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Garlands are traditional
decorations for doorways or banisters during the holiday season. You can easily
make one yourself from evergreen trimmings collected from your own garden.
Things You'll
Need:
Gather a wheelbarrow full of evergreen
trimmings. Some suggestions are cedar, pine, fir, juniper, redwood, oak, bay
laurel and asparagus fern.
Cut the trimmings to a length of 6 inches.
Lay a 10-foot length of string or twine on a
large, flat surface. Tie a loop in one end of the string.
Attach #24 floral wire - also called paddle
wire - to the loop end of the string. Keep the wire attached to the spool and
unravel it as needed.
Select several foliage pieces and place them
together in a bunch, with the stems at one end. You can mix different kinds in
one bundle.
Place the bundle of foliage at the loop end
of the string with the stems pointing toward the long end of the string.
Wrap the floral wire around the stems and
string to secure them in place.
Wrap the floral wire around the bundle twice
and then pull it tight. Make sure to leave the wire attached to the string.
Gather another bundle of foliage and lay it
so that the stems overlap the first bunch and cover the stems. Make sure that
all the stems are facing the same direction.
Continue the process of overlapping the
bunches of foliage and wiring them to the string until you run out of string.
When you get to the end of the string, twist
the wire tightly around the last bundle's stems, and knot the wire and the
string together. Leave 12 inches of wire (to attach the garland where you want
it) and cut the wire with scissors or pruning shears.
decorations for doorways or banisters during the holiday season. You can easily
make one yourself from evergreen trimmings collected from your own garden.
Things You'll
Need:
- Floral
Wires - Garden
Shears - Twine
- Twine
- Craft
Wire - metallic,
gold-mesh wired ribbons
Gather a wheelbarrow full of evergreen
trimmings. Some suggestions are cedar, pine, fir, juniper, redwood, oak, bay
laurel and asparagus fern.
Cut the trimmings to a length of 6 inches.
Lay a 10-foot length of string or twine on a
large, flat surface. Tie a loop in one end of the string.
Attach #24 floral wire - also called paddle
wire - to the loop end of the string. Keep the wire attached to the spool and
unravel it as needed.
Select several foliage pieces and place them
together in a bunch, with the stems at one end. You can mix different kinds in
one bundle.
Place the bundle of foliage at the loop end
of the string with the stems pointing toward the long end of the string.
Wrap the floral wire around the stems and
string to secure them in place.
Wrap the floral wire around the bundle twice
and then pull it tight. Make sure to leave the wire attached to the string.
Gather another bundle of foliage and lay it
so that the stems overlap the first bunch and cover the stems. Make sure that
all the stems are facing the same direction.
Continue the process of overlapping the
bunches of foliage and wiring them to the string until you run out of string.
When you get to the end of the string, twist
the wire tightly around the last bundle's stems, and knot the wire and the
string together. Leave 12 inches of wire (to attach the garland where you want
it) and cut the wire with scissors or pruning shears.
- It's
best to use the tips of the branches when gathering evergreen trimmings. - If
you need the finished garland to be longer than your spool of string, you
can wire two completed garlands together. - Wire
small pinecones to the finished garland by twisting a length of floral
wire around the bottom half of a cone. - Hang
the garland from evenly spaced tacks, nails or picture hooks so it droops
uniformly - between
the hooks. - This
is a dirty job! Work over newspaper, and have plenty of soap and water
ready to clean - your
hands when you're done.