How to Make Foam Succulents

May 23, 2018

We are succas for succulents! We love the little guys, but for those of us with a black thumb, even these little guys can be hard to take care of. If you ever wanted to enjoy them forever, we suggest creating potted succulent display out of foam. We know you will enjoy this DIY project for years to come.

What you need:

Foam (red, dark green, light green)
Floral wire
Dark brown glue sticks
Surebonder glue skillet
Mini flower pot
White cardstock
Scissors
X-acto knife
Tweezers
Glue pad or cutting board

For this project we choose a succulent template to make the pieces for our succulents. We suggest going on Pinterest as they have a variety of templates that will work great. Once the foam pieces are cut out, set those aside and begin the base. The small rose looking succulent, we did not find a template for so we cut out wavy strips in the foam.

Cut the dark brown glue sticks into small pieces. Place them into the glue skillet and heat until melted. In the meantime,turn the flower pot upside down and trace a circle on the white cardstock.

flower-pot

We used an x-acto knife to cut at the same time, but you can also trace with a pencil and use scissors. Cut the circle out and place it into the flower pot to slightly bend the edges to check the size.

Using the tweezers, dip the circle face down into the glue. Be sure to cover the entire surface and use the tweezers to cover any small areas that were missed. This will look like dirt in our flower pot. While allowing the hot melt to cool, start to put together the succulents.

Take the floral wire and cut about a 4-5 inch piece of wire. Bend the wire in half equally. Start with the largest foam succulent piece and stack the pieces in order from large to small keeping the smaller piece on the top. Take your wire and carefully poke through the center of the stacked pieces with the side not connected. If they seem very fragile, you can add a small dab of glue with your tweezers to the base of the succulent. Twist the wire to create one stem. Repeat these steps for the rest of the succulents with multiple pieces.

craft-with-foam foam-succulents

The smaller ones are a bit simpler. Start with one end of the wavy strip and start to roll it. If needed, use your tweezers to add small dabs of hot glue while rolling the piece to help hold them together. To add the stem, dip the looped piece into the glue skillet, then push it into the middle of the rolled piece. Twist the rest of the wire into one stem.

At this point your dark brown glue base should be cooled and ready for assembly. Take the tweezers or the x-acto knife and cut/poke small holes in the base then thread your succulents through. This is the point where you want to arrange them by height and position. When you are happy with their placement, twist all of the wires together to secure them. Take the base and gently push it into the flower pot. Be careful not to push it too far down.