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The festive season is almost upon us and one of our finest, festive traditions is hanging a Christmas wreath on our front doors. There are some beautiful wreaths that can be purchased at this time of year, but have you ever thought about making your own Christmas wreath? Think of the pride you will have when you hang your own creation on your front door, you can even turn it into a new family tradition and get everyone involved. But where do you start? Read on and we will walk you through the process of making your own fabulous festive wreath.
Things you’ll need
- A wreath base made from Vine, rattan or floral foam rings or metal
- Garden twine
- Florist’s wire
- Fir cones, holly with berries, mistletoe, ivy, spiky evergreens, spruce, conifer, twigs of fir. Pretty much any Winter evergreen shrub and/or moss
- Scissors and or wire cutters
- Tinsel, ribbon, baubles and other small decorations to suite your creative flair.
Top tip: Using good evergreens and well dried out cones, will ensure that your wreath stays looking great all the way through the Christmas season.
Putting the wreath together
If you have enough moss, then wrap the wreath base completely in the moss and secure it with the florist’s wire. This will give the entire wreath a completely natural base.
From there take your evergreens and your berries and cut them down to smaller pieces of say 7 or 8 inches. They need to be small enough so they look natural on the wreath. Create bunches of the foliage with a mixture of the difference leaves and berries and tie the pieces together with your florist wire to secure them together.
Secure your florist wire onto the wreath ring by wrapping it around a couple of times really tightly. Once the wire is secure on the ring place the prepared bunch on to your wreath ring above where you have wrapped the wire and tie the bunch tightly at the bottom of the bunch onto the form to secure it in place. Lie the bunch so that the stems are slightly slanted on the wreath ring so that the stems point slightly inwards and the foliage slightly outwards. The process then needs to be repeated with bunches being made up and then tied onto the wreath form.
When placing each bunch, lay it so that it covers the stems and the wire securing them of the previously tied on bunch. You will want to cover up all the wire. Work around the wreath ring, slightly altering the angle as required to ensure that the entire ring is covered and as invisible as possible.
Once the whole wreath ring has been covered it is time to add your pinecones and/or ribbons and other decorative flourishes. Pinecones are very easy to tie onto the wreath. Simply feed your florist’s wire in between the open scales at the bottom to secure the wire to the cone and then tie it to the wreath wherever you want. The same goes with any ribbons or other ornaments that you want to add. When you think you are done, take a look at the wreath and make sure it looks balanced and decorated to your taste.
Once you are happy with it, you can simply hang in on a hook on your front door using the twine. Here is a great short video on how to make wreath using a vine wreath ring, but the principle is the same for whatever ring you choose.
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to decorating your wreath. Mix things up by adding faux flowers or foliage, add tinsel, baubles or other ornamental trinkets to create a truly unique and personal decoration.
