Handmade Wreath

Handmade Wreath

green twigs, repurposed grocery boxes, gesso, glitter, brass paper fasteners, silk ribbon

Hi there!

Welcome to Christmas.

I'm a handmade wreath. I cost about 50 cents. Because I bought paper fasteners this week and didn't have them on hand, but I had bought them for something else, so really, this cost nothing.

This was actually kind of fun. I went out to my yard and cut some twigs from a bunch. I think they might actually be considered canes, because they were long and straight and bendy and green, and headed straight for the ground, where they tried to set and root. They were starting to take over my driveway, so I felt fair in pruning them back.

I'm sure you could also use willow branches for this. I know this because I used willow branches to make a very similar item, when I was planning to make a handmade dream catcher, but never did because the grandparents came back from Arizona with authentic ones.

I twisted them around each other, weaving them in and out to make a circle. I think I used about a dozen canes. I thought I'd like a bit looser, but I began to enjoy the tight wreath. The only thing holding them together is the weaving.

Then I got my cut out stars, from grocery boxes, that I had already gessoed, painted with gel medium and coated in silver glitter. I punch tiny holes in the stars and then grabbed my brass paper fasteners... stuck those in there and attached them to the twigs. I can actually swivel the stars to make a better layout, and I did.

Then I found this pretty gold silk ribbon and tied that up at the top. I'd already tried about three different ribbon/fabric options. The tulle was too fussy for me. A plain cotton twill ribbon thing I had looked too much like a bandage, and then I found the gold ribbon, and that was it. I like how it brings out the brass in the fasteners and both bring out the goldy brown in the canes. The ribbon might be smaller than I might have chosen otherwise, but I think it adds a simplicity, a modern quality that I rather like as does the mix of metallics.
A close up of the silver stars against the blue-green door. The photos are not great, courtesy of my northern, cloudy skies. Sorry. I have no time for better photos. I've set myself on quite an endeavor with this craft every day thing. The photography turns out to be almost as much a challenge as the crafting!

Oh and this project took me about 20 minutes. Although I had four of the stars made already, and just had to glitter the last one. I like odd numbers. They feel better.