Duskyroseveiners.co.uk HIBISCUS TUTORIAL Hibiscus Tutorial There are more than 200 species in the Hibiscus (Malvaceae) family of plants, with flowers ranging in colour from white to pink, red, purple and yellow, and in size from around 2" to more than 6" in diameter. The flower demonstrated here is based on the flower the petal veiner was made from. A Google search of images will bring you many examples of this stunning exotic looking flower, and should you wish to make an alternative, you should consider whether you need to change the method shown here for shaping and drying your petals. Take a small pea sized piece of well worked flower paste, roll into a sausage and thread a dampened 24g piece of wire into the paste. You should aim for the wire to be through the length of the paste, but not poking through. Roll the sausage with your fingers on your rolling board, until you have the thinness and length you require, but tapering slightly so that the tip of the pistil is slightly thicker than the rest. Any     excess paste should be removed from the bottom end of the wire. Leaving the tip of the pistil slightly thicker than the rest makes it easier to insert the stamens and stigma. The stamens I am using here are not shop bought but have been made from stamen remnants, i.e. the lengths of stamen cotton left after you have cut the ends off to use for something else. They are