Cyclamen plants are easy to make in miniature using paper and wire and the steps that follow in this tutorial. As they come in a range of pink and white combinations, you can make lots of varied plants for a miniature flower shop or a planted windowbox. Cyclamen are popular for Christmas, New Year's and Valentine's Day and fit well in displays with other dolls house scale plants including the ones in these tutorials:
- Make Miniature Pussy Willow Branches
- Make Miniature Crocus
- Make Miniature Snowdrops
- Make Miniature Tulips
- Make Miniature Daffodils
Materials Used to Make Dollhouse Miniature Cyclamen
The dollhouse miniature cyclamen flowers are made using a small daisy punch (mine has a diameter of 1/2 inch (12 mm) while the leaves are made using a standard heart punch. In addition to these shapes (which can be hand cut) you will need:
Acrylic paint or water color paints - bright pink, (I used opera rose watercolor paint), dark green (Hauser dark green acrylic or Hooker's green watercolor) , and a pearl, white or light grey to highlight the leaves ( I used Jacquard Pearl Ex Pigment in pearl white).
To coat the stems I also used white acrylic paint, pink (watercolor or acrylic) and a bit of light 'mud' brown or taupe acrylic paint.
- PVA (white) glue
- Paper covered wire ( I used #30 gauge wire)
- Round ended embossing tool
- Light weight drawing paper or tracing paper
- End cutters or other wire cutter
- Fine Tweezers
- Curved Blade Scisors
- Small Plant Pot
- Dry Floral Arrangement Foam
- Fine Paintbrush
Prepare Your Colored Paper For Cyclamen Flower and Leaves
Cyclamen flowers are found in shades of white through pink to bright pinks, dark pinks and reds. Quinacridone fuchsia and Opera Rose are good watercolor shades to use as they do not fade too quickly.
The photo above shows Opera Rose watercolor, along with Hooker's Green watercolor on the left (mixed with Gum Arabic to add a sheen). The duller paint coat on the right is Hauser Green Acrylic Craft Paint.
You can use similar shades of colored paper or tissue if you wish. If you paint your own paper you will need to paint small squares of color on both sides of the paper.
Coloring the Wire Stems for Miniature Cyclamen
The paper wrapped wire stems for miniature cyclamen will need to be colored as well. For each plant you will need roughly 5 inches of wire colored a mix of pink and beige. (5 flowering stems). If you are starting with green wire color the length you need with white paint, allow the paint to dry, then paint the stems a deep pink shade as shown. I but a bit of paint on the pad of my index finger, then roll my thumb and finger together with the wire between them to coat the wire as I roll it and pull it through my finger and thumb.
You can also use a paintbrush.
When the pink paint is dry, dry brush a bit of taupe or 'mud' colored paint over the pink to give the shade seen most often on cyclamen stems. Cut at least five, 1 inch (2.5cm) lengths of pink wire, and a few 1/2 inch lengths of green wire for each plant.
Cutting the Petalsfor Miniature Cyclamen Plants
To cut the petals for your dollhouse cyclamen plants, first use your daisy punch to cut out a few daisies. Or you can cut individual petals by cutting a line of curved cuts roughly 1/8 in (3mm) apart, then reversing your paper and cutting the other side of the curved petal.
If you make your petals using a daisy punch, cut each individual petal of the daisy free from the set by cutting into the center of the daisy as shown.
When you have the petals separated, set aside five petals or each flower, and cut the narrow pointed end of each petal off at the tip so the petal has a narrow blunt end. (see photo this page).
Shaping the Petals For Miniature Cyclamen Flowers
Before you begin assembling your miniature cyclamen flowers you should shape each individual petal. You can shape the petals using tweezers to hold the flat end of the petal while you press the sides around the tweezer arms, or you can use an embossing tool to drawn a line down the center of the petal from the round end to the base.
You want the flat narrow end of the petal rolled fairly tightly before you start to assemble your flowers.
(see photo)
Fitting the Miniature Cyclamen Petals To the Wire Stem
To assemble your miniature cyclamen, start by putting a small amount of glue on the end of your wire.
Lay a single petal over the wire with the blunt end of the petal lined up with the end of the wire, as shown on the left side of the photo above.
Now take a second petal, dab a tiny bit of glue over the inside of the base of the petal, and set the second petal so the base is overlapping half of the first petal.
(see the right side of the photo on this page). Continue to glue petals in an overlapping pattern until you have five petals glued to each wire. (see photo of a finished petal assembly on the next page of these instructions).
Flower Petal Assembly for a Dollhouse Miniature Cyclamen
When you have your five petals placed around the wire stem of a dollhouse cyclamen flower it should resemble the flower in this photo. The flat base of each petal should line up with the end of the wire, while the rounded end of the petals extend down the wire. If you want to make flower buds, the petals should be tightly overlapped.
If you are making flowers, take care to only add glue at the end of the wire, you want the rest of the petals 1/16 inch (2mm) or less away from the end of the wire, to be completely free from the wire as shown.
Set each flower aside to dry. I set mine in a leftover scrap of dry floral foam or styrofoam.
Finish the Miniature Cyclamen Flower Stems
To shape the wire stems into cyclamen flowers, first paint the wire end and the base of the petals with a slightly darker pink color as shown. This makes the 'nose' of the cyclamen flower. Also paint the edges of the petals to cover any white paper. If you used watercolor paint for your petals you can run a damp paint brush over the edges of the petals, picking up the watercolor and blending it into the cut paper edges.
When the painted 'nose' is dry, use your tweezers to gently pull individual petals away from the stem, twisting and bending some of them. Make sure you do not pull the petals free of the stem.
When you have shaped and twisted all your flower petals, grasp the stem behind the nose of the cyclamen, keeping the petals free. Bend the wire stem over in a tight curve as shown so the nose of each of your flowers faces down.
Set the Cyclamen Flower Stems Into the Plant Pot
Cyclamen are usually grown singly in small individual flower pots which are usually 6 inches or so (15cm) wide. I made my flower pot with colored Delight air dry clay in a two part silicone putty mold made using the base of a pen. You can use commercial flower pots as well, or make small paper flower pots using strips of paper.
To prepare the pot for your planting, cut a small section of dry floral arrangement foam and insert it into the pot, pressing it down gently to leave the lip of the flower pot free.
As the leaves will hide the foam I didn't coat it with potting soil, or paint it brown.
If you don't have dry floral foam, you can set a bit of non hardening modelling clay (plastercine), or floral arrangement clay into the base of the pot instead.
Prepare the Miniature Cyclamen Leaves
To make a realistic flowering cyclamen, remember that all the flower and leaf stalks come from a central 'corm' which would be just below the soil. The flower stems are generally found in the center, with the leaves clustered around them.
Set an uneven number of flower stems in the center of your pot so the flowers all face out from the center. Try to set the tallest blooms in the center so they are roughly 1/2 inch (12 mm) above the edge of the pot.
Set the First Leaves on the Cyclamen Flower Stems
To make the leaves for the dollhouse cyclamen plant, use curved scissors or a heart shaped paper punch on your green painted or colored paper, to punch out hearts which are just under 3/16 inch (5mm) wide and long. You will need ten to twelve leaves for each tiny plant.
Lay the leaves on a soft surface and use an embossing tool to draw a line from the center of the heart to the point, and some slightly curved lines from the center line out and down to the edges of the heart.
(see photo).
Take a little pearl, light grey, or grey green paint and paint a stroked edge roughly 1/16 inch (2mm) or less wide along the outside of your heart shaped leaves. Look at real cyclamen plants or close up photos to see how the leaf markings. You can skip this step if you wish, as not all cyclamens have the markings.
Set your shaped and detailed leaves aside to dry.
Fit Miniature Cyclamen Leaves to Individual Wire Stalks
To set the first ring of leaves on your dollhouse cyclamen plant, put a small dab of glue on the backside of a leaf at the "V" of the heart and set the "V" just a bit above halfway down the center flower stalk in your pot.
Place a leaf on every flower stalk, placing the leaf so it faces in the same direction as the flower (see photo).
While the leaves are drying on the flower stalks, proceed to the next step to make individual leaves to fill in the rest of the pot.
To add extra leaves to the base of your dollhouse miniature cyclamen plant, take the green wire lengths you cut earlier and bend the ends to form a slight "L" apply glue to the short section of the wire and glue a leaf to the stalk so the wire runs down the center of the back of the leaf.
When the leaves are securely glued to the wires, take the individual leaf stalks and insert them so they are between the cyclamen flowers and the edge of the pot, with some leaves overlapping the pot edge.
This row of leaves should be lower than the leaves which are attached to the flower stalks. Set the leaf stalks in at a slight angle so the head towards the pot center. Use as many leaves as you need to completely cover the view of the 'soil' in the pot. (see photo first page of this tutorial).
Experiment with making an assortment of cyclamen varieties. Some have flowers with pointed petals, some with wider petals, some with color only at the nose, some with spots towards the back of the petals. The cyclamen can be planted in a basket of mixed spring flowers, or planted in miniature garden scenes as well.