Natural and minimal Christmas decor is on trend this year and gave me the inspiration to make my own wreath. It only took a day to make this one. The wreath (without the bells) only cost about $16 AUD to make. Here in Australia it’s hard to find large wreaths and if you do find one they cost a small fortune.
First I laid two metal rings on some cardboard and traced around the inside of each of them to keep them an inch apart. I tied them together first but if I was to do it again, I’d tape them together.
This is a quick mock up of how I laid it on the cardboard. I put duct tape over the wire ties so they weren’t sharp and didn’t cut through the paper raffia. I tied knots in the ends of the raffia and tucked them inside when I wrapped the rings.The finished base. I put a little hook on the top but forgot to tie a piece of ribbon to it so I wouldn’t lose it when I wrapped the vines over it. Ugh! This base is about 50cm/20″ in diameter.We have a vine out the back that strangles the trees and I actually gardened and didn’t hurt myself. Go me! I ripped off any straight twigs and leaves. I made sure anything I pulled off the plant would bend without breaking. Make sure you have enough room to play with the vine as it’s long and will whip any screens or plates around you. This is probably about 20% of the vines I used. Also have the vacuum cleaner on hand and don’t wear sheepskin boots as your socks grow branches. Not nice. It bought a new meaning to natural fibre socks.I used pegs to hold the first vines on.Some progress. It was working.After this photo I added some more vines and evened up that lower left area. I used some thicker vines on top but they were broke a little. I left the little piggy tails on the vines for some whimsy. It’s now about 10cm/4″ thick. There’s still no glue holding the vines in place and it got easier to tuck them in on the back side of the wreath as it got larger. I’m going to probably glue some felt to the back of the wreath to protect a door or wall behind it when hung.I plaited up some paper raffia to make a rope for the bells I painted last week. If you want to see more info on how I painted the bells, check out https://fionaschiffl.com/2021/11/17/antiquing-christmas-bells/ I’d like some faux leather straps on there but used what I had on hand. I used the rope that came with the bells to hang the wreath for now. I finally found a use for the 17 x 20m tall Cypress pines behind our house (other than helping with cutting them down and mulching the huge branches). You can’t see the wreath base through the vines.
Detail. It could be dressed up more with baubles or ribbon but today I like it fairly plain. If I’d known this was so easy to make I would have done it years ago. So a day to make, a day to vacuum…
Fiona Schiffl 