Leaves for tulips are best made from paper that has been painted on both sides with acrylic paint. Most tulips have a slightly blue cast to the green of their leaves. If you use a slightly stiff brush it will create the effect of veins on the leaves. Brush the paint on your paper in the direction of the grain. To find the grain, wet a sheet of paper and watch how it curls. The grain will run down the center of the curl. You can take advantage of paper grain to shape realistic leaves by cutting your leaves so the grain of the paper runs from the top to the bottom of the leaf.
Leaves for tulips are best cut freehand rather than from a pattern. Generally tulips have leaves 9 inches to a foot long, so cut leaves that are the shapes shown above to varying lengths in that scale range, 3/4 inch to 1 inch in length. Make sure you cut a gentle curve to the pointed end of your tulip leaf, and try to keep the base of the leaf at about 1/8 of an inch wide. Tulips don't have a lot of leaves, so plan on two or three for each stem.
Shape the leaves by running your embossing tool on a gentle curve through the center of the leaf from the base to the leaf tip. Don't press too hard, acrylic paint tends to stop the tool, and this can cause holes in your leaves. When your leaf is shaped fold the base of the leaf in half and glue it around your flower stem, 1/4 of an inch up from the bottom of the stem (at the level you will plant your flower in the soil). Place the next leaf opposite the first one, and wrap the base of the second leaf around the base of the first. Use your fingers to bend your leaves gently along the center vein, so that the leaf is closed at the base and more open towards the tip. Set your tulip aside to dry, and plant it or put it in an arrangement or bouquet when it is dry!
