"When it comes to making wreaths, it's pretty easy to make a gourmet-looking one with a humble pantry of ingredients," say Jill Rizzo and Alethea Harampolis, the creative team behind the San Francisco floral shop Studio Choo. They share their secrets in The Wreath Recipe Book, a comprehensive guide packed with step-by-step wreath and garland recipes arranged by season and accessible to even the DIY-averse whose idea of a making a wreath is to buy one at the grocer.
Looking for winter wreath inspiration? The duo offers up their recipe for a pussy willow wreath below.
For a look inside their shop, see our earlier post Studio Choo Blooms in San Francisco.
Photography by Paige Green.
Above: From the winter recipe collection, the Juniper Wreath includes exotic (but easy to source) air plants and orchids.
The Wreath Recipe Book opens with a simple guide that includes wreathing tool basics, branch cutting and attachment techniques, hydration tips, and step-by-step building instructions.
Above: The fragrant tallow garland is made of just three ingredients: tallow sprigs, bay laurel, and Spanish moss brought together with twine and wire.
The recipes branch out from wreaths, cooking up garlands, centerpieces, place settings, swags, and focal arrangements.
Above: Pussy willow's woody shoots hold up well over time and dry nicely. In the pussy willow wreath recipe, they are complemented by bleached pine cones and blue-green spruce for a simple, woodsy variation.
Pussy Willow Wreath Recipe
(excerpted from The Wreath Recipe Book)
Ingredients:
- 4 spruce branches
- 5 pussy willow branches
- 10 bleached and wired pine cones
Materials:
- Grapevine wreath frame
- Medium-gauge wire
Step 1: Start with the grapevine wreath frame. Grapevine Wreaths are available at many florists, craft stores, and online (eGrapevine store offers many options).
Step 2: Bend three spruce branches around the frame and secure them with wire. Allow the branches to hang over the wreath as desired.
Step 3: Bend the pussy willow branches around the wreath, tucking in the ends to secure.
Step 4: Attach the bleached pine cones (you can make your own by soaking pine cones in a solution of two parts bleach to one part water) around the wreath at pleasing locations. Finish by tucking in the last spruce branch on the upper left side.
Above: The Wreath Recipe Book is $18.60 through Amazon.
For more wreath ideas, see:
- DIY on a Budget: A Silvery Holiday Wreath for $20
- A Scandi-Inspired Holiday Wreath
- A Succulent Wreath to Display All Year
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