A Wreath of Berries

A Wreath of Berries

Did you know that wreath making is a centuries old craft?
In ancient Greece winners of competitions were given wreaths made from organic materials such as laurel or olive leaves.
The Romans honoured their victorious soldiers with laurel wreaths .
The circle, or wreath, was believed to be a symbol of everlasting life and a way of linking man to nature. 
 Today, apart from Christmas, we probably use wreaths as a decoration rather than for any significance. Wreath making in this country has really taken off over the last 5 - 10 years and most chain stores sell artificial ready made wreaths year round.
I think natural wreaths are beautiful and I have tried making them, but as someone who's always pushed for time, they don't work for me.

 

I love this, I think its absolutely delicious!

the picture is something cut out of a magazine many years ago, so unfortunately I can't credit whoever is responsible for it - its likely to be from an old copy of Country Living

I just love the gleam of those juicy elderberries!

 At this time of year when the garden hedge is brimming with them, it's a wonderful idea to use them in a wreath. Reading from the text under the picture, it says that the wreath is formed from strong steel wire which you push the apples onto and then secure the ends. The elderberries and leaves are then wrapped onto the wreath using florist wire to secure them. Sounds simple and I did try hard, honestly! 😥

However, the mess I made took an hour to clean up and most of the elderberries ended up in the compost!

I'll say no more about it, other than - dark purple elderberry liquid and apple pulp still make me shudder! 

So, I have to admit, that I'm now artificial! or faux! 😆

This is a wreath I made several years ago. I made it after watching a video on YouTube. It didn't turn out like the YouTube wreath but I liked the finished result.

I can't find this wreath anywhere, I've got a horrible feeling I gave it to a charity shop when we moved house 😭

But! I did find a box of faux flowers and a twiggy wreath.  

So this morning, I decided to make a new berry wreath 

Here's my materials

The finished result!

The mess / leftovers

I decided to leave out the leaves and greenery - just loved the purple and red together 

This honestly took me 15 minutes to make and for someone who's always on a tight schedule, it gets 10 out of 10 from me 👏👏👏

I just pushed the artificial stems into the wreath and twisted them into place. That way, they're easy to pull out and re use over and over again. No glue, no wire, no hassle  😁

If you've read my blog before you will know that I often talk about 'colour inspiration'

This morning I was looking for my old berry wreath / made a new one - because last night I was looking through photographs of my fabric stock.

I was trying to decide which fabrics to add to my website next, and came across these.

The photo above is Bramble by Morris & Co

🍓🍓🍓

The photo below is Birds & Berries by Sanderson

You see - Inspiration is everywhere!

Get Sewing or Wreath Making and Be Creative!

All photos are my own unless stated otherwise

 

 

 

 

 

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