The tradition of decorating the house with Christmas wreaths came to us from Western countries. Abroad, it is thus customary to decorate the entrance doors of a house on the eve of the New Year and Christmas. The design of the wreath is entirely up to the creator. It can be Christmas tree branches with cones, Christmas toys, tinsel with bows and flowers. In this article, we will consider how to make a Christmas wreath using improvised materials. We define the principles of design and decoration of the basis for the wreath.
Christmas wreath and its role
The creator of the New Year’s wreath is Johann Wihern. He lived in Hamburg and was a wealthy man. A stable financial situation allowed Johann to provide assistance to orphans. The kids were really looking forward to the holiday and constantly asked their trustee when the long-awaited Christmas day would come. Then Joagann hung a cartwheel on the door and placed 24 candles on it: 20 red and 4 white. Every day, the kids, along with Johann, lit one red candle, and on Sunday a white one. It was a kind of calendar that people eventually transformed into a Christmas wreath with various types of decor.
The wreath has become a symbol of Christmas and New Year. Even in Russia, such an attribute is increasingly used for decoration and home decoration on the eve of winter holidays. In the photo - a Christmas wreath made of Christmas tree branches and cones. Russian craftswomen have come up with a lot of methods for making and decorating a wreath, we will consider some of them.
Materials and tools for making a wreath
First decide on the design of the Christmas wreath. You might want to make it from natural materials: natural branches of pine or spruce. In this case, you need to prepare the necessary raw materials in advance. For the decor of the wreath, you may need the following materials:
- pine or spruce cones;
- satin ribbon of different widths and colors;
- decorative branches and berries;
- Christmas decorations;
- artificial snow;
- sequins, rhinestones;
- foamiran;
- LED stripes or Christmas lights;
- large beads and beads.
To process and combine materials into one composition, you will need some equipment:
- scissors;
- PVA glue;
- glue gun and rods;
- paints;
- brushes;
- stationery knife;
- iron.
Be sure to follow safety precautions when working with sharp tools and a glue gun. The temperature of the glue that is supplied from the gun is quite high. In contact with the adhesive mass, skin burns can occur.
The basis for the wreath
The base of the wreath should be dense and voluminous. In this case, it will be convenient to mount decor elements. The easiest option is to buy a foundation, if you want to save money, then you can make it from improvised materials. Let's consider some of them.
- Penoplex, polystyrene. It is good if you have a sheet of foam or polystyrene. An ideal base for a wreath will come out of this material. On the sheet, mark the outline of the wreath, and cut it with an office knife. If necessary, fold several layers of material to obtain a volume base.
- Thick wire and newsprint. From a wire, make a rigid skeleton of a circle. From the newspaper, make volumetric rods by crushing. Wrap the wire frame with these rods so that a volume ring is obtained. To securely fix the paper on the wire frame, secure the structure with tape over the entire contour.
- Heater for pipes. Very convenient material for the manufacture of the base. The technology is simple - connect the ends of the insulation to each other using tape or a glue gun. You will get an even tight circle that can be decorated.
If you decide to make a Christmas wreath from natural branches, then you can not use the base. The interweaving of branches will give a solid frame of the desired shape.
Christmas wreath of cones
Cones are a great option for decorating any element of the New Year theme. For decor, you can use pine and spruce cones. To make them look more festive, apply acrylic white paint or structural gel on their outer side. Lightly powder the flakes with a paint sponge and sparkles. If you use PVA glue and salt, you get a snow effect that evenly settles on exposed parts.
To form a composition, first place large cones, then smaller specimens. Between the cones, place pale gray or silver-plated decorative branches. You can add large silver leaves and berries to this composition. All decor elements should be in the same style: no bright shades, only winter frosty motifs.
When distributing elements, make sure that the cones are fixed with leaves and branches. The base and internal joints must be masked.
Foamiran Wreath
Foamiran is a very convenient material for creating a Christmas wreath. A master class on working with foamiran is in the public domain. From foamiran, you can make flowers of any complexity, make spruce branches.
A method of manufacturing elements from this material is simple. First, cut out the necessary stencils: plant petals, leaves. We heat the material on the iron, it becomes softer and more plastic, we give the necessary shape. The form can be attached using special mods - embossed stencils. We simply apply the heated preform of foamiran of the desired shape to the mod and presses it. Foamiran will take the form of a hardening mod. It is very convenient to use mods for making embossed sheets and petals. If everything is done carefully, then very realistic flowers will turn out. You can paint the material with paints, accents and shadows where necessary.
To make a Christmas tree or pine branch, take a strip of foamiran 1.5-2 cm wide and make incisions, leaving 1-2 mm at the edge. Preheat the workpiece on the iron so that the needles become sharply rounded. Wrap the workpiece with wire. Fasten decorative elements made of foamiran better with a glue gun.
Wreath from an old sweater
It is better to choose two different plain knit sweaters with a large knit. Clean the surface of the spools so that it is flat and free from flaws. It is more convenient to take sleeves, since they already have the desired shape. Cut them across into pieces of 6-7 cm.
The base should be of suitable width so that elements cut from the sleeves do not hang. If necessary, you can adjust the width of the knitted parts. Wear parts so that the colors are symmetrical on the right and left side of the workpiece. Multi-colored knitted elements should alternate with each other. Fastening the knit to the base is easier to do with a glue gun. Cover the bottom and top with a piece of fabric with curved edges.
To decorate the basics of knitted elements, you can use cones, Christmas tree decorative branches or Christmas toys. Make such a decor in only one place of the base, top or bottom. Do not load the composition with an abundance and variety of decor. The colors of the decor elements should be the same as the knit parts of the sweater. If you have completed all the steps in the instructions step by step, the Christmas wreath will turn out to be original and unusual.
Wreath of Christmas balls
For this design you will need Christmas balls with a diameter of 5-6 cm. You can take toys of several colors, harmoniously combined with each other. Some of the balls can be sprayed or sparkles. You can take several large balls, medium and small.
To fix the balls, use a glue gun or just a tight rope. Tie the balls to the base using hangers. The arrangement of balls should be uniform; evenly distribute Christmas toys of different colors on the base.
The empty space between the balls, if desired, can be filled with decorative branches or small cones. Twist the twigs with a rope that secures the balls to the base, or fix with glue. Sparkle on some decor elements.
At the top of the composition, place a large bow from a transparent tape. You can use a wide satin ribbon in combination with a transparent material. The color of the ribbon should be in harmony with Christmas toys. Apply a layer of decorative snow to the composition.
Wreath of decorative twigs
It is better to choose decorative branches that are made on a wire basis, they are more convenient to use. The branch itself should look smart, bright. If there is not enough decor on the branches, you can glue additional elements in the form of rhinestones or berries.
When making a Christmas wreath with your own hands step by step from the branches, you can not use the base. The product will be voluminous due to tightly interwoven branches. From above only the tips from the branches will be visible. The direction of the branches should be one. They can be fixed with a thin wire. Use several types of branches in your work. The composition will look prettier if it will include different types of decor.
You can use natural branches to create a wreath. The rods should be flexible, easily deformable. In this case, it is better to use branches of birch or willow. We start weaving immediately after collecting fresh branches, since over time they lose their plasticity and break when bent or twisted.
Weave a Christmas garland into a wreath. Position it so that the bulbs are evenly spaced across the area of the wreath.
Wreath of tinsel and artificial branches.
If you want to get a bright and fluffy Christmas wreath, then for decor use tinsel and decorative branches of spruce and pine. This wreath design is classic.
On the base, first attach decorative branches of pine or spruce with glue, then evenly place parts of tinsel on it. The width of the tinsel should not exceed 3-4 cm. You can take the tinsel of green or silver. The length of the branches and tinsel should not exceed 10 cm. Continue to fasten the elements until a dense and lush surface is formed. Watch for uniform distribution of elements. Attach a few large cones to the base so that the branches half hide them. As bright accents, twigs with red berries can be used.
New Year wreath garland
A shining Christmas wreath will look much more spectacular, especially in a dark room. The lighting system will be powered by a 220 V network, so observe the safety precautions during installation. How to make a Christmas wreath with your own hands so that it is backlit? It is very simple. To create such a decor, use an ordinary Christmas garland. It is better to take a one-color option: warm or cold white.
So that the wires do not stick out and do not spoil the overall picture, you need to mount the garland before fixing other elements of the decor. Glue the garland to the base using a zigzag laying method, fix the wires with a glue gun. On top of the garland, fasten the decor elements, filling the entire space of the base. Do not be afraid of the light bulbs coming into contact with flammable materials; the incandescent temperature of the bulbs will not cause a fire.
Imitation of snow on decorative elements
To give the Christmas wreath an elegant winter look, it is necessary to create accents at the tips of decorative elements in the form of snow. For these purposes, you can use different materials:
- Acrylic paint. Use a sponge to apply it. So the texture will turn out more natural.
- Glitters. They are sold in the form of tubes. They look like a gel with sparkles. When dried form an iridescent surface.
- Crystal paste. Consists of clear acrylic gel and small glass beads. After drying, a structure similar to small ice floes is obtained.
- Modeling gel. Has a viscous base, it is convenient to apply. Stiffening, forms a structure similar to ice.
- PVA glue and salt. The element that we plan to cover with snow is greased abundantly with glue. Then dip in salt. When dried, the salt will give a granular structure to the snow, and the glue will give a white color.
- PVA glue and foam. The sequence of actions is similar to that in the previous paragraph.
Finally
In Christmas time, it is customary not only to establish a wreath, but also to make four candles for it, which are lit every Sunday before Christmas. This tradition is supported not only by Europeans, but also by many Russian families.