This afternoon, I have been out to High Tor, Matlock and wandering between the bare trees I gathered together a range of branches, holly, evergreen leaves and pine cones. My plan is to make a Christmas Wreath to hang on the front door. I used a wire wreath frame which I purchased for 90p from a Victorian Christmas Market in Hall Leys Park, Matlock last weekend.
From my experience as a TA for students studying floristry, I have learnt a few skills in this area which I applied today. Firstly, I arranged the materials I was using and began covering the frame with a base of bare branches threading in and out of the frame....
I prepared the evergreen branches using a set of garden pruners. Leaving a stalk bare allows for easy threading.
I began to cover the whole of the branches, turning the wreath as I did to ensure even coverage.
Once covered, I gave the wreath a hard shake to ensure that there were no loose areas.
I layered loosely ontop of the frame the materials I had left to form a plan of my design. I had a piece of bright green moss I wanted to use and pinned this in place by unfolding paperclips to form basic floristry pins. You can use the real thing, it is easier to twist the ends together, but the paperclips worked fine.
I pinned the moss in the centre and at either ends...
As I pushed the pin through, I twisted the ends together and folded flat, so as not to scratch the door it hangs on.
Here it is so far...
And the final thing with the holly, berries and pine cones...
I love the look on the front door! Mmmm, Christmassss!
