How many silk roses would I need?

Hmmmm. I'm not sure. Could you maybe go to your local craft store and pick up what you think you'd need for the largest balls, see if that works, and then order the rest online?

I guess I could, but the prices make me a little dizzy, lol. That, and I can only find the red I want in stores. We're wanting red and purple mixed.

I made DIY Kissing Balls (24 of them) with 4" styrofoam balls and it took me approx. 40 silk flower heads (purchased from here- http://www.ebay.com/itm/100X-Roses-Artificial-Silk-Flower-Heads-Wholesale-Lots-Clips-Wedding-1-75-/270837007523?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item84b8f50656)

Thanks Honey B! The flowers from efavormart are about $17 for 84 stems, which seems like a good price to me. I'm thinking of ordering a bundle of red and a bundle of purple and seeing how many it takes for the whole thing. Luckily, I have people who will help, so long as I feed them, lol.

You need to look at the size of the flower heads.

I can help you with figuring out the surface area of the balls.... but need to know the size of the flowers for how many..... Just saw the link.... let me do some math. Back later

I'm not sure what your budget is but you might want to consider comparing prices between buying individual silk flowers and doing a pomander DIY aka kissing balls or looking into just buying pomanders from Afloral.com

They give the height of the heads (2.5" I think) But other than that and the length of the stems, I didn't see a size.

@Hayley Thanks!

@Future Mrs Redmond

I'm not looking at buying them individually - that would cost a fortune! The ones I'm looking at are $16.99 for 84 silk roses, which if I did my math correctly is about .20/rose. Once I have the flowers, my mom and some friends and I are planning to make the kissing balls ourselves. It's easier to get exactly what I want that way.

Grrr... just looked at link... doesn't tell me the width of the bloom!

Let's guess 1" then Area of rose = 0.78"

4" ball

surface area = **** in2 *64 roses total?

Circumference = **** in *12 - 14 to go around?

4 - 6 to fill each of those 8 sections?

6" ball

surface area = 113.09734 in2 *145? total?

C = **** in *19 - 22?

8" ball

surface area = 201.06193 in2 *258?

C = **** in *25 - 28?

Start by making a flowers ring around the ball - like the equator line

Then do vertical ring - Now the ball show have 8 sections to fill in. You will use less flowers this way.

Maybe cheaper to buy bigger roses?

The size of the flowers does vary. Before I gave up and checked out ebay for flower balls, I made an 8 inch one and used about 3-4 bushes I bought from the store, but it was a mix of hydrangeas and roses. You can find the smaller flower balls inexpensive on ebay (sometimes even cheaper than the cost of making them) but the bigger ones you may want to make on your own.

Hmmm, that's a lot of roses! Perhaps I need to re-think the size of the balls. Thanks for all the help and advice, ladies!

It is only because they are closed blooms.

Do you like any of the open blooms?

Maybe it's just the photo on their site, but the open ones (3") look messy to me.

(I agree)

Try a different site?

Not sure how small you would like them, but ebay has smaller ones for a good deal.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-ROSE-KISSING-BALLS-WINE-BURGUNDY-Pew-Bow-Wedding-Silk-Flower-Girl-Pomander-/380403582387?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5891d205b3#ht_2519wt_1396

The problem with ordering them from something like ebay is we want a mix of red and purple in each ball.

@Hayley

Any suggestions for good silk flower sites?

Checked a couple more sites that I found, and they are either more expensive or the exact same as the ones from efavormart, including the lack of size description. Grrr.

Check out this description... maybe efavor still sells this flower? velvet flowers

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/finalized-centerpieces/e798facc4ea017fb.html?page=1

pg 3

"It takes about 1.5 packs to make the big ball and I can make two of the smaller balls out of one pack."

Not sure what size she uses

They do still sell them, but same thing - no size listed. From the looking around I've done, unless I can find them cheaper on ebay, the price efavormart has is pretty good. Plus, the more you order the cheaper each rose is. I think I'm going to order a bundle of each and see what it takes. At least then I will know their size! Plus, if each rose head is 2.5" tall, I can cut down the size of the foam ball and still have them plenty big enough. Now to find a way to get the balls in bulk...