Rainbow Wrapped Wreath

We have been clearing brush on our land for months now. Honeysuckle goes directly to the burn pile, but Strider has taken to winding wreaths of wild grapevines as we tug them out of the trees. It just takes a few satisfying moments to twist a wreath into shape. As a result, we have a growing stack of wreaths in all sizes-what to DO with them has become the question. Here is my first (very simple) idea.

Easy as embroidery floss wrapped tightly around grape vine to create shimmering glints of color. Want to make one?

Supplies:
Grapevine wreath
Embroidery floss-12 to 14 colors -I used 2 or 3 shades of each color of the rainbow

Tools:
Scissors
Tacky glue
Curved needle
Eraser

1. Lay the floss around the perimeter of the wreath to determine placement of the bands of color. Look for areas of vine with a bit of space around them, or loose from the rest of the vines.

2. I found prying up the vine I’m working on and wedging an eraser in the gap creates space for my fingertips to work. If the vines are still too tight, use a curved needle to wrap the floss around the vines. Tie a 18-36 inch piece of floss around a vine, slide the knot out of sight in the back.

Lay the knot tail parallel to the vine and wrap it along with the vine for a few wraps before trimming the tail.

Keeping the floss taunt as you work, wrap the vine until you have 3 inches or so of unwrapped floss. Tie a knot around the vine, and trim the knot tail to ½ inch.

Dab a bit of glue on the knot tail and smooth it out of sight on the back of the wrapped vine. 

3. Repeat wrapping for all the colors.

Comments

[crookedmoonmama]

I love this simple idea! It's going on to pinterest. :)
xo

[abby]

Beautiful! Great idea!

[Laura]

Thanks for the kind encouragement you two!

[barefootmama]

Cute idea!

[Tanya from Dans le Townhouse]

Love this! The simplest ideas are sometimes the prettiest :)

[Heather]

What a beautiful & unique idea! I think I'm going to make a Christmas version for my front door! Thank you for sharing :-)

[pam]

I am so excited about this idea that I almost can't wait for the holidays to be over so i can get to work! I have a grapevine wreath that I have attached a few tin butterflies to but it has been needing something more for years. I love this idea so much. It will be perfect! thank you! thank you!

[Linda Thompson]

I love this idea!
Do you know what other plants /trees/ branches would work if grapevine isn't available?

Thanks for sharing. I love your site.

[Katie]

Thanks everyone for your kind words!

Linda- Laura might have more suggestions, but I wonder if you could use vining honeysuckle? Lots of people use that for baskets.

[Christina]

Love this!! I made one, and blogged it here: http://www.dandelionsonthewall.com/2011/12/rainbow-wreath.html

Thought you'd enjoy :)

[Katie]

Christina- you wreath looks so great! Thanks for sharing here.

[Bristol Parenting Cafe]

This is beautiful. I going to try and make something similar using a willow wreath that I made in the summer and don't know what to do with - this looks perfect!

[Lis]

Isn't simplicity much nicer than overload!!! Really love this and will try it on one of my grape vine wreaths very soon. Thanks so much for sharing, Lis.