A message for a loved one

How to make an original secret message in a flower

A pa­per flow­er blooms be­fore your very eyes and gives your loved one a hap­py sur­prise! How? Read on to find out!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

None.

Equip­ment

  • pa­per flow­er;
  • mark­er;
  • plate;
  • wa­ter.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Write an in­scrip­tion on the pa­per flow­er’s petals (we wrote “I love you.” Keep in mind that it usu­al­ly looks best when the num­ber of petals is equal to the num­ber of let­ters in the in­scrip­tion!) Then, start­ing from the last petal, fold them in to­wards the cen­ter, creas­ing them slight­ly. Set the flow­er in a plate of wa­ter and watch it bloom!

Process de­scrip­tion

The wa­ter per­me­ates into the pa­per due to the ma­te­ri­al’s wet­ta­bil­i­ty and the cap­il­lary ef­fect. The cap­il­lary ef­fect is the phe­nom­e­non in which wa­ter strives to fill nar­row cap­il­lar­ies, formed in this case by the in­ter­wo­ven fibers of the cel­lu­lose. When wet, the cel­lu­lose fibers swell and ap­ply ten­sion to the creas­es in the pa­per. This re­sults in elas­tic forces that cause the pa­per to un­furl.

Try it