Hand Crafted Grapevine Wreath

The deer got into the garden and ate EVERYTHING

which included raspberry plants, blueberry plants,

Marion berry plants, pole beans, 40 tomato plants,

and my Grapes which were nearly ready to harvest!

But, every cloud has a silver lining (and reasons such

as this is why I have 'silver threads among the gold' if

you know what I mean!)

So I took advantage of the leafless vines to do a bit

of pruning.

With the trimmings, I tried my hand at wreath making.

This is what I did.

~*~

Trimmed away the leaf stems and extra branches

leaving single, long whip-like vines with all of

the little curly tendrils attached!

You will need about ten to twelve

5-8 foot vines.

Found something round to wrap the first and longest

vine around. In this case, the bucket will determine

the size of the inner circumference of the wreath. Use

whatever you have handy that is about the size

of your desired finished wreath.

~*~

After wrapping this vine around the bucket and overlapping

it on itself, I wove the small end into a gap in the vines.

Holding on to the starting point, I carefully removed the

base of the wreath from the bucket.

~*~

With another piece of vine, I poked the large end into a gap and

snaked the vine around the entire wreath base, tucking the

small end again, into a gap in the vines to hold it secure. I repeated this step

several more times until the wreath was the thickness

I desired, always starting with the thick end of the

vine in a space around the wreath like at the numbers

on a clock face.

~*~

As these were freshly cut vines, they were supple

enough to be bent without breaking. If your vines are

more brittle, you might want to try soaking them in

warm water for several hours before you begin.

(See how the vines serpentine around each other)

I think it turned out pretty well for my very first

Grapevine Wreath!

I just love those little tendrils!
~*~

Joining Susan for

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