Tuesday, October 5, 2010

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

Why not hop on over and see more
fun Outdoor Wednesday posts!






13 comments:

Rebecca said...

Well done! We have SOME kind of wild stuff growing on the neighbor's chainlink fence. They don't care, so every year my husband cuts it back. A couple of years ago I made some wreaths out of it - it too had tendrils & made nice wreaths. They're just starting to break up now (have weathered over all 4 seasons). I DIDN'T think of using a bucket to shape them, so mine were a little "off"....Yours is WONDERFUL! Enjoy.

Jorgelina said...

Beautiful!!!

Ms. Kathleen said...

Impressive... I need to try that :) Beautiful day!

Donnie said...

What a great tutorial and I love your way of looking for the silver lining. Have a great day. Your wreath is lovely.

The B's said...

You make it look so easy! It turned out perfect!

Life In a Little House said...

You did a wonderful Job....it looks beautiful ~Love Heather

Simply Heart And Home said...

You did a wonderful job! So that's how you do it! Looks so simple but turns out so lovely. Thank you for the tutorial!

And - one deer did all that? My goodness, he must have had a stomach ache!

Gina

Sue said...

So sorry about all of your bounty being eaten by the deer, now this explains what was happening to my grapes a few weeks ago, as we have deer around here.

I am glad you took the lemons and made lemonade, or should I say grape vine wreath. lol I am thrilled to have this tutorial, as I have been wanting to learn how to make them, but didn't know where to start. the bucket is an excellent idea. Thank you so much for sharing this.yOurs is beautiful.
Thank you for visiting me, and for taking the time to leave me such sweet comment, Always a joy when you come by.

Faith said...

Lovely job on the wreath..you are so blessed to have the bounty of the land, and yes even the deer..I would love to have/see deer in my yard even if they do eat everything,it beats living in a large city with noise and very close neighbors..If I had to choose..it would be the deer for me..thanks for sharing on your beautiful blog.

Kathi said...

Thank you so much for sharing this idea. I love it. I would like to try it next year. Have a great week. Kathi

Candy said...

Oh don't ya just want to sit in the dirt and cry...but good for the soul to create from what's left.
Love your page decorations. Lovely!
Monday Blessings ;-)

Kimberly said...

Well done! Visiting via Barn Hop 2.

Linda said...

I just love your garden I am from the pacific northwest. Your one bush you were wondering what it was ? It looks like Hemalayan Honeysuckel. spelling is forgiven. What a beautiful garden you have.