Spring Wreath

Polymer Forsythia Brooch from Chicken Betty

I was in Michael’s in Hadley the other day when I noticed their abundant displays of silkesque forsythia taking up most of the middle of the store. I love the bright yellow colour of this flower and for the first time in my life I found myself considering the purchase of faux flowers, which until now I only considered necessary for collecting dust in Chinese food restaurants.

It’s probably because I recently saw this great “how-to” for a polymer forsythia brooch from Chicken Betty that I had the flower on my mind.  So, I grabbed a few sprigs of the faux flowers and thought I’d just stick them in a vase, call it a day and make dinner.  Yet, on my way to the “floral accessories” aisle (I was looking for brown floral tape), I passed a display of pink/purple orchids and I noticed how pleasing the two bright colours were together. Also, I kill orchids like my last name was “Blumenmörder,” so the idea of an orchid I can’t kill is nice.

Well, one thing lead to another and somehow I got the idea to make a wreath for the front of the house; since Scott is trying to sell the place I thought it could definitely add some “curb appeal”. I began this endeavour by finding two kind-of wobbly/seen-their-day wire coat hangers and a pair of decent needle nose pliers. It took a bit of more tensile strength than I was able to give the hanger to get the first outer one to appear even slightly circular, but thanks to Scott’s assistance the first hanger was round in no time. I took the second hanger and cut out the hanging “neck” portion using the wire cutting portion of the needle nose pliers and then bent both open ends around each other to make a slightly smaller circle. (See the picture below)

Two wire hangers bent together to make wreath frame

Then I took my newly acquired faux flowers steams and began to bend and wrap them, one at a time, around the wire frame I just created. I started with the forsythia and worked them until the wreath seemed mostly full except for two open spots at about 11 and 5. I used a small gauge floral wire to attach the stems securely, and once I felt confident that they would stay in place I added in the two accent stems of orchids in the open spaces I had left.

Once all the stems were securely in place I wrapped a double strand of sheer burgundy ribbon around the wreath as an additional accent and to insure the stability of the final product. Then, just for a bit of fun and some additional sparkle, I hot glued in a few speckled turquoise ceramic beads I had left over from another project. Take a look at the final result and let me know what you think!

Wreath on the front door

Turquoise Speckled Ceramic Beads