Making a Wreath Form

Wreath forms can be purchased here at Trendy Tree of course. We have the Work Wreath in all sorts of colors. It's probably by far, the quickest and easiest way to create a deco poly mesh wreath. But there are other ways to create a wreath form, or other shapes too. I decided to do a search and see how many different types of wreaths I could find and share them with you. This foam ring wreath was found at The Penny Parlor. It's made from a foam tube purchased at a local Home Depot or Lowes and just cut into the desired length. The ends were taped together with good old duct tape. Duct tape has so many uses! This kind of wreath form would lend itself well to using floral pins or you could use pipe cleaners or floral wire. Click on the photo to go The Penny Parlor for more instruction. The good old standby.....coat hanger. I'll bet there isn't a person in the world who hasn't used a coat hanger for something other than hanging a coat! Coat hangers make great wreath forms and you can always wire two or three together when you need a good strong one. They work really well for projects where you just slide your ornament, bow or whatever right on to the hanger. How many times have we used them to save Christmas bows or shower bows..... This plain coat hanger form was turned into this beautiful Rainbow Ribbon Wreath by Amy C at Catch My Party. Just gorgeous! Click on the photo to see more details.

Standard craft or wreath rings can be purchased in different sizes at Hobby Lobby etc. They work really well for mesh wreath and fresh greenery. I've used them to taken paddle wire to secure fresh cedar, magnolia, pine twigs.....any sort of branches available. Once the greenery has died, just cut the wire and reuse again. I've been using some of the same forms for probably five years now. Angela at Pretty Your Life has a wonderful video on making your own work wreath using one of these metal rings and some old garland. She even spray painted and it looks just as good a purchased Work Wreath. You'll want to visit her blog to check this out. Chicken wire is one of my favorite craft supplies. You can buy at roll at Lowes for around $8.00 and get several projects from it. To make a wreath form, just cut it about 6" wide and 40" or so long, depending on how big you want you wreath, roll it up into a tube and secure the edges. I've found it's much easier to work with chicken wire wearing a pair of old leather dress gloves instead of gardening gloves. You'll need wire cutters too. Chicken wire is great for making all sorts of shapes. And it's reusable. If you don't like the shape, just flatten and start over. The basic grapevine wreath comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It works best for flowers and greenery wreaths. You can make you own twig wreath out of vines, kudzu, etc.....not the easiest task in the world and messy, but it can be done. And there are special ways of treating the vine by soaking it for days. More work than I want to put into a wreath. I'll just buy mine. But, if you'd like to read more on making your own grapevine wreaths, Susan Bonser has a great article with photos. You can cut a wreath out of cardboard, glue two layers together if you need to for strength. Creative Kristi shows how to make a wreath form out of rolled up newspaper! Can't get much more frugal than that! Styrofoam wreaths come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. Some are rounded, some have flat sides. Most are white or green in color. Another style of metal wreath form is the EZ wreath or clamp style. It's a round (or other shape) form with metal rings that you press together around your wreath material. I've used these and they were okay until the Work Wreaths came out that were so much easier I switched. But for the professional wreath maker who uses the table wreath machine with foot pedals, etc...I'm sure the wreath with clamps is desirable especially with fresh greenery. Straw wreath forms come in several different sizes and can actually be made too using the basic round metal form. It's a messy process and you probably would only want to use the wreath on the outside, but it's very attractive especially when adding fall leaves, gourds or corn husks. Just start with paddle wire and attach to the metal ring. Take a handful of straw or hay and wrap the paddle wire around it a couple of times. Continue adding handfuls until you get the desired thickness. It helps to add a handful toward the center, then one to the outside. This wreath was created using a metal ring and straw, covered with tiny Christmas lights and hung wagon wheel style in our barn for a Halloween party. It actually lasted several years. Please drop me a note and tell me about the wreaths you've created! We're always looking for more ideas.