My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Weaving a twig wreath

If I tell you Ive made hundreds of these it would not be an exaggeration. Having a few twig wreaths in your supply cupboard is probably the most versatile design element possible.

This time of year is great for gathering vines and twigs that are being pruned. Most vines are pruned early or late winter when the plant is not actively growing and the sap is low. Farmers are usually quite happy to let you have a few vines for your wreath- especially if you offer to quickly weave them one for the upcoming Christmas season.
But you can also use willow (as Ive done here) or any other flexible twig, root, straw, grass, wire, cane or stems.

Start your twig wreath by making a loop

Start to weave your wreath by bending the twig into a loop. Hook both sides to secure. Add the next twig by hooking it into the loop.

Gently bend the twig and guide it around the loop

Gently bend the twig and guide it in and around the loop. Tuck the end into the loop to secure

Add another twig by hooking it into the wreath

Add another twig and gently bend around the woven twigs. As you weave the wreath it becomes more secure.

Let the natural curve in the twigs guide you to show how to bend each twig

Let the natural curves in the twigs guide the direction of the weave.

Basic wreath shape made out of willow twigs

Build up the twig wreath to have a secure and strong wreath. This is a great basic wreath design and ready to decorate

Continue weaving in willow twigs and wire to complete the wreath

For my design I wanted the wreath to look wind blown so I added a few loosely woven twigs into the weave. I also wanted to emphasize the autumn colours so I added a twirling copper wire into the weave

Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.

Tutorials

27 November 2012 Winter Woodland Chandelier

Wrap vines and twigs around a wire frame to create a decorative woodland chandelier

11 February 2015 Stripping foliage from weaving stems

Remove foliage from stems to weave with

Favourite Flowers

Salix matsudana "Tortuosa"

Curly Willow, Chinese Willow, Tortured Willow, Globe Willow, Dragon's Claw, Hankow Willow

Related Designs

1 November 2011 On The Street Where You Live

A floral design snapshot of what it looks like when walking down the streets of Vancouver this week.

20 January 2011 The last Vine Wreath

Every designer knows how to stretch their supplies. We use and re-use our dried plant material until our fellow designers feel like hiding it from us. I formed such an...

10 April 2011 Feeling Funky

I wove vine wreaths to form a pyramid, one just slightly larger than the next. In the natural cavities between the wreaths I placed the roses and lisianthus in plastic covered...

30 March 2011 Garden Wreath Workshop and Demonstration

Contemporary Wreath Design demonstration as part of the Durbanville Garden Club's annual Garden Festival, Western Cape, South Africa

11 April 2011 Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society at the Cape Town Convention Centre.

Bright and sunny cymbidium orchids and roses, lilies, lisianthus and pincushions

5 June 2012 Flower Girl’s Butterfly Net and Ring Bearer Bug Box

Two fairy tale design details that will capture the imagination of even the youngest members of your wedding party. A tiny bug box to carry your rings in for the ring bearer and...

4 April 2011 Floral Trends Design Group Opening Demonstration: 2010

A look at the Old and New of Floral art

6 November 2013 This is the Fragrance of November

Weave a wreath to thread a dome for an Autumn leaf design

4 December 2013 Red, Redder, Reddest!

My article and flower girl net basket design featured in the Red! issue of DIY Weddings Magazine

8 October 2014 Pluviophile

Float grass snippets in water

11 February 2015 Love Spell

Weave willow to create a heart shaped wand design

8 July 2015 How To Catch A Dream

Take inspiration from a traditional Dream-catcher design to create a floral armature

26 August 2015 Bent

Weave a wreath from sweetpea stems and tendrils

30 September 2015 So

A willow sphere to display your first Autumn treasures.

21 October 2015 Watch the leaves turn

Roll autumn leaves to create a wreath

18 November 2015 Autumn is a mosaic of them all

Easy to assemble fall leaf and tissue paper gift bag

16 March 2016 Creative Expectations

My article and a floral parasol design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

4 May 2016 Ring-a-round

Open a vine wreath to create a spiral twig armature around a glass container

3 August 2016 Practice

Weave a willow bird nest

17 August 2016 Strangeness

Weave a wreath to display air plants on

7 September 2016 You are all invited!

My article and Willow Crown design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

19 October 2016 There are Octobers

Autumn wreath

16 November 2016 All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate): Snipped into Sections

This was the second design I did in my "All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate)" floral art demonstration

8 March 2017 Piece of the forest

Standing roses upright in a shallow container

29 March 2017 A Twirl

Suspend a wire chandelier design to twirl

11 April 2017 Well… we did it again!

Blossoms and chocolates for Easter

24 May 2017 Link

weave a few wreaths to link

27 September 2017 As tendrils tend to do

Curl a wreath with tendrils to create a twig-pumpkin

4 October 2017 Whipped up in the autumn breeze

Give a loosely woven wreath legs to stand on to hover lightly around a pumpkin

7 February 2018 Up around the bend

Bend Equisetum into curves to wire into an open wreath shape

14 March 2018 Old, new trends

My article and willow birdcage design for wedding rings featured in DIY Weddings Magazine.

21 March 2018 Bring some Spring

Just like the weather is only hinting at spring, so is this design only hinting at being a basket

18 April 2018 Swing Vine

Weave a delicate vine swing to nestle a small vase with spring flowers in

5 September 2018 Wreath Vine Season!

Weave tiny wreaths on the stems of Wisteria vines

12 September 2018 Hole-ding it’s breath

Craft an almost Autumn armature from dried sweet pea vines

9 January 2019 Magical Craftsmanship

My article and winter white Tulle bridal basket design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine.

11 September 2019 Transition into Fall

A sustainable, absolutely no waste floral design using willow to suspend your flower head in your arrangement.

18 September 2019 It’s a sugar rush!

A perfectly imperfect wild willow wreath to display the first Autumn treasures of the year.

18 December 2019 A Happy, Merry, Jolly (easy as that!) Eucalyptus Christmas wreath

Now this is quite a discovery! And it honestly is the easiest and quickest way to go from "I still want to decorate for Christmas" to "... aaand I am done, I made our wreath"

11 March 2020 On-Spring-dium

A almost impossibly delicate oncidium (dancing lady) orchid wreath.

13 May 2020 be MINDFUL of the invisible stuff you add

Left over flowers and off-cuts are ideal to transform into a quick floral crown or necklace. This is the absolute easiest design, yet!

10 June 2020 All Out

An all out effective way of keeping a flower stem in the exact spot you want it to be in a clear water vase design.

24 June 2020 End Up

Connect small wreaths to create a pretty summer armature to arrange your flowers on.

19 August 2020 All round pretty sweet and short

Frame a passion flower in a vine wreath for a short lived but so pretty arrangement.

16 September 2020 The circle of making new things:

A wreath armature design for early Autumn... this takes the split armature Tutorial I showed you last month a little bit further.

7 October 2020 Let’s circle around to this one

Create a floral circlet to rest the little pumpkin on... but above the water line.

25 November 2020 Have yourself a Merry Cellulose Fibre Christmas: Santa’s gift bag wreath

...ok not really that fancy- it’s made from paper pulp. A cardboard box gift bag wreath… really. In the spirit of 2020- I am inspired by the endless stream of cardboard boxes...

23 December 2020 Have yourself a Merry Cellulose Fibre Christmas: wired snowball pom pom for a woven grass Christmas tree

...ok not really that fancy- it’s made from paper pulp. Some cardboard to wrap the string around… really. In the spirit of 2020- I am inspired by the endless stream of cardboard...

3 March 2021 Spring Tray-ning

A Spring basket design for catching falling blossom petals.

7 April 2021 First we learn HOW to design… and then we learn how only WE design.

Whipped up to be light in the Spring breeze wreath design.

9 June 2021 Making Waves

A quick and easy to do cascade design for summer.

23 June 2021 Over Easy

A cooling design to celebrate the summer solstice.

28 July 2021 Linked This Way

A fun way to elevate a few bud vases into a display.

15 September 2021 Blowing this way and that

Craft an arch armature to display those early autumn treasures.

6 October 2021 A good measure of Autumn

A wire and twig permanent display basket with tiny water sources for a few fresh flowers that can be replaced as needed.

13 October 2021 Gratitude

A minimal Thanks Giving design that is a modern take on a wreath

3 November 2021 Coppepeppepepper wreath

Wire dried pepper berries to a wreath with super fancy flat wire (okay... it's the humble wire from a copper pot scrubber but it still looks fancy!)

22 June 2022 You Say Tomato I Say Tomato

Tiny tomato vine design to celebrate Summer.

14 September 2022 Overgrown S-Autum-mer Swirl

Designing for somewhere not still summer not yet autumn weather...

2 November 2022 bonfire

A final rosy burst of fiery autumn colour.

15 February 2023 If you frame it that way…

A blossom frame to display the prettiest anthurium of the whole bunch!

1 March 2023 … ish

An early... ish Spring basket glued from blossom twigs

19 April 2023 Short Cut

A tiny carry basket to gather the shortest stems from your cutting garden... with a place for water and your cutters.

24 May 2023 everywhere IS nature

A lush wreath that remains green so that you can design once... and cut and cut and place your violas to make sure you have flowers all season long.

28 June 2023 Catch and Release

Ah... yes summer time designing. Anyone else seeing more insects hiding between the petals this year?

8 November 2023 A warm up

An almost Christmas... Christmas wreath featured in the winter edition of Flora Magazine.

27 December 2023 A Very Merry Dried Orange and these from My Greenhouse to yours Trendy Christmas Cheer

And of course I would add the environmentally friendly-estest floral design option to top all the rest. Reusable and upcycled... and smells wonderful.

21 February 2024 I'll Go First

My Spring/Easter design and the introduction article about my floral journey written by the editor, Nina Tucknott in the latest issue of Flora Magazine.

6 March 2024 A Stay Open

Grow a willow birdcage... with a bit of a Spring flower support to get it started.

3 April 2024 springy, Spring, spring

Gorgeous Aquilegia vulgaris spring flower... with it's own springy thing!

23 October 2024 Haerfest

Rooting clematis cuttings in a harvest wreath basket