Feelin’ Like Crafting ☆ Wreath Making

Spring is a good time to make a wreath as you can probably use the same wreath from spring till the end of summer depending on the colors you use. When I went to a craft store in April, there was a huge variety of craft flowers I could choose from. I bought a base wreath for something like $4. The flowers are not so cheap unless you go there during sales, so the whole thing might end up costing more than you expected, but you can make your original, the only one you find in the world.

What you need
1. base
2. flowers & leaves
3. craft wires
4. craft tape

When you pick flowers, you chose one big main flower, middle size flowers, and small flowers. In my case, the two lilies are used as the main flowers, the small white flowers are used as middle size, and the berries are used as small size flowers. I also purchased leaves as fillers.

STEP 1
Cut flowers and leaves into individual pieces. Cut wires into half. (The whole length as they were sold was too long.) Bend a wire into half and put it on the stem and coil one side of wire around the stem as well as the other wire.

STEP 2
Wrap a craft tape around the wire and the stem to reinforce them. This allows the flowers or leaves to not slip off from the wire as you move them when you fix their positioning and also makes the stems sturdier.

Now you’re ready to start the fun part.

STEP 3
Decide which point will be the top where you want the wreath to be hung. Based on the placement of that focal point, decide where you want to place the main flower(s). Let’s say the top part of the wreath is 12:00, you place the main flower(s) either at 4 or 5 o’clock (lower right) or 7 or 8 o’clock (lower left). Stick the stem in the base wreath and use a wire to fix it on the base. My friend, Nami, helped me add a wire below the top lily to pull the lily back to the wreath as lily was leaning forward. I don’t think I would’ve noticed that unless she pointed it out, so having her as my instructor helped me a lot.

STEP 4
Make a spot diagonal from the main flower(s) a secondary focus and place middle size flowers there. This balances the wreath as well as brings out the main flower(s). For my middle size flowers, Nami suggested that I coordinate three small flowers together instead of scatter them. Interestingly this makes the flowers look more defined than them being placed individually.

You stick the stem in between the twigs of the wreath. Flip the wreath and pull the wire out from the back side. You either twist the wires or coil the wire around a twig or two. The back side is not going to look pretty, but it’s okay. No one will see it from the front side.

STEP 5
Finally you add berries and leaves to balance out the white flowers. When you stick leaves, keep in mind the direction of the main flowers. It looks better if everything is flowing towards the same direction as the main flowers. For example, the lilies on this wreath are facing anti-clockwise. If you stick the stems of the berries and leaves the same way you did with the lilies, in other words, anti-clockwise, the wreath looks more orderly. Am I making any sense here?

The berries with leaves I purchased have quite strong stems and I didn’t see the need to enhance the stem by adding wires, so I didn’t use them. I just stuck the stems in the wreath. We’ll see how long they will last. I need to buy a craft glue to stick some of the flowers and leaves to the wreath in order to avoid having some flowers and leaves fall off the wreath.

Another important point to remember is to make sure the leaves don’t appear identical. Live plants usually don’t have leaves and flowers that face exactly the same directions. When you pay attention to this detail, the leaves would look more vibrant.

I hope you enjoyed this post and this helped some of you who have never tried making a wreath get inspired and feel an incentive to try!