Petal Shapes in PowerPoint

Do you want to create a flower diagram, or just draw a normal flower? You will soon realize that PowerPoint’s Shape Gallery offers no Petal shape or even no Leaf shape. However, PowerPoint’s amazing Merge Shapes tools allow you to create almost any shape without having actually to draw anything. And they also allow you to create convincing Petal shapes.

We show you two ways to create a Petal shape in PowerPoint. The first way uses the Merge Shapes' Union tool to create a tapered petal whereas the second way uses the Merge Shapes' Fragment tool to create a curved petal.

Tapered Petal

Here's how we created a tapered petal:

1. On a new slide, insert a Teardrop shape. Rotate the shape and resize it larger, as shown in Figure 1.
   
   
   Figure 1: Teardrop shape on the slide
2. Duplicate the shape and rotate the duplicated shape 180 degrees, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Teardrop shape duplicated and rotated
3. We then placed both shapes so that they overlapped each other to resemble a petal, as can be seen in Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: Teardrop shapes overlap each other
4. Select both shapes and apply the Shape Union option to end up with the petal shape that you see in Figure 4. Do note that the selection handles are placed in a diamond-shaped enclosure rather than a square-enclosure, and that the rotation handle is strangely placed at the bottom right, as highlighted in red within Figure 4.
   
   
   Figure 4: Shape Union option applied to Teardrop shapes
5. To correct this problem, insert any larger shape to overlap the petal. Now send this new shape back (see Figure 5).
   
   
   Figure 5: Rounded Rectanlge shape inserted and placed behind the petal
6. Now select the larger shape first, and then Ctrl+click the petal shape to select. Then, apply the Shape Fragment option to end up with the result shown in Figure 6.
   
   
   Figure 6: Shape Fragment option applied
7. Delete all extraneous areas other than the petal shape, and you will end up with a petal shape that has perfect selection handles and also a rotation handle on the top, as highlighted in red within Figure 7 (compare with Figure 4).
   
   
   Figure 7: Tapered Petal shape ready

Curved Petal

Now let us create the curved petal shape:

1. On a new slide, insert a Moon shape. Resize the shape larger, as shown in Figure 8.
   
   
   Figure 8: Moon shape on the slide
2. Duplicate the Moon shape, and rotate the duplicated shape by 180 degrees. Place this duplicated shape next to the original Moon shape and make sure it overlaps just a wee bit (see Figure 9).
   
   
   Figure 9: Moon shape shape duplicated and rotated
3. Now select the original Moon shape first, and then Ctrl+click the second Moon shape to select. Now apply the Shape Fragment option to end up with the result shown in Figure 10.
   
   
   Figure 10: Shape Fragment option applied
4. Delete all extraneous areas other than the petal shape, and you will end up with a petal shape that has perfect selection handles and also a rotation handle on the top, as shown in Figure 11.
   
   
   Figure 11: Curved Petal shape ready