Corsage (Rose & Prairie Gentian) by Canon (Artist: Emiko Yamamoto) & Photo book

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Hello fans,

today I present to you the Corsage (Rose & Prairie Gentian) by Canon / Emiko Yamamoto which you can get here.

I made this for a dear colleague who left us to gain experience in a different branch of the nursing profession. The template was printed on my trusted 160gsm paper. The only change I made was I combined parts pages 1, 3 and 5 into two to optimize the layout and save one page.

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Almost all parts have to be folded in the middle and laminated together so that they are textured on the front and on the back side.

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Cutting out the parts was the hardest work (but it was not hard to do ;) ).

Now I was facing a dilemma. The laminated parts were to be pre-shaped carefully into naturally flowing petals and leaves. However, due to the lamination they got pretty sturdy and thick. Any pre-shaping would create big and nasty creases on all parts which would ruin the final look. So something had to be done to soften up the parts. Usually I would use a brush and some water to make the paper malleable. However in this case using water straight on the template was not an option because this would destroy the printed texture. The texture would be stained and the colours would run. So another way had to be found.

After some careful thinking I had the idea to use water - but not directly on the parts. They were supposed to get soft but not wet in order to be shaped without creasing or disintegrating. So I chose to use - steam!

First I filled a pot with some water and made it boil. Then I reduced the power to avoid popping water bubbles which might leave stains on the parts and put a part directly into the steam to moisten it.

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It takes a few seconds till the part is soft enough to be shaped but as soon as the moment comes everything must be done fast.

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Several rods with various diameters were used for pre-shaping. I used a rod with a bigger diameter first and then continued with a smaller diameter. This way the part is shaped gently and does not crease.

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In this picture you can see particularly well how soft the part has become due to the steam.

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Big diameter first ...

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... smaller next.

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The part has become so soft that I could even pre-shape it with my bare fingers.

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Pre-shaping complete!

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A nice petal. No creases. No stains. No running colours.

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From time to time I put the power up again when I noticed that the amount of steam was reducing and filled more water into the pot if it was about to get empty.

The more steam comes up the faster the part gets moist. However more steam means more heat. You may use some tweezers to hold the part in place or wear some gloves to avoid steam burns. And hold the part securely so that it does not fall into the pot!
 
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The result:

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Perfectly shaped petals and leaves.

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The assembly instructions are very clear and precise and show how the single elements have to be formed. Then it was time to put everything together.

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Since there are no exact placement marks you have the chance to attach the petals according to your liking.

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Attaching the prairie gentians was a bit of a guessing game because there are no placement marks here, too. However, after studying the pictures of the instructions carefully they finally found their places.

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Due to the laminations the blossoms are VERY sturdy and can be shaped at will even after assembly.

A safety pin is attached to the back side so that the final build can be attached to a surface of your liking, be it a picture frame as seen on Canon's site or piece of clothing.

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The final model received some upgrades using some gemstones in the middle of the petals:

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As an accompanying piece I decided to make a photo book for my colleague. There is a great video tutorial which gave me all information necessary:


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Since I used pictures of a different size I adapted the dimensions of the single elements accordingly.

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The pages of the book were attached using glue strips.

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The cover:

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The pages are inserted.

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Everything fits perfectly! :)

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The pictures are attached with glue dots.

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Some deco to make it more attractive.

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I attached a ribbon to the spine of the book using glue dots. If you attach ribbons always use double-sided tape or glue dots. Due to the pores in the material liquid glue will penetrate the ribbon and leave stains and a very ugly visible spot.

Finally everything was wrapped up nicely and sent to my friend.

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Needless to say: She liked it VERY much! :)

Thanks for watching - and happy crafting altogether! :)
 
Thank you! It was a new experience for me but it worked perfectly. The final result looks very life-like and the colours came out even brighter and more vivid than in the promo pictures on the website. Everyone who saw it asked me what kind of modeling clay I used to make the flowers. I replied: "No idea what it is called but it used to be wood before." The looks on their faces were priceless! :biggrin:
 
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Absolutely amazing!! This thread is a treasure trove of techniques. Thank you so much for haring your mastery and sense of beauty with us. ;)
 
I showed the flower to my wife and she loved it. She want to give it a try. So I have downloaded the files.
A very nice gift, there's some real gems on the Canon site
BTW, because of the pastel colours the model comes with it is not really necessary to paint the edges of the parts. The white borders even adds some"lightness" to it. ;)