Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Copper Pepper Berry Wreath
- 3 November 2021
- click to send Christine a smile
Weave a thin wreath from your pruning or vines or willow
Book readers turn to page 284 where I discuss manipulating stems, twigs, and branches for more details. But to get you started I have also linked a Tutorial for how to weave a basic wreath below this post.
For more information about my book: The Effortless Floral Craftsman
Oh yes my favourite wire. I unravel the wire from a copper pot scrubber. There are many, many reasons why this is my favourite. One is...
... You can curl it like ribbon!
anyway...
Secure the wire to the wreath with a twist.
Book readers turn to page 37 where I described my tools, equipment and design space... and show you more about how I use wire.
Place the dried berry stem on the wreath and wind the wire around both to secure.
Add in the next berry bunch to overlap with the first and secure it with the wire.
Every here and there cut the wire and twist it on itself to secure... and let the wire end dangle. I will show you what I plan to do with that in a bit.
Once done go around again and add a second layer of berry bunches.
I loved how the wreath looked after the first layer and could easily have stopped there. But it is autumn and everything is bursting with colour- hence the second layer.
It is not always easy to see how it will look so hang the wreath to design your lush and heavy branches.
Weave in a few dangling branches every here and there to break up the wreath shape a bit.
These might appear random but it really is not. Make sure most of the heavy berry stems are supported in some way so that they do not appear droopy. I want the berry branch to look full, lush and heavy with fruit but not wilting and droopy. This is tricky! The stems that you allow to look heavy should definitely be chosen carefully.
And if you want to groom the branches and other design details once added in be careful not to damage the design. I have a tip for you about grooming delicate design details from a design in our weekly newsletter. Make sure you are signed up to receive your advance notice for when the design is ready with the tip before you click through to see the Tutorial. The sign up is below this post.
And now for the fun part: Pull the wire over the blunt side of your knife
To curl it into pretty tendrils.
And glue in a few dried autumn leaves to finish the design.
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