How to Make a Maple Leaf Chanhua Brooch

26 de julio de 2024

5.4.1 Making the Vase
The vase is the main body of this Chanhua piece. This section will introduce the methods for creating and assembling the various parts of the vase.

A. Materials and Tools:
White cardstock, carbon pen, scissors, 0.3mm diameter brass wire, No. 30 wire mesh flower wire, green, orange, and blue silk threads, alcohol glue, white glue

B. Making the Vase

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1. Use a carbon pen to draw the vase pattern on white cardstock and cut it out with scissors. The cut-out paper pattern is shown in the illustration.

2. Wrap the mouth and base of the vase with green silk threads.

3. Take a piece of flower wire and start wrapping one end with orange silk threads.

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4. Attach a piece of the vase body cardstock to the wire and wrap tightly with silk threads along the edge of the cardstock. Once wrapped, bring the two ends of the wire together.
5. Prepare two strands of green silk threads, splitting each into four strands.

6. Tie the split green silk threads to one end of the wire and fix them with white glue. Wrap the wire again with the green silk threads, leaving gaps to expose the orange silk threads, creating an alternating orange and green effect.

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7. Follow steps 3 to 6 to wrap three pieces of vase body cardstock and join them together.
8. Take a 25cm long, 0.3mm thick brass wire and twist two strands of blue silk threads around it.

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9. Add the twisted brass wire as decoration at the joints of each vase body piece, securing it with alcohol glue to prevent it from falling off. Wrap any excess flower wire and brass wire with silk threads and tie them to complete the vase body.
10. Glue the mouth and base of the vase to the body with alcohol glue to complete the vase.

5.4.2 Making the Maple Leaves
The maple leaves are the highlight of this Chanhua piece. This section will detail the steps for making the maple leaves.

A. Materials and Tools:
White cardstock, carbon pen, scissors, No. 30 wire mesh flower wire, red silk threads, white glue, UV glue, UV lamp, blue silk thread-twisted brass wire

B. Making the Maple Leaves

1. Use a carbon pen to draw the maple leaf pattern on white cardstock and cut it out with scissors. A complete maple leaf consists of 5 parts: 4 smaller leaves and 1 larger leaf. Wrap the leaves in the order of 2 small leaves, 1 large leaf, 2 small leaves in the sequence "1-2-3-4."

2. Hold the flower wire and the blue silk thread-twisted brass wire in your left hand, leaving an appropriate length of wire and start wrapping with red silk threads, ensuring the threads wrap around both wires simultaneously. Add a piece of the maple leaf cardstock and wrap tightly with silk threads.

3. When adding the next cardstock piece, bend the twisted brass wire, and wrap it along the flower wire, merging the two leaf halves and bending the twisted brass wire in the middle of the leaves. Tie off and secure with silk threads at the end.

4. Complete the wrapping of the 5 leaves in sequence, adjusting their shape and position. Tie off and secure with white glue, trimming and bending the excess flower wire.

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5. Make 3 maple leaves using the same method and wrap them together as one set. Make 3 sets in total, adjusting the shape and position of each maple leaf.

6. Bind the 3 sets of maple leaves together with silk threads.

5.4.3 Overall Assembly
After making all the parts, it’s time to assemble them. This section will introduce the specific steps for overall assembly.

A. Materials and Tools:
0.5mm diameter brass wire, green silk threads, UV glue, 0.5mm beading needle, brooch base, UV lamp

B. Assembling the Parts

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1. Take two 25cm long, 0.5mm diameter brass wires and wrap them with green silk threads.

2. Wrap the prepared brass wires around the 0.5mm beading needle to form a spring shape, then remove the needle to get two spring-shaped wires.

3. Use the spring-shaped wires as the branches of the maple leaves, wrapping the wires and the ends of the maple leaves’ flower wires together with silk threads.

4. Assemble the maple leaf and vase parts, wrapping the flower wires and brass wires together with silk threads and tying them off securely. If there are many wires, you can split them into two branches and tie them off separately.

5. Take a brooch base and use UV glue and the UV lamp to attach it to the end of the maple leaf assembly. Wrap the brooch base and the end of the maple leaves’ flower wires together with silk threads to secure the brooch base and prevent it from falling off.