Fresh flowers are the reason one creates paper flowers simply because like they say art imitates life. Although there are many paper flowers that are not replicas of fresh flowers there are many that are. Fresh flowers inspire the designs of paper flowers because it makes a very good example of what a flower should look like. When making paper flowers whether it is a Rose or a Carnation or a Tulip, the real flower is usually used as a guide to the pattern design.

The petals are dissected and a rough sketch is drawn using the petals as a guideline. Leaves are another aspect of some flowers that is also copied. With the amount of varieties of flowers in the world there are so many ideas you can come up with. Some times people take two flowers and combine them making one very unique paper flower.

Paper flowers are much cheaper than real flowers and are also maintenance free and can last indefinitely, that's why many people replicate real flowers through paper flowers as there's nothing sadder than a wilting bouquet. It's very hard to throw away a bouquet from a loved one when it dies, with paper flowers you may never have to. Paper flowers can be made with many different kinds of paper creating different textures and unique colors not found in natural flowers that the creator may prefer.

The scent of real flowers is one thing that cannot readily be duplicated although this allows for the creator to imbue the paper flowers with her or his own specially preferred scents, although paper flowers do not hold scents for very long. The art of making paper flowers is practiced a lot in Japan where origami is a great hobby. Origami can be quite elaborate and when based on real flowers can take a great deal of time to complete, but in the outcome you will have a treasure worth keeping for a long time. Paper flowers may be cheaper, last longer and require no maintenance however real flowers are irreplaceable, their true beauty coming from their ephemeral nature and as such we should never take these delicate blossoms for granted.