Ronghua Tutorial: How to Make Datura Love Flower Brooch

Dark, velvety, and endlessly intriguing — the Datura Love brooch is a bold statement piece inspired by the mysterious beauty of night-blooming flowers. Its deep crimson tones and soft velvet texture make it both romantic and captivating.

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 nine colours of silk to create four silk rows - two for flowers, one for leaves, and one for stamen.  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. 

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: 1 row for small flower, 1 row for big flower, 1 row for stamen, and 1 row for leaves.  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 stamen should be 0.5cm. In the row for leaves, the spacing should be 1.8cm. For the two rows for flowers, the spacing between copper wires should be 5mm. 

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. 

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.

Step 8. Flatten the Silk Strips

Only the silk strips used for leaves 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 — go over it again if needed for a perfectly flat finish. Trim away any loose silk fibers for a clean look.

Step 9. Strengthen the 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 for leaves, let them absorb the solution, then scrape off the excess. Stand them upright to dry naturally. 

Step 10. Make the Stamen

For the stamen, use 9 strands per group, 4 groups total. Wrap copper wires with 0.5 cm spacing and twist them firmly on the twisting board.

1. Next, trim the tips gradually to make the strips thin 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. At the beginning, the scissors are almost parallel to the edge of the silk strip - trim off excess burrs first, then gradually increase the tilt angle to trim the tip of the strip. Hold the scissors close to the strip and tilt slightly forward. Trim while rotating the strip.

You’ll need a total of 8 strips in this shape.

This is the final shape of the leaf.

Use the flat iron to give the leaves a small curve. Clamp the leaf edges lightly with the iron as well. You’ll need a total of 7 leaves.

Step 12. Make the Petals

Now it is time to assemble the strips into petals. Each small petal uses 4 short strips. Use silk threads to tie one end of the strips together and make sure the ends of the strips are aligned. The large petals are assembled in the same way, but each large petal needs one more strip — a total of 5 strips.

You’ll need 10 large petals and 15 small petals in total. 

Now, we will glue the strips into a petal shape. Dip a copper wire in white glue and dab it on the side of the strip. Be careful when applying glue — don’t smear it off-center. Press the strips together. 

Wrap the top copper wire of the petal with silk threads to secure it. Repeat the same method for the rest of the petals.

Step 13. Assemble the Flowers

Once all petals, leaves, and stamen are shaped and dry, it’s time to assemble! Take your purple silk thread and begin wrapping from the folded end.

1. Start by assembling the stamens. The large datura has 5 stamens in the center. The very middle stamen should be slightly taller. Each flower has 5 petals. Assemble them one by one. Add one component each time you wrap — don’t skip any! After assembling the petals, adjust their positions slightly. Curl the petal edges outward.

Note that the small datura only has one stamen in the middle.

Trim off any excess thread and wire, and the flower part is done.

2. Now we move on to the leaves. Take a piece of steel wire and attach the leaves to it. Assemble the leaves at staggered heights. The top part uses only small-sized leaves.

Assemble the flowers by wrapping silk threads according to the order in the diagram. When assembling, pay attention to the flower orientation on each side. Try to make adjacent flowers face different directions.

Take out the pre-assembled leaves. Place the leaves beneath the second flower. Add two more leaves at the end.

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:) 

Step 14. Attach the Flowers to the Brooch