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I had just bemoaned the fact, to my husband, that I would not be able to make a big wreath for my front door this year when a terrific wind storm came up overnight. Making a nice full wreath takes a lot of boughs, too expensive to purchase the trunkful needed. One year my daughter noted a gardner pruning a large fir on the campus of a local college. She asked if she might have a few branches and he offered her a whole truck load and delivered it to her door as well! We made wreaths, swags, center pieces, baskets and boxes of fresh boughs, and gave armloads to our friends and neighbours. That doesn't happen every year. This year looked grim and I thought I might get a few free boughs from the tree farm where we get our tree. The ground is usually littered with tips from the trimming process which gives the trees their perfect shape. After the wind storm I gathered two trunkfuls and had boughs for wreaths, baskets and some to share with friends.After aquiring your pile of fresh boughs, spruce, fir or pine, you'll need a comfortable stool and a warm place to work. I bought my wire frame a couple years ago from a florist. I always go to the trouble of disassembling my wreath to save the frame and the roll of wire. I wear rubber gloves as working the boughs and wire is hard on your hands. You may need scissors or clippers if your boughs don't snap easily to the length you want.
First secure your wire to the frame. Your wreath will be made up of many handfuls of small bunches such as is pictured here. The foundation of each bunch may be made up of boughs which are missing their tips as pictured.
Each foundation will be covered with 4 to 6 nicely tipped pieces. Now you have a nice tight bouquet
of boughs approxametly 6 to 8 inches long. Wire the bouquet onto the frame at the base making sure each twig is held in place by the wire. I generally wrap it 2 to 3 times per bunch. Your next prepared bunch or "bouquet" will go on top of the previous one, though an inch or so further along the wire frame. This is repeated until you have completely filled in your frame. The tighter your bunches are together the fuller your wreath will be.
of boughs approxametly 6 to 8 inches long. Wire the bouquet onto the frame at the base making sure each twig is held in place by the wire. I generally wrap it 2 to 3 times per bunch. Your next prepared bunch or "bouquet" will go on top of the previous one, though an inch or so further along the wire frame. This is repeated until you have completely filled in your frame. The tighter your bunches are together the fuller your wreath will be.
The back of your wreath should look like the picture below, very little green, but many tightly wired stems.
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