Masal ve Hikayeler: A walk in the woods.....

A walk in the woods.....

I love to forage in the woods......

and bring back leaves, cones and lichen; such beautiful colours and textures together.

Inspired by my walk today I decided to have a go at making a paper oak leaf wreath, and if you would like to give it a try too, here's what you will need:

some wire (not too thick but strong enough to keep it's shape.) I had this white wire, but galvanised wire from a garden centre will do just as well; a few beads, and some paper. I used some thick tracing paper and a page or two from an old handwritten book. You'll need paper that's a reasonable thickness or it will tear too easily when you come to wire the leaves.

I started by drawing round a number of real oak leaves and then cut out the shapes to make templates. Using the templates I then cut out around 26 oak leaves.

With a bradawl I made a very small hole near the base of each paper leaf and thread a length of wire through, gently twisting the ends together to fasten. Another leaf (or two together sometimes) was then attached to the other end of the wire. I used different random lengths of wire, and wound each length around a central wire ring, onto which I had already threaded some glass and faux pearl beads. ( I realised after I had finished making the wreath that I should have taken a few pictures of it in progress - sorry!)

The wreath was intended as a prototype for a possible item to sell at the Christmas Fair I shall be doing next month, but it took about two hours to make, and just what can you charge for something that basically only consists of wire and paper? Sadly as is the case with so many ideas, the reality of bringing them to life is just not cost-effective. So I hope you have a go at making your own!