First, you’ll need to collect your supplies:
- wreath ring (inexpensive, found at craft or hardware stores)
- evergreen boughs (cut to make smaller pieces, 4 or 5 inches long)
- floral wire and wire cutters
- ribbon and/or other decoration items
You also may wish to cover your work table with plastic or newspaper to keep the pitch from making it all sticky. Gloves, too, are optional, to keep your hands pitch-free.
Start your wreath by placing one or two pieces of evergreen on the wreath ring and attach it using the floral wire by wrapping around the greenery stems and ring. Do not cut the wire, keep it in one long length. Next, lay another piece of greenery on top of the first, covering about half, and wire it to the ring. Wrap the wire as tight as you can. Repeat until you’ve made it back to where you started. Then, cut the wire and secure it to itself by twisting it together tightly.
Hold up the wreath to decide where the hanger should be located. Use floral wire or fishing line to make a loop hanger and attach it to the wreath (I typically wrap my hangers all the way around the finished wreath — over the greenery — rather than trying to just attach to the ring).
Add a premade bow or make your own.
To make a bow from ribbon (wired or not), leave a tail that will hang down, pinch the ribbon, then twist and make a loop with the right side of the ribbon showing. Hold the loop in one hand in the middle and twist again to make a loop for the other side. Continue until you have as many loops as you’d like, then make a smaller loop for the center to hide all of the twists. Leave another length on this finished end for the tail. Use floral wire in the center to hold the twists in place (it will be hidden by the small loop), leaving enough wire to attach it to your wreath.
Other decorations such as berries or pine cones will need floral wire attached as well to hold them in place. Branches with berries are treated like the greenery, wrap the stems in wire, then wire to the wreath. Pine cones are wired by making a loop, sliding it around the bottom of the cone, then twisting the wire, leaving enough to attach to the wreath. You may also find pre-wired sticks in a craft store, which also work well to secure decorations to wreaths.
