Duct Tape Rose Bouquet with Tutorial!

As promise, I got boyfriend to do a tutorial for the lovely duct tape roses he made me for our anniversary, as seen here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=161856.0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/235/445280484_8f530ca82d.jpg
Here it goes...

First thing first, you're definitely going to need duct tape. I find that the "Duck" brand of duct tape works the best.
You'll also need
-Floral wire
-Wire cutters (to cut the wire)
-Scissors, or a razor blade and cutting mat

First thing you do is to get your floral wire. Unroll as much as you want, or if you get the precut stuff...well, thats how long your stem is going to be. Just remember that the longer that the stem is, the harder it is to stand the rose up.

Next, take a piece of tape about 1" - 1 1/2" long and fold the top left corner down to the bottom right side, making sure to leave adhesive on the right side.

Then take the right side and fold it to the left side, making a triangle with adhesive left on the bottom.

Take that piece and fold either end over the tip of the wire, it depends on whether you're left or right-handed. Do it whichever way you're comfortable.

Now the key to making the center is to wrap the tape tightly. If the middle gets crinkled up, don't worry about it. You can take a pencil and push the crinkles out later.

To start making the individual petals of the rose, repeat the steps to make the first petal. Line up the second petal of the rose in the middle of the one you've used for the center. the tip of the new petal should be close to the same height and and close to center with the first petal. when you feel comfortable with the alignment, wrap that petal around the first one.

For every petal after that, point the tip of the petal in the direction you're wrapping. The corner that ends up on the top of the side of the petal should be lined up with the top tip of the previous petal. Wrapping petals in this fashion allow the rose to open up and look beautiful

Repeat this step over and over and over and over and over until you reach the desired size of the rose head. Just remember, a long stem with a big head wont stand up on its own at all!!!

Now its time to make your stem. Most sane people will use green tape, you know, to simulate a real rose but you can use any colour you like. <--Name the band and you're a winner!

Take your tape and pull off a long strip, it should be about as long as your stem. Rip it off, then take either scissors or a razor and a cutting mat and cut that entire strip in half. I find that the razor works better, and much faster, for those clutch situations.

starting at the base of the head, angle the tape at about a 45 degree angle and wrap it tightly downward, the tape will overlap and form creases, but that gives the stem character. If you have extra wire at the end when you run out of tape to wrap, chop it off and you have made your self a duct tape rose!

If you feel like experimenting further, try adding leaves or thorns to your stems.