Fireplace garland ... OS way of making them traditionally and cheap ?

fertyskids

Evening everyone.

I went to my local Garden Centre today to look at fireplace Christmas garlands. Yuk yuk yuk ! i think im looking for something very traditional !

BUT i am seriously bad at making things !

I have a really big ingle nook fireplace, over 5ft high and over 5ft wide. i would love an OS Christmas Garland to go over the top of it, i would try and make it if its simple or a shop brought one.


What did people make then from years ago ????

Can you make one that you can reuse year after year ?


i woudl appreciate your ideas please ....

karren

i saw a lovely velvet one in a friends recently and she had it on ebay for £30 but id love to make one so ill watch this link xxx

fertyskids

I've just tried google and i love some of the "real" ones. but i guess the leaves and berrries would dry out in a few days especially over a fireplace thats being used all the time. Is there a way of making them last ?

the fake ones .... look really fake .. but im still looking.


Oooh velevet that sounds lovely and christmassy ! Ill have a look at ebay in a mo. thanks

Carrieandco

How about making some bunting rather than a garland?
Carrie x

squeaky

Hiya,

You might find a whole bunch of ideas here... Christmas & Other Yuletide Festivals

Good luck

valk_scot

Carrieandco wrote: »

How about making some bunting rather than a garland?
Carrie x

My 9 year old DD and I made some really very effective Xmas bunting last year. I made a cardboard template for a deep triangle plus 2cm foldover at the top and we cut out a couple of dozen from Christmas print fabrics using pinking shears. Then we turned over the top, stitched it along the folded over raw edge using a zig-zag stitch and then threaded some thick cord through the casing this made. Finito. It really was quick and made a really effective bit of bunting.

I've also seen garlands made from long thin tubes of fabric which have been lightly stuffed then plaited together. Also a friend of mine used a set of old swags and tails from her very 90's red velvet curtains to make a garland with pine cones and fake sprays of berries tucked into the folds.

Or if you wanted greenery, ivy is tough, keeps it's leaves and you can usually find someone with an overgrown ivy plant willing to give you a few yards.

fuddle

I make my own every year:

A cheap set of lights, normally about a £1 from supermarkets, taped along the mantal.
Evergreen cuttings from the garden, 3 or four varities.
Twisted willow or bindweed cuttings dried out before hand to make the garland base.
Weave cuttings through.
Decorate with a selection of baubles, pine cones and any christmassy feel/natural feel decorations you have.

I have to replace mine 2 or 3 times over the festive season..... and I don't have a working real fire to add to the drying out process but if you have the time to keep replacing your greenery then I would say go for it because it's a lovely feel and pretty much free, if not very cheap.

I also do the same for my table centerpiece but with candles, safe amongst the foliage I might add

ETA: Brushing leaves with a watered down PVA glue (school glue) mixture is said to help preserve leaves. I haven't tried it though. HTH

ragz_2

My friend has one around her massive fireplace that she made for xmas years ago but keeps up all year now. It looks real but it's all fake, greenery and some flowers with a lot of pine cones in it. Looks really nice. I'm sure you could find some artificial greenery and flowers somewhere, don't know where she got hers but it wouldn't have been online.

esmf73

Just had a thought - you could do what I've done with the kids (well mostly me!) this year......

I've made snowflakes - from paper & glitter, a garland of snowmen (all individually decorated with crayons), heart garlands from paper (painted in glitter paint with Noel & let it snow written on, held together with the twisty wrapping ribbon). As your fireplace is lovely and large, you could easily decorate with paper and then get some ribbon to thicken it out and make it look more substantial. Choose a colour scheme and go with that.

Thats why I'm making things from paper - we normally have reds and golds, but this winter I thought we'd go for a snowflake theme (in the hopes we have snow). Rather than buy more I've made them from paper, curling ribbon and paint and garden string. If I don't want to keep them, they'll be great on the fire afterwards!

splodger_seedswapper

years ago - i used to help a florist friend with making garlands etc (most huge) as they were so busy in the run up to chrimbo

the essential bit of kit was a glue gun (one that heated glue) but i guess you could use regular glue pot / stick

we used to bind green foliage together and wire it all together to make the garland or wreath - you might be lucky and have greenery in the garden that might do - laurel, bay, conifer, ivy, rosemary etc - or you could use fabric or even twiggy stuff - like birch, beech or hornbeam

we used to stick loads of decorative bits onto the foliage or onto ribbons wrapped around the swag

really cheap decorations included : dried orange peel / slices, chestnuts (and cases), walnuts (or cases) cinnimon sticks, dried berries, fir cones fresh or dried flowers and herbs, old baubels, scrunched up tissue paper, hand made snow flakes etc etc etc

we used to have a colour theme to follow - so quite often cones and nut cases etc were sprayed or painted

they were always great fun to make and always smelled divine because of the herbs and spices used

have fun making yours :j

Kleopatra

Last year I made a large wreath/garland to go round the edge of a mirror over the fireplace. I used stuff from the garden. For the base I used hops and clematis twine which I twisted together to make a sort of rope, gradually adding more bits and bound them with more twine. I did this gradually and left it out in the garden. You could probably get all the stuff from a hedgerow.

Then I bound ivy trails round and round them and this gave most of the green coverage. Ivy lasts a long time even in a warm room. I added a few sprigs of evergreen and then decorated it with dried out orange slices.

It looked very impressive and DiL thought it had cost a fortune.