It’s hard to resist a little bit of the macabre when it comes to Halloween décor, and these DIY crepe paper corpse roses fit the bill perfectly. Whip out a bouquet in just a few minutes, and you’ll have the final touch for this year’s Halloween decorations. Be warned, though: these get addicting to make. You might not want to stop once you get the hang of it…and four dozen black roses might be a little much, even for Halloween.

Materials Needed:

Black crepe paperFloral wireWire cutters or tin snipsDouble-sided tapeScissorsVase

Begin by measuring and folding over your floral wire at about 9”. If your vase is much taller than this, adjust the measurement accordingly – aim for 2”-4” taller than the lip of your vase.

Snip the wire so the two ends are even.

Casually twist the wire together. This isn’t a big deal and won’t even be seen, but it helps to give the flower stem more stability while not disturbing the other stems.

Place a piece of double-sided tape at the top end of your wire, about 1” long and running lengthwise.

Set the edge of your crepe paper on the tape, with about 1/2″ of the crepe paper sticking above the end of your wire, and begin rolling it tightly.

Roll about four to six round of crepe paper pretty tightly to form the innermost “bud” of your rose.

Begin loosening the roll, bunching up the bottom inner crepe paper while leaving more and more crepe paper out on top as the rose petals. Add a short bit of double-sided tape outside your pinched crepe paper, and cover this with the paper as you twist and pinch it to the wire. Move slowly down the stem as you twist.

Keep the inner part of the crepe paper (the part attached to the wire) pinched together as you continue rolling. When the rose looks like it’s about the size you want, snip the end of your crepe paper about 4” off.

Twist the crepe paper around the wire for that last little bit.

Pinch the paper against the wire tightly.

Add a short (1/2”) length of double-sided tape to the bottom of your pinched crepe paper. Cut a slim end off of the crepe paper.

Wrap this slim crepe paper sliver around the double-sided tape to hold everything in place and finish off your rose.

Add the rose to your vase, and start on the next one. Some of them might look better than others; don’t worry too much about each individual rose. When they’re all combined into a bouquet, the effect is eerily lovely.

The inner part of these roses is my favorite; how they move from such tight petals to more spacious ones.

They definitely look creepy, all in a deathly black bouquet.

This vase is just getting started. We don’t want to offend the bride of Frankenstein.

Happy DIYing your own creepy black crepe paper roses!