There is nothing quite so lovely as a foraged spring wreath hanging on your door or in your house. A touch of the outside adding a bit of colour and life to the lines of your interiors.
What is it about nature and its curves, textures and colours that is so fresh and appealing?
If you have followed me for any length of time you will know I love a good wreath; my last spring one stayed on the wall for nearly the whole season…slowly drying and changing to reveal a different beauty.
This one is a much more rugged wreath…I wanted more texture and depth with the foliage and enjoyed collecting and foraging on my walks. The colours of the greens are so vibrant at the minute and I love how translucent they seem as you look upwards.
I am going to outline how I made this one and then add a few tips at the end for collecting the right kind of foliage and structures for your wreath base if youre making it yourself.
I made this spring wreath from some virginia creeper that my mum had cleared from her house, some ivy and a bit of clematis that I had pruned from our plant out our back. Twisting them altogether, create a circular shape the size you would like. They should almost fold on themselves and hold their structure but I twisted some around as an extra support before binding with the wire.
You’ll need:
+ wreath base (made or bought)
+ foliage – cut down to smaller lengths
+ chosen flowers
+ florists wire
+ scissors/secateurs
+ ribbon to hang
Wrap the wire around one section, ready to add foliage as you wrap…we are not cutting this wire, we are just going to keep wrapping as we add our greenery.
Gather about 3 stems of your chosen ‘green’ and lay on the wreath base; wrap around the wire to hold in place.
Choose a different type of foliage and lay slightly over the previous; again, wrap.
Keep repeating this until you are happy. If you are covering the whole wreath than continue around the circle until you are back to where you started. If, like me, you are making an asymmetric wreath, choose where you want to end.
When you are happy with the foliage begin to add your flowers. I wanted a lot of cow parsley. In a similar way to the greenery, gather the flowers into a little posy and lay on the base. Wrap the wire to hold in place.
I also added some cones and small buttercups. The cones I wired in separately by taking a piece of wire and wrapping near the bottom of the cone…leave an end to attach to the wreath.
The buttercups and clematis flowers I simply tucked into loops of wire or strands of the creeper to hold in place.
Play about with the colours and placing until you are happy.
Add a ribbon or hessian strip and hang from your door!
If you are like me, you’ll probably play with it a bit more when it’s up…you may notice little gaps and blocks of colour that might not be apparent when working close up so don’t be afraid to add to it when it’s in place.
Foliage ideas: ivy/clematis/virginia creeper/honeysuckle.
Botanical tales recommended to me to forage in the autumn…it needs to be woody but bendy. The new growth can be too fresh – so keep that in mind for later in the year!
Floral ideas: anything you can find in the hedgerows – some will dry well and others will droop. Just take out little flowers here and there and replace if it looks a little sad.
Happy foraging! Tag #alittlespringforaging if you make anything and we can all enjoy!
Loved learning how to do this with you last week. Amazing variety to be foraged at this time of year. My wreath has definitely reached the “crispy” stage but looking forward to making another!
Aw thank you Janine…it was such a great night wasn’t it! Crispy is good too but don’t be afraid to pull out bits you don’t like and add some fresh, new flowers in too!