A nice crisp walk will find you enable you to see structure and form
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Thank you” George Pilkington
George Pilkington of Nurturing Nature made all of the willow wreaths. If you would like something similar for your school, community group, etc, contact me, 01925 452819/mob 0787 – 358 6685
email: nurturing-nature@virginmedia.com
Now you have the basic willow withies (see part 1) that provide the structure and shape of your wreath you now need to get out into the wilds and collect your decorations! Ok, you don’t live near the wilds! No excuse! Look in your garden, local park, local waste land, ask your neighbour. It is Christmas! Choose materials that are easy to work with. Holly is nice of course, but you may need to wear gloves when you make the wreath! Use material that mother nature provides for us. If you look more closely at what she provides there really are some beautiful shapes, sculptures and structures to be found.
Although beautiful to look at, this bramble would not lend itself to being wrapped around your wreath!!
Whilst you’re out, just look around you. Take your time. Yes it may be a little chilly, though a good warm mug of coffee and warm tasty mince pie ( organic of course!!) awaits ! What beautiful shapes, sizes and natural architecture there is, if you just take the time to look and observe, all covered in a light snowy dressing!
A handy bit of kit is a deep trug, light to carry with two handy handles
Don’t forget to take something to carry your ‘winter wreath harvest’ in. I take a large plastic trug which is light and very handy. Take a close look at what’s inside the trug….
Various dead grasses, dead bracken, holly, snowberries, various berries
Now you really should be in the Christmas mood looking at these natural decorations!
All the above can be regarded as the finery for your wreath. The finishing touches that add that little bit of sparkle, that little essence of Christmas magic. I try not to collect too many berries as I believe that although beautiful to look at, I could well be depriving some poor bird of a lifesaving meal. Next you will need to find the main clothing of the wreath, with which you will dress the wreath itself….to follow whilst I go and collect some!!
At last……!!
The clothes to dress the willow withy wreath, ivy, various conifers, red dogwood looks festive
You will notice that I use long thin lengths of ivy. I used to use conifer twigs, but found these have to be trimmed as they are not as flexible as the ivy which is simply wrapped around the wreath. Find a gap between the withies, tuck one end of ivy into the gap, wrap the ivy around the withies and tuck in the end. Continue to do this until you feel it looks nice. There are numerous different shades of ivy with variated, golden, dark and light green to choose from. You can also find ivy with black berries. Depending upon the ivy plant itself, different ivy has different shaped eaves, all which look really christmassy and festive.
If you would like something similar for your school, community group, etc,contact me 01925 452819/mob 0787 – 358 6685
The making of the wreaths……Part 3 to follow…..
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