Making a Giant Christmas Wreath

RE: Making a Giant Christmas Wreath Post By (Guest Post) (12/22/2007) Laverne, I made four large wreaths, the largest being 6' across, but they could be up to 8' using my method. It takes some basic woodworking skills, but here are the basics: I constructed them using 3/4" plywood, since mine needed to be rigid to hang on my house, and not sag. A 4' ring can be cut from a single sheet of plywood, but if you overlap and reinforce sheets together, you can make it up to 8'. Layout the circles with a homade compass. I cut it out with a jigsaw, making the wreath band about 10" wide. To make it weather resistant, I caulked all the cut edges of the plywood, then primed, and painted with dark green paint. This seems extreme, but moisture will cause the plywood to warp if not sealed. A more expensive but indestructable material called "Koma" is available at some lumber suppliers. It is available in sheets or boards, and is a plastic, paintable, waterproof material. Anyway, I then stapled on the synthetic garland, and attached masses of lights, and a large bow. It's very impressive, especially glowing at night. It's a heavy project, using all the wood. If you wanted it to be self-standing on your porch, two support legs could be attached with hinges to the back, similar to an easel. (perhaps 2x4's) Have fun, wreaths are great. Mark in Pennsylvania RE: Making a Giant Christmas Wreath Post By (Guest Post) (07/01/2006) Well, I guess this wouldn't be big enough to step through, but when we lived on the farm, we had Christmas wreaths on our deck. I bought cheap green fabric, tore it in strips and wrapped it around an old car tire, then cut a wider strip of red fabric for a huge bow and then wrapped a string of miniature Christmas lights around it. It was BIG, attractive, and best of all, VERY cheap!! RE: Making a Giant Christmas Wreath Post By Kelly (Guest Post) (06/29/2006) Maybe a tire swing, with fairy lights strung around it. Then attach a big festive bow and stick some greenery (real or fake) in through the wires for the lights. RE: Making a Giant Christmas Wreath Post by Cate K (7) | (06/28/2006) Contact An old bicycle wheel makes a great, sturdy wreath frame. You can leave the spokes in and weave ribbon through them to the height you wish, or simply cut them off with a bolt cutter. RE: Making a Giant Christmas Wreath Post by Megan's mom (41) | (06/27/2006) Profile | Contact I'm originally from the cold country of Maine and I always made fresh balsam wreaths every year. Some of them I have made have been to put on peoples barns and they were double sided wreaths, meaning the boughs were on both sides making the wreath thicker . I used wire that was about 1/2" thick and wound the wire around several times to make it stable to with hold the weight. I also took wire as thick as a coat hanger and wound that around therefore it was really sturdy. Then I put clumps of the balsum around wiring it with 18 gauge wire that you can get at hobby lobby or any craft store. Just put a clump on front first then flip the ring and do the same to the back and continue this way till finished. They are beautiful and smell sooooo good. RE: Making a Giant Christmas Wreath Post By barfydoogin (Guest Post) (06/27/2006) Hobby Lobby sells the really big wreaths [ They should be putting them out in July] they are about 5 or 6 feet around they are about $50.00 RE: Making a Giant Christmas Wreath Post by luv2craft (68) | (06/25/2006) Profile | Blog! | Contact Maybe you could use a big hula hoop and wire greenery around it. Then wrap the christmas lights around the whole thing. They sell hula hoops @ the dollar store, if you have a pine tree you could trim branches from it, and the lights are fairly inexpensive too especially when you get them after christmas. You might be able to use old coat hangers for the wire or buy it at the hardware store. You could do the whole wreath for a few dollars. Request: Wreath Making Post by lewis_admin (1139) | (11/30/2000) Profile | Blog! | Contact I want to make my own wreath this year. I looking for original ideas with materials I can find. Does anyone have any good wreath making ideas or sites for wreath making? Shawn - Santa Rosa, CA Answers: Theme Ribbon 12/05/2000 When we make our own we first look for a "theme" ribbon to use on the wreath and go from there. Found one with gingerbread men all over it and made salt dough cookies to decorate the wreath. Last year I found a cute snowman ribbon and used different snowman ornaments and lightly sprayed the wreath with "snow" after adding mini lights and before adding the ribbon and ornaments. Good luck! (oh, I also usually plan ahead and buy the items for next year's wreath the day after Christmas at the sales to save even more.) Ideas 02/25/2001 If you can, find a few people who are getting new trees "this year" and take their old trees. Get the clipper, snipper or trimmer that will take the thing apart in the biggest chunks available, and affix the parts onto a wreath ring. I heard of a woman who made a giant wreath to put on her barn, she used all artificial throw-away christmas trees. The only thing she bought was the "giant" ribbon. Her husband welded her a wreath ring of the appropriate size. I think it was 7 ft across. By raptorrunner Board Frame 07/03/2005 Try making a wreath from river stones and sea shells. This is a very unique wreath that be used any where for an outdoor beach feel to any room or cottage. Using the board wreath frame makes it easier to complete and it looks amazing when using a bit of natural supplies from around the forest or ocean. By Jamie Gatt (Guest Post) Iron-on Backing 09/05/2005 I use a combination of iron-on backing and fabric finish on different fabric cut-outs to add a really unique look to the wreaths i do. By linda (Guest Post)