How to Make Nail Polish and Wire Flowers

Learn how to make Nail Polish and Wire Flowers with this easy craft tutorial! Use them in gift wrapping or a mini floral arrangement.

Jump to:

• How to Make Nail Polish and Wire Flowers Tutorial
• Size of the petals
• Wire part of the flower
• First coat of nail polish
• Making wire and nail polish leaves
• Second coat of polish
• Shape the flower
• Final touches
• Flower arrangement on a stone
• Beautiful project
• Ways to use the wire and nail polish flowers
• So many flower crafts, never enough time 🙂
• Enjoy!
• Supplies:
• How to Make Nail Polish and Wire Flowers

How to Make Nail Polish and Wire Flowers Tutorial

Learning how to make flowers with wire and nail polish was pretty cool.

I had old fingernail polish on hand to use which made it easy. But the materials aren’t expensive with the lightweight wire and fingernail polish being the main two supplies that you need.

I can see using these little wire nail polish flowers on gift ribbons, hair clips, and in flower arrangements. 

These flowers will be arranged on a stone when we are done.

Size of the petals

The round pencil makes a good size for making a wire frame for these small flowers. 

I tried using a larger dowel rod which also worked but was a little more challenging in the learning process. It was a little harder to get the fingernail polish to cover the larger petal size. It does make a larger flower though which is nice. 

Wire part of the flower

The wire that I used was a lightweight 26-gauge wire. I’m sure it could be a little bit heavier than this, but this is what I had on hand to use. It did work well.

Cut a piece of wire that’s about 15 inches long.

If you would like to follow along as I make these flowers, here is the link to the full tutorial video: How to Make Wire and Nail Polish Flowers Full Length Video.

Forming the wire petal frame

Not quite halfway down your wire, start wrapping your lightweight wire around the pencil five times to make five petals.

Twist the two wire ends together after making the five loops. These two wires will become the stem.

You can twist them together using your fingers or a needle nosed plier as I do in the video.

Slide the five loops off the end of the pencil

Then run one of the wires through the five loops and alongside the first wire again. 
twist those two wires together again, one more time.

This will hold the five loops together as one. So where you twisted the two wires, that spot will end up being the center of the flower.

Then gently twist the two wires together all the way down to make the stem.

Separate the petal loops

Next go ahead and separate the five loops from one another equally in distance. 

This doesn’t look like a flower yet, but we’re going to put the fingernail polish on and then after it dries will bend them into a flower shape.

I find it easiest to put the fingernail polish on when they’re equal distance apart like this.

Personally, I choose to give each loop a small squeeze to make it a more oval shape instead of being completely round. 

But either the round or the oval petal shape will make a neat looking flower. It just depends on your preference.

First coat of nail polish

The next step is putting on the fingernail polish. 

Put down a table covering

It’s a good idea to be working over wax paper or a paper plate or a piece of newspaper because it is quite possible that you’re going to drip some nail polish. I worked over a paper plate to save my work surface from hot pink nail polish. 🙂

Coat the wire with nail polish

Dip the nail polish brush into the polish and coat the wire of one loop with that fingernail polish. 

The next step is a little tricky. 

Note: And because of that, I do recommend this craft for a little bit older child if they’re doing it with you. It takes a bit of coordination and patience.

I hold the two wires that are the stem in my hand and put on the fingernail polish. But it is also possible to stick the stem into a foam block and free up your second hand a bit more when you’re doing this step.

How do I cover the wire loop with polish?

Dip the nail polish brush back into the polish so that it is loaded. 

Place the brush flat against the wire loop so that it starts on one end and then draw it across the loop with the brush touching both pieces of wire at once. 

You move from one side of the petal to the other. The goal is to get the polish to make almost like a bubble across the petal. 

The video makes this pretty clear and I do say it takes some practice. Don’t be discouraged if you don't get it on the first attempt- just keep trying. 

Pretty soon, you’ll get the hang of it, and it will go faster.

Sometimes I would pop a petal while doing the next one and had to go back and do it again. This may happen to you too!

Work around the five petals until all five are covered with nail polish that covers the whole wire loop.

Allow the polish to dry

To begin with the color is not very dark. We’re going to let this dry. Then we will come back and put on a second coat of polish.

I did have a little foam block that came from doing a flower arrangement. I poked the wire stem in the foam to hold the flower so it could dry. It would also work to get a little jar of rice or something like that to stick the wire down into.

Making wire and nail polish leaves

I did go ahead and make some leaves for my flowers. Instead of five loops, I only made two loops of wire around the round pencil. 

And I did the exact same thing by twisting the wire together, pulling one wire through the loops, and then twisting the two wire ends together again.

But instead of using hot pink nail polish, I used a green that I had. Technically it’s really more of a turquoise, but it did turn out well.

As you can tell, I’m a person who likes to use supplies I already have if possible!

This is one time that having older nail polish is probably an advantage. I think it helps cover that petal loop a little better.

Second coat of polish

Once the flower petals are dry, you can come back and do a second coat of polish to make the color more intense and solid looking.

It also makes them stronger and less likely to break open.

So you’re in the waiting game one more time as you let this dry again.

Shape the flower

When the petals are completely dry, then go ahead and gently twist the petals so that they look like a flower with a stem coming straight down from the back.

Final touches

If you have a second color of nail polish, like a glittery type now would be a good time to apply it or you could do it after you make your arrangement and they are in place like I did in the video. I liked the way a little glitter polish looked in the center of the flower.

You will also see me gluing a small bead on the center of the flowers when I have the arrangement done. You could do that later or you can do it now for each of your small flowers. This is an optional step.

Aren’t they cute flowers?

Flower arrangement on a stone

Now you can go ahead and use them in a craft project.

I mentioned a few options on how to use them. As you can see I’m going to put mine on top of a small stone and use it as a decoration.

Make a small bouquet

To do this, make the flowers and leaves into a small bouquet.

Twist all of the stems together fairly close to the flowers.

Bring wires to the back

The bouquet is placed against the top of the stone, and then each of the stems are brought around the stone in a different directions. 

I had seven stems with the five flowers and two sets leaves that I had made. So the wires were going in seven directions around the rock. Well that is in theory as a couple of them kind of scooted around together. :-).

Then on the back of the stone, gather the wires up again and give them another twist.

I used my needle nosed plier to get the wires to be a little tighter.

If I do this again, I think I will use a bit of hot glue to hold the arrangement in place on the front of the stone.

My wires weren’t long enough to need to be clipped, but you could clip them at this point to whatever length you’d like. Tuck the ends into the twisted wire so they don’t poke you.

Felt backing

I did not show this in the video, but I recommend taking a small circle of felt and gluing it to the bottom of the stone. So that the wires do not scratch any surface that you might set this upon.

Beautiful project

Set the stone down and look at your arrangement. Then bend the arrangement into a shape that is visually attractive. You can kind of move the flowers from side to side so that it makes a nice arrangement.

I was so pleased with how the wire and nail polish flowers turned out and how they look as an arrangement on the stone. 

Again, if you would like to follow along as I make these flowers, here is the link to the full tutorial video: How to Make Wire and Nail Polish Flowers Full Length Video.

Ways to use the wire and nail polish flowers

I have one wire and nail polish flower arrangement sitting on a little desk in my bedroom by a chair where I sit and read.

I’m going to use the second one that I made for a gift!

There are various ways to use these little flowers.

Some things that I thought of were:

• Decorative pieces like what I did in this post, 
• Wiring them onto a hair clip, 
• Making earrings, and 
• Using them in bows on a package. 
• I’m sure you can think of a lot more ways to use them!

Personally I would like to make several wire and nail polish flowers to have on hand to use when I make bows on packages. 

Oh, and I do want to try making them into butterflies and dragonflies by changing the wire shape a bit. 

So many flower crafts, never enough time 🙂

If you would like more ideas for flower-themed crafts, here are a few ideas for you!

• Easy Book Page Roses from Vintage Paper
• DIY Summer Garden Suncatcher Wind Chime
• How to Make Giant Tissue Paper Flowers
• DIY Flower Press From Wood for Pressing Flowers

Enjoy!

If you try this craft, let me know! Go ahead and leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo with #WelcometoNanas wherever you post.

Come join the fun at https://welcometonanas.com

Supplies:

• Light weight wire
• Nail polish in colors of choice
• Glittering nail polish
• Small beads
• River stones
• Wax paper, paper plate, or newspaper (table covering)
• Paper towels
• Needle nose pliers
• Wire clippers