Forbidden City Chrysanthemum - Handcraft Ronghua Tutorial

Forbidden City Chrysanthemum

This chrysanthemum design is inspired by a piece from the Forbidden City’s collection. Although it looks simple, it includes a velvet ball, long velvet strips, and leaves, making the process slightly more complex than ordinary chrysanthemums. (The techniques for wrapping hairpins will be explained in detail in Chapter 6.)

Materials and Tools: Velvet strips, Silk thread, Hairpin stick, Ruler, Scissors, Tweezers, Lighter

Petal Part

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1. Prepare nine 2.8 cm, ten 4 cm, and twelve 5 cm long pink and blue gradient velvet strips.

2. Pinch each strip and set aside.

Flower Center Part

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1. Prepare one orange velvet strip, 2.5 cm in width and thickness.

2. Trim it into a smooth, round ball shape.
3. Cut off one end of the brass wire and set aside.

Leaf Part

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1. Prepare fifteen 4.3 cm long green velvet strips.

2. Pinch each strip, grouping them in sets of five.
3. Cut off the brass wire at the front end of each group of five strips and twist the wires at the lower end together.

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4. Use tweezers to smooth and shape the velvet strips.
5. Complete one leaf.

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6. Repeat to make three leaves.

Assembly

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1. Take the velvet ball as the flower stamen and the 2.8 cm long velvet strips as the first layer of petals.

2. Use tweezers to bend the first layer of strips slightly towards the flower stamen, wrapping the stamen with the petals.

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3. After completing the first layer, start assembling the second layer.

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4. Use tweezers to adjust the curvature of the petals along the brass wire.
5. Complete the assembly of all three layers of petals.

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6. Use silk thread to tie the base of the flower neatly.
7. Take the prepared leaves and assemble them with the chrysanthemum using silk thread.

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8. While tying the silk thread, always ensure it is tight. Finally, bind the flower and leaves to the hairpin stick with silk thread, tie a knot, and finish with a lighter.

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9. Use tweezers to adjust the flower shape, completing the arrangement.