Most paper flower tutorials call for dip-dyeing crepe or tissue paper before creating the actual flower. This technique is slightly different as it colors the flowers after you’ve already made them.

This gives you more control on placing the colors, and lets you change the flowers of your present flowers if you’re bored of them!

The real reason I had to do this was because we originally created white flowers for our church pews for the wedding and were feeling pretty pleased…

…until later on someone kindly pointed out that in Chinese culture, white flowers were used at funerals and symbolized death! Turns out this is drastically different from what we’re used to in some Western cultures where white flowers signify peace and are commonly used in church weddings. Mega oops!

Thankfully there was enough time to fix it. I didn’t want all the flowers to be too pink as the church was already pretty orange in color. So I figured the next best thing was to use a dropped to insert colors at the base. And we were actually much happier with these flowers than the original white ones so thank goodness it all worked out! :)

How to do this:

Grab some food coloring and mix the relevant colors in a bowl with water. I’ve dyed some flower before in acrylic paint and water, but I’ve found food coloring to be better for several reasons.

With food coloring, you can control colors drop-by-drop as opposed to acrylic paint which you squeeze out of a tube and is hard to control exact mixing amounts. This makes it easier to replicate for future batches.

In addition, food coloring is safe to use, so you don’t need to worry about using regular mixing bowls for your craft projects. Usually, I’d have to use a disposable container or container specifically for craft to mix my paints.

Always test the color and intensity before applying onto your paper flowers.

Once you’ve gotten the color you want, apply it onto the insides of your flowers and you’re done!

A sneak peek into our wedding prep frenzy… and kudos to my fiance is who is now an expert on making crepe paper flowers! :)

Less than ten days to the wedding!