How To: Make a Dried Orange Wreath

Dried oranges are classic for Christmas, and your house will smell great long after you are done baking them.
Once I started making wreaths this year I just couldn’t stop. They make great gifts if you can part with them, and are charmingly inexpensive.
I made 3 options to choose from here, but I can think of more, and I am sure you can too!

The basic instructions are listed first, with additions for each wreath listed separately.

Supplies:

• knife
• wire cutter or old scissors
• cookie sheets
• hot glue gun and glue
• 1 straw wreath form
• 1 foot floral or other heavy wire
• 1/2 yd fabric
• 4 lb bag of small oranges

Instructions:


1. Slice oranges into rounds between 1/8” and 1/4” thick, and spread on cookie sheets.



2. Bake at 200˚ until the slices are golden brown and pretty dry, with no mushiness to them (about 6 hours), turning every few hours or so. The more humid your area, the more you’ll want to be certain the slices are completely dried out. If you scorch a few by accident it won’t hurt! This is not an exact science, so expect some variation. If you don’t have 6 hours at a stretch to bake oranges, you can do it a few hours at a time over a few days with no ill effects.



3. Use floral wire (mine here is actually the wire recycled off a bundle of spinach!) to make a loop at the back of the wreath for hanging. Use a dot of hot glue to keep it from rotating up.


4. Tear your fabric into 3” strips, and wrap the wreath form, leaving the wire loop exposed. Secure fabric ends by tucking them in, or with a dot of hot glue.



5. Hot glue dried orange slices to completely cover your wreath form.





Glam
This wreath has serious holiday appeal-- pun fully intended! It will take you right through Christmas into the New Year without skipping a beat. I can't think of a wreath more completely of-the-moment than this. The texture, the glitz... I'm in love!
Supplies:

• 1 spool fine gold tone wire
• 1 250 count pkg gold paillettes (small hole)
• knitting needle or barbeque skewer

Instructions:
1. Cut about 20-25 lengths of wire between 22” and 29” long.



2. Wrap each length of wire around the wreath so that the long ends face the front. Twist closed.



3. String a paillette onto one tail of the wire, and twist to hold in place. Repeat until there are 3-5 paillettes on each tail of wire. Coil the excess around the knitting needle or barbeque skewer like a spring.

4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 every 3” or so around, staggering the long ends toward the outside or inside so that they fill in the wreath.




Classic
You can't go wrong with this Christmas classic. It brings steaming gingerbread and hot cocoa to mind, not to mention how good it smells! For this wreath I really layered the orange slices to get a dimensional effect.

Supplies:

• 12 cinnamon sticks
• 2 cups fresh cranberries

Instructions:
1. Glue cinnamon sticks to the front of the wreath at different angles.

2. Glue fresh cranberries onto the wreath wherever they look right.




Crafty
Once again, a holiday wreath that is just as comfortable the rest of the winter. The prints of the ties clash charmingly!

Supplies:

• seam ripper
• iron
• pinking shears
• 3 silk neck ties

Instructions:
1. Open up each necktie with seam ripper. Remove interfacing, and iron silk flat.

2. Cut 4 strips from each tie measuring 2” x 7” and trim the ends at 45˚ with pinking shears.

3. Tie strips in knots making sure the printed side is up, and glue in place.