I wanted to have glitter roses for our DeMolay Arch of Roses at a recent Installation. It was a Roaring 20’s theme and this Master Councilor was going for an over the top event.
The Arch of Roses is a simple event done by Masonic Youth. It is the equivalent of the Arch of Steel for the young ladies to help the DeMolay. The young ladies raise the roses as the Master Councilor is going to his position the first time. This was an easy project that made the event just a bit more fun for the youth.
Items needed:
Fake flowers – Roses work well, but any flower is fine
Long Kebab Skewers
Floral tape or washi tape
Clear Dry Craft Glue
Glitter
Hairspray
Time: 2 hours or less
I used plain white roses because we had a black and gold theme. I found these roses on sale and bought 2 bunches. I used wire cutters to cut the stems from the bunch and ended up with over a dozen. I Tried to leave the greenery on the stems to give it a little color with the gold, but that is up to you.
I bought gold washi tape to give it a little extra bling, but green floral tape would be just as good. This tape is used to add the long skewers for length and strength to the stem.
I already had a ridiculous amount of glitter. I ended up using silver, black, gold and iridescent. I tried spray adhesive, but it just made a mess and the glitter didn’t adhere very well. The clear glue worked much better. I just put it on the ends of the petals and spread it through the parts I wanted glittery with my fingers. I tired to keep it on the outside, but it was messy and I always think more is better with glitter.
I tried all kinds of combinations. My favorites were single color on the inside and outside of the petal. That is the one with the black glitter in the center of the photo above. This was great because I could just put the pre-glued flower into a bowl of glitter and swish it around. The one in the photo above that was the most extra is the one on the right. It has iridescent near the stem, gold on the outer petals and black with silver on the interior. I also recommend leaving one flower without glitter, just in case.
These are the roses after I put the glitter on, but before adding the skewer. You can see the different ways I put the glitter on them. This is the part that takes the most time. Depending on how clumpy and heavy your flowers are with glue and glitter will make this part last longer. Now is the perfect time to get a snack, set a timer for an hour and then come back. Don’t do anything else with these until they are fully dry.
This is what the kebab skewers look like they are about 11 inches long and make the arch a bit higher for the young man to walk under. I get these at the grocery store in packs of 100.
There is a lot going on in this photo. You can see my box of glitter on the left, the glue I used, the bowls for glitter and even a plain rose. The focus of this photo is the stems.
I take the pokey end of the skewer wrapped with some tape to start connecting the stem and the skewer. A 6 inch strip is enough. I was using washi tape. It is not as sticky as floral tape. I found that I had to do two layers of washi tape. I did one to affix the stem to the skewer, and one to cover the whole thing to give it a more finished look. Cover the whole thing from stem to stern, including making sure that the pokey part of the skewer is not going to hurt anyone. I still had to stick the tape down on the day of the event, but this was a good task for a fidgety DeMolay.
The next thing is the final trick. Spray liberally with hairspray. This will keep the glitter from getting all over your house, your car, your friends and your Lodge. Any aerosol hairspray spray will work.
This is them all done! I hope that I have done a good job telling you all you need to know. The best thing about this craft is that it cannot be done wrong. Next time I would have the youth do it. They couldn’t make more of a mess than I did!
If you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected].
With Gumption & Moxie, Anything is possible!