Step by Step Tutorial: How to Make Woven Palm Leaf

Did you see how beautiful St. Peter Cathedral Church decorated on Sunday Palm March 24th, 2013? If you didn’t, you can see it here.

One of the main materials used to decor the altar and the wall was the woven palm leaf. Now we’re going to learn how to make it.

First, prepare the ‘yellow’ palm leaf. If you'd like to get the perfect result of the woven palm leaf, make sure that the leaf is perfect from top to down or all the leaves are intact or there is no hole or leaf eaten by caterpillar.

Second, start with the leaf on one side (whether right or left) then take the outer leaf and fold it forward, begin to weave the leaf, up - down - up - down... etc.

Then take the leaf which is now in the outermost position, do the same just like the second stage.

Do weave the leaf one by one neatly. Continue until you reach the top leaf.

If you have already finished to weave on one side, now do the same to all the leaves on the other side.

When you have completely done the both side, then tie the top with wire or you can use sellotape so that the woven palm leaf was not changed the shape.

Now turn the woven palm leaf upside down, you'll see some remaining leaves.

Then trim the remaining leaves by cutting them.

Last, you can use sellotape again to make it presentable at the back.

Done. The woven palm leaf is ready to be used to decor the altar or the church wall. You can see the St. Peter Cathedral church wall decor on Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013 here.

Step by Step Tutorial: Wall Décor on Palm Sunday 2013

Here’s the wall décor at St. Peter Cathedral Church, Bandung on March 24th, 2013 - the Palm Sunday. Gorgeous.

The credit goes to Margriet Team for this lovely church wall decor, in which the coordinator for the Palm Sunday is Mrs. Diana.

The materials used are (A) ‘yellow’ palm leaves, (B) ballon plant or asclepias fruitcosa, (C) flowers of ‘red’ palm, (D) cycas, (E) woven & braided palm leaves. You can find how to weave and braid the palm leaves here.

You also need the leaves of lady palm (raphis exelsa), cordyline, ruskus hypophyllum and leather leaf (arsionides). They’re not seen in the image.

First, prepare the base of the leaves arrangement. It contains of multiplex board, floral foam covered with plastic bag and chicken wire.

Then, starting to arrange the leaves. These are the step by steps.

2.         Place the lady palm leaves around the floral foam

3.         Take 2 stalks of big ‘yellow' palm leaves, then place them on the top left

4.         Take 2 sticks of braided palm leaves, place them on the right bottom of the arrangement.

5.         Take some stalks of small ‘yellow’ palm leaves. Put them on the left bottom.

6.         Take 3 sticks of woven palm leaves, bend a bit then place them as the center of the arrangement so that it looked like triangle.

 7.         Then fill the empty place with cordyline and ruscus.

8.         Last, place the ballon plant or asclepias fruitcosa somewhat to the middle, slightly above the braided palm leaves. Done.

The up close look

Note:

The image taken on Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013 at Cathedral St. Peter Church, Bandung.

Step by Step Tutorial: Palm Sunday Décor on Altar

This is how the altar of Cathedral St. Peter Church’s décor on Palm Sunday, March 24^th, 2013. It’s elegant, right?

The materials used are mostly kinds of palm leaves such as ‘cula’ palm, ‘lady’ palm or raphis exelsa, cycas, ballon plant or asclepias fruitcosa and woven palm leaves made of ‘yellow’ palm.

Step by step how to make the altar décor on Palm Suday:

1.         Prepare the long vase then fill it with wet floral foam.

2.        Place the leaves of 'cula' palm in the middle, left and right side of the arrangement, starting from the largest leaf at the back then the smaller one in front.

3.         Put the cycas leaves in upright position in front of the 'cula' palm leaves.  

4.         Place the leaves of ‘lady’ palm to fill the floral foam at the front.

5.         Then continue to place cycas leaves around the vase so as to form an oval shape.

6.         Prepare some woven palm leaves then place 3 pieces of them at the middle, bend them if necessary so that looked like a ball shape. Do the same at the left and right side of the arrangement. Now we have 3 'balls' as focal point.

You can find how to make the woven palm leaf here.

7.         The last, put some stems of asclepias fruticosa to fill the place among the woven palm leaves. Make sure the floral foam wasn't seen. Done.

The view of the altar from the front left side

The up close look

All the credit for this lovely church decoration goes to the Margriet Team of course, in which the coordinator for the Palm Sunday is Mrs. Liani. Good job ladies.

Note:

The image taken on Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013 at Cathedral St. Peter Church, Bandung.