

Sospeso Transparente 

     These Sunflowers are my first attempt at Sospeso Transparente and I had so much fun arranging the them in all sorts of places in my house- the picture above is of our Passion fruit Vine adorned with Sospeso Transparente Sunflowers!

Glass Cabochon

I could make a matching "Sunflower" Glass Cabochon pendant for my flower basket using some DCWV paper. Click here for the Glass Cabochon tutorial

Sospeso Transparente

Sospeso Transparente is one of the most magical crafts I have come across...it is indeed sheer magic to be able to convert a printed film of Sospeso Transparente into a magnificent 3 dimensional object!

Sospeso Transparente Printed film

There are different techniques in Sospeso Transparente and the simplest is using printed films. I have shared a very detailed tutorial about the materials and techniques at my Sospeso Transparente tutorial post at Crafters Corner .But to simplify it there are actually just 3 steps involved in Sospeso Transparente with printed films : 

1. Cut the design
2. Heat the design
3. Emboss

Sospeso Transparente tutorial 

           The flowers look gorgeous just as they are but you can go ahead and add fancy flower centers such as rhinestones, pearls, glitter balls etc. I had once used chunky glitter on Felt Sunflowers and loved the effect so this time too I used chunky glitter but gave a domed center to my Sospeso Transparente sunflowers

Sospeso Transparente 

How to make a domed Flower Center

Sharing a mini tutorial on how to make the domed center of the sunflower. You can use the technique not only on Sospeso Transparente flowers but also on felt, foam and paper flowers.

Sospeso Transparente 

Materials Required

• Glitter , glitter balls or even tiny beads - to put on top of the dome
• Clay -To make the dome lightweight air drying clay is preferable so that your flowers dont become heavy. You can use brands such as Amos, Super clay etc-- these clays are a bit sticky when you use them but dry lightweight and dont crack. Use clay in the color which will match the glitter you plan to use on top
• Glue - your glue needs to be one which dries clear and is not too runny

Flower center tutorial 

1. Make Clay domes : Roll clay into a ball and flatten it so that the base will be easy to stick to your flower center. I made several sized balls as  my sunflowers were all different sizes

   

   Flower center tutorial 

2. Coat domes with glue :Put your clay dome on a plastic sheet/ lid  etc[ so that your flower center wont stick to it!] and generously pour or paint the dome with glue.

   

   Flower center tutorial 

3. Pour glitter onto your clay dome: Get a good covering and shake off the excess after giving enough time to dry-- DONT BE Impatient and touch your flower center before its fully dry or you'll end up with sticky glitter all over your fingers! 

Sospeso Transparente 

Stick the centers to your flower : I stuck the glittery centers to my Sunflowers using regular white PVA glue but you can also use the glue gun but be careful as heat can alter the shape of your formed Sospeso Transparente flowers

How to make a floral bouquet

Again this mini tutorial is not just for Sospeso Trasparente flowers but can be adapted to make a bouquet of felt, foam or paper flowers. 

Flower bouquet tutorial 

Materials required

1. Clay -to make flower calyxes- you can use the soft types of children's clay in the market  [like Amos, Super clay etc]which dries lightweight without cracking or more expensive air drying clay or if you are from India Mseal like I have used here.
2. Sticks, skewers, wires etc - to make stems
3. Floral tape - to wrap around your stems

If you are using Mseal : Mix in a little green oil color into your mseal dough while you are mixing it [ like I did for my Altered Bottle art] .Also another important point while working with mseal is you have to work fast to take advantage of the sticky nature of the mseal.

Flower bouquet tutorial 

• Pinch off some clay and shape it into a cone as shown in the pictorial
• Insert a skewer/ wire into it. Mseal is sticky so you dont have to use glue. If you are using clay you can dip the end of your skewer in glue before inserting it into your clay

Flower bouquet tutorial 

• Slightly flatten the top of your "clay calyx" 
• Stick your clay calyx to the under-surface of your flower using glue. Again if you are using mseal ,you dont have to use any other adhesive if you stick it to your flower while the mseal is still soft and pliable [ once it dries and hardens it become non sticky]

Flower bouquet tutorial 

• Allow the flower stems to dry

Flower bouquet tutorial 

• Apply a bit of glue on your floral tape and wrap around your flower stem
• Add leaves if you wish

Here is the link to another Handmade bouquet tutorial  variation with  the  flower calyx  made by quilling .

Sospeso Trasparente 

I hope you enjoyed my mini tutorials to making the flower center and the flower bouquet . All the little pearl branches are handmade too [ will share how I made them soon!]
You can add Sospeso Trasparente flowers to cards, scarpbook layouts[ big advantage is they dont squish!], home decor glassware, frames, jewelry, photoframes etc
I hope you liked my little "Bouquet of Sunshine" to warm your day this season! Do tell me how it is.

Supplies :All courtesy Shalini Mittal of Crafters Corner