TOOLS AND MATERIALS
MATERIALS
- Large evergreen branch ( for the wreath hanger )
- Small evergreen tips
- 22 Gauge wire/ or you could use fishing line, or even small butchers twine, whatever you have. But the wire makes the job go easier.
TOOLS
- Garden shears
- Wire cutters
- Small pliers
- Hand saw
STEP 1
If you want to make the rustic branch for the DIY wreaths to hang from, make sure you cut a nice size branch off your tree.
Look for something at least 2 inches in diameter.
STEP 2
Use garden trimmers and snip off all the side branches. If you hit a branch that is too big to snip off use a handsaw.
STEP 3
Making your wreath form is fairly easy.
You need two straight branches, measuring 1/2 -3/4 inch wide and about 30 inches in length. You can trim them down to any size you want, but it’s best to grab them around that long to start out.
I used lilac hedge branches, but any branch will do so long as it is straight and will bend.
If you make your wreath forms any larger than 48-60 inches around, I would suggest making two forms and attaching them together so they reinforce each other.
STEP 4
Lay two branches side by side.
Use your wire to fasten them together – it doesn’t have to be pretty, it only needs to be well fastened. Once the pine boughs are attached you won’t even see the wire.
Once the first side is fastened, bend the whole thing into a circle and fasten the other side with more wire.
If your shape is not quite round you can gently bend the branches into shape, but “gently” is the keyword. I broke a set doing this because I was a bit too rough.
I made four of these wreaths and all of them ended up more or less round.
No weird shapes, they all ended up being fairly circular in the end. If you do get a weird shape, I would suggest starting over and trying to bend two different branches.
STEP 5
Let the form dry.
Once it is dry test it. Gently tug on the sides to make sure the form will not come apart and that it is sufficiently wired on both sides.
If it feels a bit loose, or not quite secure, add a bit more wire around where you attached the branches to each other.
STEP 6
Look for lush green, full tips on your branches, those are the pieces we want to use for our wreath.
Mediavine
Separate the evergreen tips so that the best looking, most lush branches are set aside.
See in the photo below how lush and full that tip is, that’s what we want for the top of our wreath. We can use the not so great ones on the bottom layer.
STEP 7
The first layer of pine branches is intended to create a base for the next layer.
Mediavine
This layer does not have to be perfect, or beautiful, it just needs to attach to the frame securely. Add lots of wire around each evergreen tip as you attach it.
The length of the tip doesn’t matter, so long as it can bend with the frame, and there are full tips almost the length of the clipping.
STEP 8
The next round is a bit different. You’re going to want to find your best-looking tips and start laying them down one by one. They will need to be overlapped like fallen dominos all aways around the wreath in the same direction.
Each time you add a new branch, tie it down with wire, and then add the next and do the same until you make it all the way around.
The tighter you make these overlaps, the fuller the wreath will be.
STEP 9
To create the rustic branch wreath hanger I simply cut my big branch down to fit my window and tied it up in the corners with some cup hooks
I used some twine to attach my branch to my cup hooks.
I used some leftover burlap ribbon to attach the wreaths to branch.
