Ronghua Tutorial: How to Make Violet Garden Brooch & Penjing

Soft, quiet, and full of grace — the Violet Garden brooch is a reminder to slow down and breathe. Each petal, with its delicate purple hue, carries a sense of calm and modest beauty, like a small pause in the middle of a busy day.

Preparation: What You’ll Need

If you’ve purchased our Ronghua Toolkit, you already have everything required!
If not, prepare the following tools:

1. Bristle brush (Medium to soft hardness)
2. Flat iron (the one you use to straighten your hair)
3. Tweezers
4. At least 2 pairs of Scissors
5. wooden sticks / pencils / chopsticks
6. Hair spray or diluted white glue (1:1.15–1:1.2 ratio)
7. Big clips (around 15cm)
8. Twisting boards and wooden blocks (for even tension)
9. Anti-slip powder (optional but helpful)

Full Tutorial Video

Step 1. Align and Arrange the Silk Threads

Start by untying your silk threads. Locate the knot at one end of each bundle and cut it open carefully. This project uses 7 colours of silk to create four silk rows. The dark green thread is used for making flower buds. 

Refer to the colour diagram below for thread combination details.

Step 2. Group and Prepare the Threads

Each silk bundle consists of tiny strand-like structures — these are your individual strands. For dark green threads, they are 5 strands per group, for a total of 12 groups. Other colors come glued together; each small bundle counts as one group.

Align all strands neatly and tie them around a thin stick, keeping the ends even. Avoid uneven lengths — this ensures consistent petal texture later on.

Step 3. Make Silk Rows

Repeat the above process to create four silk rows in total. Remember to refer back to the data provided in the diagram for the following rows, as each will differ slightly. Below are the finished silk rows we made. 

Step 4. Brush the Silk Rows

Fix one silk row onto your stand using big metal clips - if you don't have the wooden ronghua stand, that's totally fine! You can refer to our video about alternative solutions to the stand.

Hold the ends of the threads with one hand and brush gently but firmly from top to bottom. Don’t lift the brush midway. A light mist of water will prevent static. You can apply some pressure — silk threads are stronger than they look! Make sure to brush both the front and back sides until the row looks smooth and fluffy.

Everyone uses a different brush and hand speed, so the time it takes to complete this step is also different. Taking my situation as a reference, it took me about 10 minutes to brush this silk row. When you feel the hair is soft and fluffy, you can stop and check. When there is no complete linear distinction between the threads and start to stick to each other, it's ready:) 

This is what the brushed silk thread feels like:

Step 5. Attach Copper Wires

When you feel that the silk is brushed enough, secure its tail with another big clip to your table or anything that can help stretch it taut. Take out one annealed copper wire from the folded end of the row and straighten it. Twist the folded part into a spiral of about 3 cm. Clamp the silk threads between two copper wires and twist the opposite side tightly. Pull both wires taut and continue twisting until they merge into one. Remember, the twsiting direction for the left and right end are opposite. 

The space between the copper wires for buds should be 1cm. For the rest, the space should be 1.3cm.

If you have anti-slip powder, it will be much easier to dip your fingers in it and twist it. (We highly recommend you watch the video tutorial for this step:) 

Once done, remove the silk row from the stand and lay it flat.

Step 6. Cut the Silk Strips

Trim the row’s end neatly, then cut between each pair of copper wires to create even silk strips. When cutting, the scissors must be placed in the middle of two copper wires, otherwise the width of the silk strips will be inconsistent. If threads stick to your scissors, clean them — it’s usually caused by static or residue. Cut quickly and cleanly for smooth edges. Don't touch the wire or it may get displaced.

Step 7. Center and Twist the Strips

Align the copper wire to the middle of each strip using a flat surface or wooden block.
Once centered, twist both hands in opposite directions to tighten.

Next, place the copper part between the twisting boards and continue twisting in the same direction. Stop when the wire feels firm — twisting too far may cause it to break. How do you know if it is tightened enough? If tightened properly, the copper wire should only faintly show. If the copper wire is very visible, it’s not tight enough.

Step 8. Prepare the strips

We now have two kinds of strips: the green strips are for buds, and the others are for petals.

First, use tweezers to smooth the green strips back and forth. Then cut all the green strips in the middle. No extra tapering is needed for green strips.

For the purple strips, tapering is needed. Trim the tips gradually to make the strips slightly thinner on both ends and wider in the middle. Hold the copper wire with one hand and rotate it at a constant speed. Use your other hand to operate the scissors. But don’t over-trim the ends. The ends should be just slightly narrow than the middle.

Step 9. Flatten the Strips

All silk strips need to be flattened. Cut off one end of the copper wire. Heat your flat iron and press the strip gently from bottom to top. Move slowly and evenly. Trim away any loose silk fibers for a clean look.

Then we need to strengthen the flattened strips.

Prepare your setting solution:

1. Use either hair spray, or
2. Diluted white glue (1:1.15 or 1:1.2 ratio)

Soak the flattened silk strips, let them absorb the solution, then scrape off the excess. 

Step 10. Shape the Petals

While still damp, shape the strips using the “wet concave” method:

• Press out extra solution with tweezers.
• Shape natural curves along the petal edges while wet. Let them dry standing upright.

For petals, clamp slightly below the strip to make it curl outward. Fold the upper part inward to form an S-shape. Finally, use tweezers to pinch waves along the edges. If there are gaps in the petals, pinch the wire with tweezers to tighten inward. 

For buds, the shaping is a bit different. Pinch the top of the green strip to bend inward, then bring both sides inward. 

(We highly recommend you watch the video tutorial for this step:)

Once all the strips are dry and firm, trim their shapes. The green strips should be trimmed into this shape

Step 11. Make the Flowers

Once all petals are shaped and dry, it’s time to assemble!

We start with the buds. Take 3 green petals. Bind the petals together with thread. Wrap about 2–3cm and then finish off.

For the flower, take out the stamen, fold it in half and cut it. Then wrap the petals around the stamen layer by layer.

The first layer of petals uses the lightest color and has a total of 3 petals. For the second layer, it uses 5 petals and the petals are slightly darker. The third layer also uses 5 petals, and its petals are the darkest.

Adjust petal positions slightly—don’t let them bunch up! Now you have completed the big flower.

Step 12. Attach the Flowers to the Base

For brooch:

Place the brooch base in position as shown here. 

Use silk threads to tie the brooch base and flower stem together. Make sure to pull the threads tight and trim off the excess thread. Finish by tucking the thread into the copper wire. We use a special technique to tie the thread without any trace. To do this, you will need to take a small piece of copper wire or thread and fold it in half. Cover the copper wire / thread when continue wrapping. When finishing, pass the remaining thread through the small loop of the copper wire. Then quickly pull the copper wire out from the tail. The thread ends are left inside the wrapped silk threads. You can safely cut off the exposed silk thread, and trim off any excess.  

(We highly recommend you watch the video tutorial for this step:) 

For Penjing, it is made similarly to the brooch The only difference is that the penjing uses more flowers The brooch only has flowers on the front, while the penjing has flowers all around. The penjing version needs 4 small buds at the top,  flowers should be fixed to the sides and back as well. The flowers at the top are lighter in color; the lower ones are darker and larger.

Assemble the flowers to the desired length. Leave extra bare stem at the bottom—about equal length to the flowered section.