How to Make Beautiful Ganutell Flowers

Step 1

Ganutell is a Maltese technique for making flowers from fine wire and silk thread. Beads and seed beads are also used for decoration. The historical roots of this beautiful craft trace back to Maltese monks. They say that even today, they decorate the altar in the papal residence with these flowers.

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Step 3

Let's try our hand at mastering this fascinating technique as well.

Materials needed:
• 0.5 mm copper wire;
• knitting needle or crochet hook;
• scissors;
• thread—shiny, with a lovely sheen; pearl cotton (Iris) or metallic embroidery floss work well;
• narrow green ribbon.

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Step 5

How to make it

Cut about 30-50 cm of wire and coil it around a knitting needle or crochet hook (only around the cylindrical shaft). Make approximately 30 turns.
Push the turns together, compressing them into a tight spring. Do not cut the wire ends.

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Step 7

Slide the coil off the hook. Make several of these coils.

Then take one of them and stretch it by pulling the wire tails in opposite directions. Stretch it to the size of the piece you will be making (read through to the end and you'll understand 😉 ). The spacing between the turns of the stretched spring should equal the thickness of the thread you will be using.

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Step 9

Do the same with all the remaining coils.

Now bend each coil into a teardrop-shaped loop. This creates the petal frame. Join the wire tails by twisting them together.
Take your thread and tie it at the base of the petal.

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Step 11

Draw the thread across the petal, loop it around a wire coil, and bring it back down to the base.

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Step 13

Draw the thread up again, shifting over by one coil, for example to the right.

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Step 15

Then return to the base, shifting again, but this time in the opposite direction—to the left. Continue winding the thread this way, shifting by one coil each time around the spiral.
This gives you a finished petal.

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Step 17

Make several more petals. The number depends on the style of flower you want to create.

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Step 19

Gather several petals together.

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Step 21

Twist the wires together at the base to form the stem.

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Step 23

Wrap the stem with the green ribbon.

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Step 25

Once you wrap down to the bottom, make two turns there, then begin wrapping back up to the middle of the stem.

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Step 27

Form a loose loop.

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Step 29

Then make two to three wraps around its base.

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Step 32

Secure the ribbon leaf with a loop. Pull it tight.

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Step 34

Gently shape the petals.

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Step 36

Sew or glue a bead into the center. Then glue seed beads around the central bead.

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Step 38

Make several of these flowers to create a one-of-a-kind bouquet.