How to make an evergreen Christmas Wreath

To make a Christmas wreath you will need a few supplies and some imagination.

GATHER SUPPLIES:

· a wreath ring (store bought or home-made)

· wire to tie the greenery on (most like florist wire)

· clippers for cutting greenery

· clippers for cutting wire

· A large amount of greenery

o Fraser fir greenery works well for the whole wreath or as a base of green

o Other greens that work well with the Fraser Fir are white pine, ivy, holly and other foliage with berries, boxwood

o Leaves and seedpods add a very custom look to your wreath

· ribbon for bow if desired

· gloves make it easier on your hands

Most of these supplies can be found at your local florist or craft store.

MAKING THE WREATH:

· Trim the Fraser Fir or other evergreen to 6” to 8” lengths and gather in bundles of 3 to 5 pieces. Place the thicker middle tree branches as a base of the grouping and use the tips for the front of your bundles. Wrap the bundles with wire to secure them as a single piece.

· To attach bundled pieces of foliage to the wreath ring, wrap the wire around the lower end of the foliage bundle and the ring securing the bundle to the ring at the butt end of the foliage. Repeat this procedure a couple inches further around the ring, covering the butt ends of the previous pieces of foliage with the green end of the next batch.

· Continue doing this until you have gone all the way around the ring.

During the first round of the wreath the foliage will slide around a little bit but the more you put on the more stable it will become. Keep your work flat on a tabletop to prevent movement.

Much of building the wreath is to place your foliage to make something pleasing to the eye, with interest around the whole of the wreath.

However there are some general rules in making a wreath:

Use the inner and outer rings as separate ‘rounds’; filling both rings makes a full plush wreath.

You will find that you can make rounds appear to have a direction. This is when the stems all lay the same way. Wreaths look best if a round follows the same direction. However, the two rings on the wreath ring don’t necessarily have to go in the same direction.

The more you add, the better it looks.

Save the unusual foliage until last so that it sits on the top layer of the wreath where they can be seen.

To add pine cones, wrap some wire around the bottom layer of the cone seeds, placing the cone in the center of a piece of wire. Then twist the two wire stems firmly together but keep the wire separated after twisting them together to secure the cone. Push the wire into and through the wreath and twist the wires together again at the back of the wreath.

If you find you like doing this, and plan to make several wreaths, then you may want to buy a clamp machine, costing approximately $70 from Kelco. (See link on fundraising page). You don’t use wire with the machine, because clamps hold the Fraser Fir tips onto the ring, however you can then add the extras, like decorations and bows, with wire.