http://becomingmrsvail.blogspot.com/p/guitar-pick-flowers.html
Aren't those pretty? I changed a few things for mine. The whole project was kind of in honor of Greg because he's a fantastic guitarist, so I picked blue picks since that's his favorite color too.
These are the picks I used. I don't know anything about them, I just picked the cheap blue ones at the store! These are 1mm, Dunlop, Tortex, and blue. That is the extent of my knowledge about them. Oh, and they cost $5 for a dozen. They had a sort of powdery finish instead of shiny, but more about that later.
Here's the cast & crew! I forgot the sparkly middle bead in this picture though. It got to star in the finished project though so hopefully no jealousy there. First step is to place the picks in a five petal flower shape. Do it right side up though, unlike me in the picture.
Use painters tape if you have it, and scotch tape if you don't, to tape the picks in place. This is just so you can turn it over and hold them in place while you glue the button on, so as long as it'll hold them for a few minutes you're okay. Meanwhile...
Paint five more petals with your contrast color, if you're going to use two layers like I did. I used a metalic copper for mine, and did three coats. You can see how sparsely it went on with one coat; lots of thin coats completely dried inbetween will give you a hard smooth finish. If you glob it on you'll get bubbles and wrinkles! Thin coats dry within a minute or two.
Pick up your flower by the tape and flip it over carefully. Use hot glue to attach a button to the back. The reason I suggest a button is so that if you want to make it into a bouquet or something else, you can thread the button with a thin wire so it attaches easily. Make sure you thread it before you glue the bead on! In my case I attached it to the hair clip with hot glue so I didn't need wire. Look how pretty the other petals are after a few coats!
Let the glue dry, then turn your flower over and remove the tape. Because my picks had a powdery finish, the tape left marks. Oh no! I fond out that if I applied a very scant amount of lotion evenly and wiped it off well, the picks resumed their original color and it got rid of the powdery weirdness and left a very nice matte look. If you know more about picks than I do and pick out shiny picks in the first place, this step would not be necessary. It's possible that painters tape would not have left marks either, I'm not sure! But now you know how to fix that...
Glue your pretty bead in the middle. This hides the button and adds interest. You could also try a pompom, a cool button so it showed more than the one underneath, or whatever strikes your fancy.
Turn your flower over to the back and glue on your accent petals. You could also use the same color petals w/o painting them, or just do a single layer and skip this step altogether. In the blog I linked, she put the petals directly behind the originals instead of alternating. See what you like best!
Glue the alligator clip to the back. Be generous with the glue here, as the clip will not lie flat. Also make sure you position it so that the tabs you push to open are over one of the base petals not the accent petals; it'll be stronger. To operate the clip, you'll be pushing on the back tab of the clip and on the petal itself. It works out pretty well!
The finished project! You can also use these flowers to make a bouquet, as napkin rings, as boutteniers (spell check doesn't even recognize that, sorry..), magnets for your fridge, etc etc! Enjoy being crafty. <3
