The most popular flor de muertos (Day of the Dead flower) is the marigold. Its vibrant color and pungent scent guide the spirits to the altar. It also represents the fragility of life. Make extravagant clusters of these easy marigold pom-poms to display in vases, or to place flat on your table or altar. You can never have too many.

This pom-pom technique is versatile and can be adapted to other projects!

Suggested Materials Needed

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• Tissue paper in yellow or orange
• Florist wire in 28-gauge and 18-gauge
• Chenille stems (pipe cleaners)
• Floral Tape
• Strong scissors
• Hot glue gun

How to make Your Pom-Poms

1. Cut 12 sheets of tissue paper that. measure 4 1/2 x 8 1/4 in. (11.5 x 21 cm) and stack them together. Make accordion folds at approximately 1/2 in. (1.2 cm) intervals.
2. Cut a piece of 28-gauge wire about 2 in. (5 cm) longer than the width of the folded paper. Wrap around the center and twist the ends together at one side.
3. Use strong scissors to trim both ends of the tissue to give them a rounded petal shape.
4. Starting from the center, gently separate a single layer of tissue and lift up.
5. Continue to separate the layers, working in a circular manner all around the center, but lifting all layers upward.
6. When there are only about three or four layers left, make cuts into these layers up to 3/4 in. (2 cm) to separate the petals.
7. Take two chenille stems and attach to the wire on the pom pom using a length of 18-gauge wire to secure.
8. Fix the chenille and wire with a hot glue gun. Finish by wrapping floral tape tightly around the stem.

For an idea of the technique I found this video to help: