Pine Cone Roof: This sample Bee House has an easy, quick pine cone petal roof with a bamboo leaf ridge line.
Pine Cone Petals: Before you begin this step be sure that your pine cones is thoroughly dry and open. Slide your bench knife under one of the stem petals of the pine cone. Gently lift and pull with the flat of the knife to remove the petal. Move your knife to the next petal and repeat. As you remove each petal you will reveal the base of the petal below it and where that petal connects to a central stem. The more your remove the easier each row becomes to free from the central stem.
Pine cone petals vary in size, shape, and condition. Sort your petals into several piles based on size. We will be using the largest, longest petals first, along the bottom edge of the roof line. As we work up the side of the roof you can use the medium and small sized petals. The pine cone petals at the top of the cone are often extra long and tightly curved. These are excellent to use along the edge of your roof to curve over and hide your scrapbook paper roof base.
First Roof Line Row: With hot glue adhere a large pine cone petal at the center bottom edge of your roof. Allow about 1/4″ of the petal to extend over and beyond the roof paper. Continue adding pine cone petals to the bottom row, working from the center towards the side edges.
Second Pine Petal Row: The second row is adhered in the same manner as the first. Offset the first petal of this row so that it overlaps the joint line of two petals in the first row. Continue adding rows of pine cone petals until the top edge of your last row touches the center fold line of the roof paper.
Add a Dried Leaf Ridge Line: To hide the joint line of the roof side pine cone petals where they meet at the center fold of the roof, I used two dried bamboo leaves. These leaves have a central vein that made folding the leaves over the roof fold easy. Hot glue into place and trim the ends of the leaves with your scissors or bench knife. For this step you can also use Pampas Grass leaves, dried Day Lily leaves, or a scrap of your paper bag colored scrapbook paper.
Completed Pine Cone Petal Roof: The finished roof has the delightful appearance of a wood shingled roof. Note in the photo, below, how the top, tightly curved petals of the pine cone roll over the paper roof side edges.