4th of July Rocket Bouquet


Happy almost 4th of July!  To celebrate, I thought I'd make a cute centerpiece out of my favorite part of the 4th--Fireworks!  I started out thinking I was going to use toilet paper tubes or paper towel tubes to make my Rockets, but I didn't have any dowels laying around the house that would work--all I could find was 5 (yes 5--beats me what happen with the other one) nice round Chinese takeout chopsticks.  So I figured I'd make some smaller rockets.  I happened to have a couple of cardboard tube rolls from tinfoil boxes (probably from nonstick reynolds wrap--that stuff is awesome).  They are a little narrower in diameter and thicker than toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes, so I thought they'd pair nicely with my chopsticks.


For this project you'll need: 
Cardboard tubes
Dowels of an appropriate length to match your cardboard tubes (I used chopsticks)
Scrapbook paper in festive colors
Scissors
Mod Podge and a foam brush for applying
A glue gun and glue
Something to use as wicks (I used a wire star garland--but I thought about using pipe cleaners instead)
A glass or other circle pattern for the rocket cones



I started out by cutting my tubes into sections about 3 and a half inches long.  I just eyeballed what I thought would be the right size with my chopsticks and then cut the rest to match.  The the thicker cardboard tubes are tough to cut straight--hence the different lengths.


I then cut my scrapbook paper out to be a little wider than the length of the tubes--since they had uneven edges.  The tubes were less than 3.5 inches, so I cut my paper 3.5 inches by 5 inches.  I used a paper cutter to speed up the process and keep things straight.


When I was done cutting my 3.5 x 5 paper pieces for the tubes, I had leftover strips of paper.  I decided to do the cones (rocket tops) in solid red and solid blue in contrast to the paper I chose for the rocket tube.  I found a glass that was about the same size as my 3.5 inch wide paper strips and drew around it with a pencil.  Then I carefully cut around the circle.


After the circles are cut, I folded them in half once and pinched in the center, then folded it the other direction and creased it (you'll end up with it folded in quarters, but only fully creased along one direction).  This will give you a crease line to cut on, and a pinch in the middle to know where to stop at. I cut the circle to the center and set it aside for later (when I had the glue gun out).


Next I glued the paper to the tubes using Mod Podge.  I brushed the tubes with glue and then brushed the paper where it would overlap.


I cut "fuses" out of wire star garland that I had leftover from my ISU wreath project.I wrapped it around my finger twice and then left an inch and a half or so straight to glue into the tube.  After all my pieces were ready, I warmed up the good ol' glue gun.


First I glued the cones.  I twisted the circle so that the cut lines matched--the cut line on the top side and cut line on the inside should be in the same spot. Grab the corners where the circle is cut and tuck one underneath and gently twist the other over the top--when the lines are roughly in the same spot--you'll have a cone.  I glued them together on the top and then put a little glue on the inside to keep them together.  Unless you cut and folded the circles perfectly, you'll probably need to trim a little overlap once the glue has dried.


The rocket can now be assembled: one tube, one cone, one fuse, and one stick for each rocket.  


I put a generous amount of glue in the cone, then matched up the paper seams and tried to keep the cone straight while gently pressing it on the top of the tube.  After the glue had cooled a bit, I put a bit of extra glue along the seam and pushed it around with a pencil tip to make sure the cone would stay on.


Next, I glued the stick to the inside of the tube.  Then I stuck the fuse's straight end into the glue and applied a little more glue over the top of the fuse and the stick.  I waited for the glue to set up a bit then I put a piece of one inch wide paper inside the tube over the stick and fuse and glued it in place to cover the glue and keep everything in place and looking tidy.  I didn't get a good picture of this step because it's apparently hard to get a picture of stuff going on inside a cardboard tube :).

After I was all done with my rockets, I pulled all the glue gun string off and put them in a vase with some blue glass gems and my left over wire garland.  Happy Independence Day Everyone!

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