Rustic Wreaths
At this time of the year, we’re blessed with an abundance of holly, ivy and willow whips. After a season of growing and the autumn winds shaking off the willow leaves, we can now see what we have to work with over the winter months. Our dome and fedge (a fence/hedge) are the priority, weaving back in the new growth and securing ahead of any more new buds forming. Inevitably there are some casualties (especially when B’s 4 year old fingers come to help) so we have little pieces of willow we want to make sure have an extended life. The larger ones will be replanted, the smaller ones turned into wreathes. We like to work with ivy, holly and willow at this time of the year, the evergreen sprigs which we see at Kith.
At Home:
To weave rustic wreaths you just need something which is easy to bend, a good test is to see if the piece you’re wanting to weave can wrap around your wrist. Take the stem, and make a loop over your wrist, if it’s difficult and unbending, it’s probably not going to work and will likely snap. If it does, following the foraging guidelines, take what you need.
start with the longest piece, holding the butt end (the thickest end) in your hand, loop the length as if you were tying a knot.
Loop around the tip end, taking note of where it wants to fall naturally, don’t fight against where it’s lying and you should find it holds itself after a few loops around.
Then working in the opposite direction, begin adding in more lengths. You’ll find there’s a natural wave to the piece, where most of the new pieces are following the same path as the first. It might take 2-3 to find the pattern emerging.
Once you have a few pieces added, you begin to see the form of your wreath taking shape. Carry on until you’re happy with the thickness.
You can add whatever naturally foraged items you like, it’s meant to be rustic, not a work of art so take your time with playful, explorative hands and see where your wreath takes you.
