Instructions for Making Miniature Plants and Flowers

By
Lesley Shepherd
Lesley Shepherd
Lesley Shepherd is a miniature artisan who shares her knowledge about miniatures. She has over 30 years experience teaching this highly specialized craft. Lesley is also a professional museum model maker.
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Updated on 06/26/19
A diorama of a family of miniature figurines and their dollhouse
Caspar Benson / Getty Images

Most of these realistic plants are made from paper and paint, including recycled envelopes and kraft paper. The plants are shown as dollhouse miniatures, but you can easily scale them larger or smaller for other model scales or decorations for your living space. Plants can help set a time reference, and add to the background sense of style and color theme for a display. The instructions for these plants use simple techniques and mainly feature petals punched with common craft punches.

  • 01 of 09

    Realistic Miniature Evergreen Trees

    Six inch high miniature Christmas tree with realistic branches.

    Lesley Shepherd

    Make realistic miniature spruce trees from lycopodium moss (prince's pine or erica moss)

  • 02 of 09

    Miniature Moss Hanging Basket

    A dolls house scale planted moss hanging basket hung from a chain on a lampstand.

    Lesley Shepherd

    Miniature Moss Hanging Baskets let you add color to dolls house and miniature scenes at a higher level. Easily made from floral foam and moss, they can be hung from sign brackets, lamp posts, or the front edge of a front porch or arbor. Don't think they are only useful for summer flowers. Filled with evergreen branches, cones, and ribbons, they can decorate a Christmas village as well.

  • 03 of 09

    Quarter Scale Plants

    Quarter scale garden arbor set in a miniature garden scene in a teacup.

    Lesley Shepherd

    Make detailed quarter scale (1:48) plants for a dollhouse, model and railway scenes. Instructions are included for making the following plants from paper and wire.

    • Colorful bushes and flowering plants from 'scatter' made with acrylic paint.
    • Sunflowers in quarter scale made using common paper punches.
    • Delphiniums in quarter scale made from common paper punches.
    • Quarter scale hostas.
    • Hollyhocks in quarter scale made from paper punches.
    • There are separate instructions linked here for making Belladonna lilies (naked ladies) which are easily made in 1:48 scale.
  • 04 of 09

    Miniature Morning Glory Vines

    1:24 dollhouse scale miniature stem of morning glories made from paper and thread

    Lesley Shepherd

    Trailing morning glory vines can be made easily in a range of scales. The ones shown here are in 1:24 scale. Make them suit your dolls house window basket or moss hanging basket, or use them to trail from floral arrangements.

    Continue to 5 of 9 below.
  • 05 of 09

    Miniature Window Box

    Dolls house plants fill the interior of a painted 1:12 scale window box with heart cutouts.

    Lesley Shepherd

    This window box or crate can be used to hold plant pots or planted up as a complete box. The instructions are for the box, not the plants.

  • 06 of 09

    Scale Miniature Palm Trees

    Scale miniature palm tree set behind a porcelain building in a Christmas Nativity set.

    Lesley Shepherd

    These Model Palm Trees are easily made with silk flower leaves, or paper and wire. The trunks are made with torn brown paper wrapped over the wire. The palm trees can be made on any number of scales, for model game terrains on up to a shade tree for a Barbie Doll House.

  • 07 of 09

    Branched Wire Stems for a Range of Model Trees

    Shaping the branches of a model tree so they spread out in three dimensions.

    Lesley Shepherd

    Wire and acrylic mediums and paint can be used to make basic tree forms on almost any scale. Use smaller sized trunks with bits of foam for railroad trees, or punch out leaves to make shrubs and trees in dollhouse scales. The branched trees can be shaped to resemble many identifiable tree shapes. Take a good look at a photo of the tree you want to copy, and bend the wire branches into the correct shape for your tree.

  • 08 of 09

    Miniature Paper Mache Pumpkins

    A roll of brown kraft paper makes a stem on the top of a dolls house scale paper mache pumpkin.

    Lesley Shepherd

    These pumpkins can be made in many sizes, to house a dolls house scene, as the base for a Cinderella coach, or as table, railroad or dolls house decorations. Paper mache is easy to use and scale for all kinds of sizes of pumpkins

    Continue to 9 of 9 below.
  • 09 of 09

    Scale Miniature Corn Stalks

    Dried corn stalks and miniature pumpkins ready for a dolls house display.

    Lesley Shepherd

    Useful for setting the season, corn stalks can be made in several scales, in green for summer, or beige for late fall, Thanksgiving or Halloween.