Make A Stunning
Dried Hydrangea Wreath
by Valerie Garner
Dried hydrangea wreaths are so beautiful and
versatile in a home, and a lot of fun to
make as well.
You can either purchase already dried
hydrangea flowers from your local craft
store, or you can dry your own. The biggest
trick when drying your own is the timing of
when you pick the flowers. It is best to
pick them right before you anticipate your
first fall frost. If you pick them
mid-summer, they just will not dry
correctly.
You can either hang them upside down in a
darkened room to dry, or you can set them in
a vase upright, even adding a tiny bit of
water in the bottom of the vase, although
even that is optional. As long as they are
picked at the correct time, it's difficult
to fail with them. It's fun if you can, to
pick several blooms from different bushes,
as it will provide a nice variety of colors
to the wreath. After they are dried, pick
off any dead / discolored brown blooms.
Now, pick the type of base you want to use
for a wreath. My personal favorites are
either Styrofoam or grapevine type wreath
bases. Take some floral wire and wrap it
around the wreath, then form a loop of the
wire to hang from the wall, and then wrap
the wreath again. You might try hanging it
from the wall at this point to make sure it
lies correctly, and then make any needed
adjustments while the wreath is bare.
To do a Styrofoam wreath, use a low melt
point hot glue gun. Separate each bloom into
smaller florets. Hot glue each floret into
the wreath base, actually poking the stem
down into the Styrofoam base. With each
bloom, space it out over the surface of the
wreath, for example; a floret at the top,
next left side, bottom, then right side,
then inside the circle of the wreath, and
outside of the wreath. Continue to do this
with each bloom until you fill it.
Balance is what you are looking for. Balance
in shape, you don't want any sticking out
way above the others, you don't want one
side of the wreath to be fuller than the
other. Try stepping back and looking at a
distance and just think 'balance of shape'.
The second area to look for is balance of
color. This is the purpose of doing each
bloom all over, then filling in, so you
achieve that balance of color. Give another
once over to check on that.
Now, this wreath is either finished, or you
can add perhaps add small sprigs of dried
baby's breath to it. Really depends on the
look you want. Sometimes the simplicity of
only the hydrangeas is stunning.
For a grapevine wreath, it's the same
principal but a different look. You can tie
a bow on the wreath if you want (if you do,
do so before adding flowers), or ribbon. I
like to leave bare spaces on these to be
able to see the grapevine portion as well.
Again, look for balance. You can also add
dried roses to it or any other type of dried
flowers or grasses too. You can get really
creative with these and come up with very
different looks. Experiment to your heart's
content.
Many times people expect dried floral
arrangements to last forever, and are
disappointed when they start looking bad
after a few years. This is a misconception.
Expect them to look good for about a year,
that's really about all they were meant to
last.
If they are in direct sunlight it will be a
much shorter time. However, the next year,
feel free to strip the old flowers off, and
make another with the same base for another
year's worth of a gorgeous hand made wreath!
By Valerie Garner-Mother, grandmother and
candlemaker / owner of Joyful Designs in
Soy. She loves to write on a variety of
topics with a warm, and engaging style.
http://www.joyfuldesignsinsoy.com
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