Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Shamrock Grapevine Wreath- making custom shaped wreaths.


I've been wanting to make a shamrock shaped wreath for a little while now. I could have made the shape using foam but the more I thought about it, I wanted a look that was more natural. Grapevine and moss would be perfect. But there are no grapevine shamrock shaped wreaths in the craft stores.

I've made some vine wreaths before and have also done a little basket weaving. For both of those you soak the wood in water to make it pliable. I'd been wondering if soaking a grapevine wreath would have the same effect... then a sign from the universe perhaps... I saw someone on the Martha Stewart Show soak grapevine wreaths to shape them into ovals. Aha, my hunch had been right!


So I bought three 6"grapevine wreaths. They were only about .49 cents each which made me really happy since a St.Patrick's Day wreath is only up for about a month (at most) and I didn't want to spend a lot on it.


I set the wreaths soaking in some tepid water. Weighing them down with a few rocks helped to keep them from floating.


After a 2 hours of soaking they were ready to be shaped.

First I bent the wreath into a general heart shape with my hands. Then used rubber bands to hold the shape while it dried overnight.


The next morning I was rewarded with 3 little heart shaped wreaths.

To or the shape I wired each wreath together with some green floral wire and added added two sticks for the stem.


Ideally I would have used only one stick that was thicker... but with all the snow on the ground I took what I could get and made due. Since I was covering this with moss using two sticks didn't matter, but if I was going to leave this as just a pretty shaped grapevine wreath I would have used one thicker stick and some brown floral wire instead of green.


Voila- my new shamrock shaped wreath, ready for moss!

Using a hot glue gun I covered it with two kinds of moss.


It turned out simple and green- just what I wanted.

It's the right size for the spot that I placed it but you could do this with any size wreaths. I think it could also be really nice to spray the grapevine white or green instead of covering it with the moss.





10 comments:

  1. Love this! Had no idea you could soak the wreaths, very cool tip.

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  2. Thanks Jessica. I had a lot of fun making this- bending those wreaths has given me a few more ideas. Everything leads to a new project!

    : )

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  3. Oh my gosh, this is the cutest St. Patty's Day decoration I have seen. I have to make one!

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  4. You have done it again! Your ideas are so amazing. I probably won't get around to it this year, but would love to do it for next!

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  5. Thank you Marisa and Jane!!! If you make them, this year or next I'd LOVE to see pictures or have a link to you post.

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  6. Meg, would you mind if I link to this post this week? I would like to include the top photo, too.

    Thanks

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  7. Hi Jane, I'd love if you linked. Thanks so much!

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  8. Are these for sale? They're beautiful!

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  9. Are you making these for sale???!!!!!! I'd absolutely LOVE one!
    Anne in NJ

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  10. To prevent them from floating, we tried weighing them down with some rocks, view our site...

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