Throughout 2012 I have been seeing Wreaths everywhere – on blogs, on pinterest, on craft forums. I have seen wreaths with twigs, paper, fabric, yarn and even brooches. So I thought that it will only be a fitting tribute to this year – a great way to end this year and welcome the new one with wreath jewelry. The only wreath that I am really familiar with, is a traditional green & red wreath with leaves, twigs and berries and that’s what I intend to reinvent as a pendant. Here’s is my take on the famous Christmas Wreaths – DIY Christmas Wreath Pendant
Materials Required
– 20 or 22g red colored wire (I used one strand – 26″ of floral bunch wire – the one with paper coating on)
– 26g brass wire – 25″ long (optional)
– 4 wooden doughnut beads – green
– 2 garnets
– mandrel or marker
– Pliers, wire cutters
– Chain
How to make it??
1)- 2) Take a ring mandrel or any cylindrical object whose width you want as the inner circumference of your wreath. Take the red wire and wrap around it from the center of the wire leaving 1″ tails on either side.You can use flower making wire or even thick artistic wire. One stem (Which I used here measures approx “)
3 – 4) Carefully, take it out of the mandrel and wrap the tails around the wreath securing it. Dotn bother about even wrap. The idea is to make it look Shabby Chic as though you made it from twigs
5) Wrap one end of the brass wire anywhere on the wreath base. I used gold (brass) to bring a festive element to the whole thing. You can continue to use the base wire if you wish to. The brass wire doesnt have to be straightened. In fact its a great way to use kinked up wire for a rustic look
6) -7)Add a doughnut beads and wrap securely. One by one add the other doughnut beads to the brass wire and keep wrapping around the frame. I used 4 beads and went wrapping 1-4 and then reverse 4-1 for a good hold.
8) Make the bail – once you come back to the starting point, make a couple of wire loops (big enough to form a bail) and wrap around the loop. It will be a little wobbly at this point. Dont worry you can secure it in the end.
9) Wrap a few times around the bail tight and then once around the wreath.
10) Add the 2 garnets (berries) one by one and wrap as you go.
11) As I wanted to keep the whole thing rustic & shabby chic I just wrapped the brass wire a few more times around the wreath , twisting & kinking at a few places for the twiggy look
Its done..string it on to a chain, wear and enjoy!!
There are lots of different wreath ideas available on the internet and you could use any of them to make a wreath pendant – the basics are the same as this one here…
As this is a really fast project you could make lots of them to be used as stocking stuffers or even gifts (if you use silver plated artistic wire)
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