Wood Flower Bouquet

Flower bouquets have had many different meanings since the beginning of time. In Rome it used to be that both the bride and groom would wear a flower bouquet in the shape of a necklace around their necks and depending on the types of fragrances and colors some were for good luck and others were to ward off evil spirits. Now, we use bouquets for weddings, holidays, and many other special occasions.

Now you can create your own bouquet that lasts forever. Add your own personal touch to the template to personalize this long lasting gift for that special someone.

Materials:

1/8" thick sheet of wood (such as alder)
1/8" sheet of wood (such as maple)
1/8" sheet of wood (such as walnut)
Roll of 3M double stick tape
12" x 12" piece of wood

Files: Right click on the file below and choose "Save target as." Open the file in CorelDraw 8 or later.
	flowers.cdr	flowerpart1.cdr	flowerpart2.cdr
	flowerpart3.cdr	flowerpart4.cdr

Start with the 12"x12" piece of wood and the file flowers.cdr. When you open this file you will see two bouquets. The bouquet outlined in purple is the bouquet that that you will be engraving and cutting. The bouquet in black and white is what your end result with all the pieces put together will look like.

A) There are three colored items within the file. The black stems will be raster engraved, the light purple outline will be cut out, and the blue lines will be lightly cut into the wood, so you can see where the pieces will be glued on top of the bouquet.

To do this you will want to use the Color Mapping feature in your printer drive. This is so you can do all three items at one time: lightly vector the inside, cut the bouquet out and raster the stems.

In your print settings, set your page size and raster engraving speed and power. Click onto your Advanced tab - Image 1 is what you will see. Check the color mapping box circled in blue. Now, click onto Edit Color. This will bring up Image 2. Pick the color of the inside of the bouquet. The colors must be: R:0 G:0 B:255 (the same as the color of the lines we created in Corel).Then click OK.

Your color will show in the square box as seen in Image 3. We ran this project on a 45 Helix and set the speed at 50% and power at 18% (you may have to adjust the speed and power but set the power at a low percent so that it doesn't cut through the wood) and click Add located to the right. Now, repeat the steps again for the light colored purple line. The colors are: R:151 G:69 B:120. We set the speed at 100% and the power at 80%. Set your own speed and power based on the settings you use to cut completely through that thickness of wood. Make certain in CorelDRAW all lines are Hairline.

Now, click back onto the General Tab and set your Raster settings speed and power. Once you have done this click OK and you are ready to print.

B) Next we are going to create the petals and leaves that are placed on top of the bouquet. Gather all of the different types of wood you will be using to make your flower and place double stick tape on the back of each panel.

C) Next you will want to open your other file labeled flowerpart1.cdr. and Vector this file onto one of the colors of wood.

Continue opening the other files (flowerpart2.cdr; flowerpart3.cdr; flowerpart4.cdr) until you have vectored them all onto different colors of wood.

Now, taking all your pieces you just cut out you will want to start peeling off the tape from the back of each piece and placing it onto the parts of the bouquet and lining them up with the light vector lines you cut in step one. Use the flowers.cdr file to help you find where the pieces of the completed bouquet belong.

There you have it....your beautiful array of flowers wrapped up as a bouquet for that special someone for any occasion!