License Plate Garden Flower
by Alicia W
5 Materials
$10
1 Day
Easy
Don't you love garden art? I've seen flowers made from old license plates and thought "I could make those" and now you can make them too.
I found these license plates at a flea market. You can also find them on Craig's list, Ebay, estate sales, and thrift stores. I purchased mine for $1.00 each.
I wanted my petals to be curved. I laid a small paint can on it's side (made sure the can was closed tightly) then I laid the license plate on top of the can and rolled the plate from from side to side applying pressure as the plate began to curve.
To make the petals, I laid a license plate on top of a piece of paper then folded the excess paper over the plate and creased it.
I cut at the crease then folded the remaining paper in half.
I cut out half a petal shape and opened the paper for a full petal.
I laid the pattern on the back of the license plate and traced the shape with a sharpie.
I cut out the petal shape using a tin snips.
For the center of the flower:
A: I cut one license plate in half then drew a circle onto the back of the plate
B: I cut out the circle using a tin snips then made cuts around the outside of the circle
C: I bent the cuts with my hands, wearing gloves of course :)
D: Laying the flower center onto a piece of scrap wood, I drilled a hole in the center.
Then I drilled a hole at the bottom of each petal.
I flipped the center of the flower around and added each petal onto the bolt using the holes that I drilled.
To hold the flower onto a stake and give it more stability, I used a metal electrical box cover. Laying the cover on a piece of scrap wood, I drilled a hole in the center then drilled two additional holes, one on each side of the center hole.
I threaded one cable (zip) tie through each hole on either side of the center hole (yellow arrows). Once all of the petals were in place, I placed the electrical plate onto the back of the flower. I threaded the bolt through the center hole (red arrow) and tightened everything with a bolt.
I purchased a plastic covered garden stake and bent the top, placing the bend around the bolt. I wrapped each cable tie around either side of the stake (orange arrows). I added one more cable tie joining the other two ties together.
I love the look of the flower and that I could recreate it myself for under $10. There are so many different ways to make this flower - just use your own creativity!
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Comments
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2 of 16 comments
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Possibly. Only instead of flowers I am thinking along the line of pinwheels to keep the varmints out of my new flower bed so my new plantings will have a better chance of getting a good foot hold.
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Love this idea!
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Cute! Would it be easier to curve the petals AFTER cutting them, since there would be less metal to work with? Just a thought
How do I print this out?
Very clever!