Quilled Poppy in Progress (6) and DIY Pollen

It's finally done! My largest project to date at about 11"x11".  I'm struggling a bit with the photography because I can't seem to make the color strips stand out as much when I shoot straight down. To achieve the photo above, I shot a bit from the bottom, and tweaked the perspective within Photoshop. This ends up showing a bit more of the strip from the side. Anyway, on to the crowning glory - the stamens and pollen.

I drew a circle of stamens and cut 3 slightly varying sizes. I did this because anything drawn in a repetitive pattern looks very mechanical. Stacking the stamens directly above one another just looks too "perfect", and not as natural.

So I cut one of the circles into 3 parts to deliberately offset the stamen lines. Next I borrowed my cheese grater and grated a rolled up piece of matching yellow paper and proceeded to grind away. UHU glue stick was smeared on just the tips, then dipped into the "pollen".

If you'd like to see this DIY flocking technique on another flower, click here.

Here's a nice close up for you to see.

Each stamen was bent in two places. The cut stamen-circle was sandwiched to hide the cut lines.

To make the middle crown, I cut a piece of radiating lines, then curled them all inward and nestled it within the stamens.

Here's a side shot to see it all together, close up.

So to recap this series:
My inspiration was a pink poppy photo
Stage 1) Tracing and outlining
Stage 2) Trimming the ends
Stage 3) Gluing tips
Stage 4) New glue love discovery
Stage 5) Custom cut paper

Thanks to all who've been commenting and cheering me on. I've had a great time learning along with you!