Coffee-Dyed Book Page Flowers
You don’t need to tear apart an old book to make these antique-looking book page flowers.
I’ll show you how to use a newer book and use strong coffee to dye the book pages in less than an hour.
Once your book pages are dyed and dry, you can make gorgeous frilled book page flowers and create lovely bouquets to decorate your home.
My Book Page Flower Inspiration
I have a bit of a thing for books, coffee and flowers so when I saw a beautiful craft with a tutorial in Mary Jane's Farm Magazine I really wanted to try it. My biggest obstacle wasn't actually making the flowers but using pages from a perfectly good book. I had such a hard time pulling those pages out but I did it and all in all I am pretty happy with the results.
Above is my 'copy' of the vignette and below is my magazine inspiration and below are the details on how to make this yourself.
Supplies Needed:
- Book
- Glue
- Scotch Tape
- Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
- Natural Wired Twine
- Wire Cutters
- 3 tablespoons of instant coffee dissolved in 4 ounces of warm water
- Foam brush
How-to Dye Book Pages with Coffee
First, I removed my pages from the book.
I then brushed the pages with the coffee solution.
How-to Make Book Page Flowers
Once dry I joined the pages together in sets of two overlapping the long end of the pages and applying a thin line of glue flattening the glued strip with my hand.
The next step once the glue had dried was to fold my paper accordion-style into four equal parts.
With the two folded edges facing toward me, I cut the paper into ¼-inch-wide strips leaving ¼ inch uncut at the end.
Wrap the base of the flower tightly with tape.
Cut a piece of wire for the stem. The length of the wire will depend on the depth of your holder/vase place additional wire to allow for the 'curl'. Wrap the end of the wire around your finger to make the curly shape.
Place hot glue in the bottom center of your book page flower and insert the curly end of the wire into the bottom center of the flower.
Arrange your new-vintage coffee-dyed book pages and you're all done!
How-to Dye Book Pages
Equipment
- Foam Brush
Supplies
- Book pages
- 3 tablespoons instant coffee
- 4 ounces water
Instructions
- Remove book pages from book.
- Dissolve instant coffee in warm water.
- Brush coffee solution over pages.
- Hang pages to dry.
As with any of my recipes, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish.
How To Make Paper Flowers
Equipment
- Wire Cutters
Supplies
- Natural Wrapped Wire
- Coffee Dyed Book Pages
- Scotch Tape
Instructions
- Once dry I joined the pages together in sets of two
overlapping the long end of the pages and applying a thin line of glue
flattening the glued strip with my hand. - The next step once the glue had dried was to fold my paper
accordion-style into four equal parts. - With the two folded edges facing toward me, I cut the paper
into ¼-inch-wide strips leaving ¼ inch uncut at the end. - Wrap the base of the flower tightly with tape.
- Cut a piece of wire for the stem. The length of the wire will depend
on the depth of your holder/vase place additional wire to allow for the 'curl'.
Wrap the end of the wire around your finger to make the curly shape. - Place hot glue in the bottom center of your book page flower and insert the
curly end of the wire into the bottom center of the flower.
As with any of my recipes, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish.
Oh how coooool!~ I absolutely love this project girl. Thanks for sharing. Great tut too.
Thanks so much for hosting the copy cat challenge ~ that inspired me to actually get my butt in gear and make this project.
Have a great week!
~hugs, Mary Beth~
Great project. Your flowers turned out really pretty. I couldn't bring myself into pulling out any pages from any of my books, that I had for my paper and wire wrapped beads. So I went to the half price book store and bought me a couple books to use when I needed pages from a book for a project.
You can also use tea to dye pages too. I have used both but I like coffee better because the pages come out darker. When I'm in a hurry I just turn oven on low temp, while I am dying pages then lay them on cookie sheet, turn oven off, and place in oven for few minutes.
Thank you for sharing this lovely project and wonderful tutorial.
Linda
That's pretty neat 🙂 Looks good!
Thank you, Antonella!
I love those! They look so vintagey ... and I'm a sucker for anything made from books.
Thanks, Randi ~ I'm glad you like them and I, too, am a sucker for anything made from books.
Have a lovely week!!!
~hugs, Mary Beth~
So cool and creative how vintage these turned out!
Thanks, Donna! I love bright colors but sometimes the sepia/brownish tones are a welcome change.
Have a lovely week.
~hugs, Mary Beth~
Great flowers! I made some paper flowers this week too! I called mine a Pom Pom rose, but made it pretty much exactly the same way. This is such an easy technique. I love how yours turned out!
Thanks so much! I'll be over to look at yours. Must be the time of year...we need some flowers with this weather even if they are paper.
Have a great week!
~Hugs, Mary Beth~
Those are simply adorable. I love how they -- and your whole arrangement -- turned out! I love working with print material, including music. :>)
Thanks, Linda!
Have a happy weekend.
~hugs, Mary Beth~
I'm in love with this one, MB! Gorgeous!
Thanks SO MUCH, Malia!!!!
~hugs, Mary Beth~
What a pretty project! I'd love it if you would share these at my Saturday Spotlight linky party. 🙂 https://angelshomestead.com/saturday-spotlight-2-features/
Thanks so much for the invite, April! I'll be right over.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mary Beth
so cute Mary Beth. I have yet to attempt a book page projects but I need to add it to my bucket list! Thanks so much for sharing!
I love these! I love that they are coming out of that spool too!
Thanks for sharing!
--Katie
Thanks so much, Katie!
Have a wonderful week.
~hugs, Mary Beth~
These are fabulous Mary Beth! They look amazing in that spool! Thank you for sharing at Monday Funday!
Thanks so much ~ I loved linking to your party ~~ you're rockin' it over there!
~hugs, Mary Beth~
Mary Beth, this is such a wonderful technique and a lovely way to create vintage-style decor!
Jenn
I love how vintage these look. This reminded me of how I used to make flowers out of Kleenex, thanks for bringing back such a fun memory for me. Thank you so much for sharing with Saturday Spotlight. Have a great week and come back soon!
Thanks, April! Now I'm curious...how do you make flowers out of Kleenex? I would love to see a tutorial for that.
Have a wonderful week,
Mary Beth
Hi Mary Beth : ) Sorry it took me awhile to respond. I've been busy with my 2 blogs and am just now making it through all of my emails. My goodness it's been a long time since I made these, probably 35 + years! I figured it would be easier to watch a tutorial instead of me trying to explain it in writing, and luckily I was able to find a video on it! It's on YouTube and can be found here. https://youtu.be/T50Yqb8p_jo
That was so sweet of you to get back to me with a tutorial ~ I really appreciate it, April.
I had no idea you had 2 blogs...talk about BUSY!
Have a great week,
Mary Beth
this is fabulous!! Sorry I'm late getting here...thank you for adding your wonderful blog to the Thursday Favorite Things hop. xo
Thanks so much, Katie!
Mary Beth, I've never seen book page flowers like this before! So cool!!
Thanks, Jennifer! I made a mess while I was coffee-staining the pages but I love the way it turned out.
i just wanted to say that your flowers turned out gorgeous! i am working on coffee stained flowers for a wedding project as well.
I was wondering if you had to spray the flowers with anything to keep the coffee from molding or have you ever experienced that before?
thank you for the share.
Hi Cassi. I just left the flowers as is and have never had a problem with them. I store them when not in use in a plastic bin in my garage with other home decor and they have kept great. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Mary Beth I’ve got everything needed and tons of old paperbacks that I’m reading through. This will make a fun project. I’m enjoy all the how to posts.
It’s been a while since I’ve visited and wanted to check in and find out how you and the family are doing. Hope all is well with you.
Keep safe
Hello, Rachelle! Thank you so much for checking in. The family and I are all doing well, but time is passing by way too quickly, and my "baby" will be 15 in just a few days. I hope all is well with you and yours as well. Stay safe and healthy. xo, mb