It is an old Greek custom to hang a wreath of fresh flowers on your door to
celebrate special occasions. The rings are made of grass, raffia, vines or
any other supple material. The stems of the flowers are cut to three inches or so and wired onto the
garland.
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1. Gather a bundle of long grass. If the grass is too dry to shape into a
circle wet it down before shaping it and binding it with fishing line, twine
or floral wire.
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2. Bind small bunches of flowers together using floral wire. Leave some of the
larger flowers separate. |
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3. Randomly secure the bunches of flowers and the
single ones to the grass wreath.
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Wet Foam Floral Wreath or
Centerpiece
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1. You will need a 12" wet foam base, foliage, flowers and two yards of
thin satiny ribbon. |
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2. Dip the base in water until the foam is damp but not fully saturated. The
base will drip when you hang it if you over-soak it. (Soak it if you plan to
use it as a centerpiece). |
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3. Insert the foliage first. Keep the stems short and fill the entire wreath
with a green background. |
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4. Insert the flowers spacing them evenly around
the circle. |
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5. Complete the wreath by winding the ribbon in
soft curls throughout the flowers.
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All about Wreath Forms
There are 7 basic wreath forms
-Styrofoam, straw,
grapevine, nito, wire clamp style wreath forms, Oasis wet foam wreath forms and box wired. There are many variations in sizes and shapes
of these basic forms.
How to make wreath hangers
Make a wreath hanger before you begin to decorate
your wreath. It establishes the top, and you can hang your wreath in front
of you while you decorate. You may choose not to use your hanger to attach
the wreath to the wall. Styrofoam, wire and straw wreaths are light and flat enough
to hang on a nail. If your wreath is heavily decorated on one side, however,
you will need a hanger to keep it centered.
Grapevine and Nito
wreaths need the
support of wire hangers. The vines are irregular and in most cases cannot be
hung on a nail.
To make a hanger for a grapevine wreath, look at the shape
of the wreath to determine the top. Then, slip a floral wire around a few
branches in the back, at the top of the wreath. Wrap it around a few times
and twist the ends of the wire. Make sure the loop is secure.
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| 1.
Twist a circle in a medium gauge wire. |
2.
Push the end of the wire in the back of the wreath base. |
3.
Secure the ends by pushing them into the back of the wreath. |
Basic Wreaths
Designs and Instructions
How to make a simple garland wreath
Best to work on a
table when preparing your wreath form and later to hang
it up to add the decorations and final touches. It is easier to see where you need to add
leaves, more flowers, ribbons etc., when you are face to face with your wreath.
Start with a garland
of ivy
, gardenia,
hydrangea, rose
grapevine or pine
evergreen. See all the garlands.
Cover a Styrofoam wreath form with
moss.
Secure the moss with
greening pins. Then, unwind the garland
and lay it around the wreath. Cut off the excess garland and attach the
greenery to the wreath with more greening pins.
Use the excess garland to fill
in any
sparse areas. Then hang the wreath up to add fruit, tiny flowers... anything you like, or leave it
green or just with the flowers it came with it.
If you want to add berries or single flowers to
the wreath and the stems
are too soft to penetrate the wreath form you will need to wrap a floral wire around the end
of the stem, double it over, twist it, and then insert it in the wreath
base. Or use wired floral picks
to attach the flowers.
Greening pins work great when adding multiple flowers and berries. Save your extra material in plastic bags for future projects.
Here are three sets
of instructions for making a wreath on three different wreath bases. Follow
" Line, Focal and Filler" to complete each wreath with a pleasing design.
Making a wreath
with a Styrofoam Wreath Base
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1.
Make a hanging loop first. Then, cover the base with moss
then secure it with greening pins
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| 2.
Line. Cut the greenery into 7" pieces
and insert around the wreath facing the same direction. |
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| 3.
Focal. Cut the lily stems to 4" long and,
alternating from side to side, insert around the wreath. |
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| 4. Filler.
Cut the dogwood into single stems with three flowers on each, and fill in
all the empty spaces. |
Making a wreath
with a Straw Hay Base
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1. Line.
Make a hanging loop in the back of the wreath. Cut the heather stems from
2"-3" long, then use your glue gun
to place three pointing to the left and two
pointing to the right. Stagger the lengths. |
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2. Focal.
Cut the black-eyed Susan stems to 5" long and hot glue them to the
heather following the shape of the wreath. |
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3. Filler.
Cut the field flower stems to 5" long and fill in the arrangement. |
How to make a wreath
on a Grapevine Wreath Base
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1. Line. Make a hanging loop.
Cut an ivy garland into
7" pieces and hot glue to wreath
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2. Focal.
Cut the tiger lily stems to 2" and hot glue around the wreath. |
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3. Filler.
Use a smaller flower to fill in around the
lilies. |
There's no time like the fall to add a seasonal wreath to your front door. Use some of the basic wreath decorating projects below to get you started designing a wreath with your dried flowers and greens from your summer garden. Or shop for flowers at your local weekend market. We have recently brought in several new vendors with beautiful dried and preserved greenery and botanicals at great prices. Use the beautiful colors of fall leaves, sunflowers, lavender, eucalyptus, wheat and more.
Continue in Floral Technique Instruction
with How to make Fresh Greenery Swags.
See all the floral design instruction and projects. Or click on the image below for wreath making
projects.
For floral and craft instruction, projects and supplies at discount prices - Save-On-Crafts.com
