{"id":413,"date":"2020-12-08T14:24:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T14:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/?p=413"},"modified":"2022-02-24T15:32:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T15:32:13","slug":"rustic-wreath-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/2020\/12\/08\/rustic-wreath-workshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Rustic Wreath Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-416\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/459F5973-3672-4D5B-B12D-27547BC5608B-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/459F5973-3672-4D5B-B12D-27547BC5608B-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/459F5973-3672-4D5B-B12D-27547BC5608B-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/459F5973-3672-4D5B-B12D-27547BC5608B-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/459F5973-3672-4D5B-B12D-27547BC5608B-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/459F5973-3672-4D5B-B12D-27547BC5608B-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/459F5973-3672-4D5B-B12D-27547BC5608B-70x70.jpg 70w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/459F5973-3672-4D5B-B12D-27547BC5608B.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>You will need:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gardening wire<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Secateurs<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gardening gloves<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Foraged natural materials (e.g. willow, twisted willow, holly, ivy, hawthorn berries, rosehip berries, laurel, olive or fir branches)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Extra decorations (ribbons, festive spray, pine cones -optional)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The only rule of thumb for wreath making is that there are no rules!<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This activity is all about having fun preparing for the festive season. It\u2019s about playfulness and creativity, so gather some friends, don your woolly hats a go for a good old-fashioned walk in the countryside. Best take a big shopping bag and pair of secateurs for carrying your haul home, and don\u2019t forget those all-important gardening gloves as you\u2019re sure to get prickled otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have fun selecting the biggest brightest rosehip berries you can find, and fill up your bag with lots of arm length pieces of twisted willow or ivy as these will help form the base circle to attach everything to.\u00a0 Be careful to forage only where you sense it will not have a big impact on the environment, don\u2019t strip a bush bare for example, take a few berries from a range of sources, and never forage on private property.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you struggle to free style it and need some structure in your selection, check out Country Living\u2019s 80 ideas for Christmas wreaths on google (or Ecosia, the search engine that plant trees!). It may help you form an idea of what to look out for, but what\u2019s more fun than going on a treasure hunt and being inspired by what you find by chance?\u00a0 Once you have a cheerful variety of autumnal colours and textures in your bag return home and put the kettle on.\u00a0 Once you\u2019ve warmed up, its time to play!\u00a0 Just a few top tips to get started:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Begin by forming a pizza-sized circle with you strips of willow, ivy, or even grapevine if you can find any. You can loosen hazel rods or twines by first bending them over your thigh to start to stretch them, then twist a few around each other and build up your circle.\u00a0 Better still, use last years base circle if you saved it, and just add new twines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Build up your base by attaching your big leaves, like laurel ivy or holly branches cut to the size of your forearm.\u00a0 Keep adding your green foliage until you are satisfied with the look and feel of your wreath.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now\u2019s a good time to secure your display so far by twisting gardening wire around your leaves. Go around and around and don\u2019t forget to create a loop at the top of your wreath with the wire enabling you to hang it later.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here\u2019s when you can go wild adding all your colourful berries and unusual finds, you\u2019ll soon disguise any wire, but its good to stand back, take a look, and pull any squashed leaves free.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now its style this baby! Add a giant ribbon, or some glittery pinecones if you wish, make it your own, hang it on your door and watch as and everyone admires your handmade work of art.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-407\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/IMG-7309-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/IMG-7309-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/IMG-7309-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/IMG-7309-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/IMG-7309-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/IMG-7309-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/IMG-7309-70x70.jpg 70w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-415\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/A41E51DE-0A49-418E-99B9-70281296D051-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/A41E51DE-0A49-418E-99B9-70281296D051-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/A41E51DE-0A49-418E-99B9-70281296D051-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/A41E51DE-0A49-418E-99B9-70281296D051-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/A41E51DE-0A49-418E-99B9-70281296D051-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/A41E51DE-0A49-418E-99B9-70281296D051-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/A41E51DE-0A49-418E-99B9-70281296D051-70x70.jpg 70w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/A41E51DE-0A49-418E-99B9-70281296D051.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-417\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/5497A676-CE7B-474C-BE57-5264E5DB874F-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/5497A676-CE7B-474C-BE57-5264E5DB874F-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/5497A676-CE7B-474C-BE57-5264E5DB874F-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/5497A676-CE7B-474C-BE57-5264E5DB874F-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/5497A676-CE7B-474C-BE57-5264E5DB874F-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/5497A676-CE7B-474C-BE57-5264E5DB874F-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/5497A676-CE7B-474C-BE57-5264E5DB874F-70x70.jpg 70w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/files\/2020\/12\/5497A676-CE7B-474C-BE57-5264E5DB874F.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You will need:\u00a0 Gardening wire Secateurs Gardening gloves Foraged natural materials (e.g. willow, twisted willow, holly, ivy, hawthorn berries, rosehip berries, laurel, olive or fir branches) Extra decorations (ribbons, festive spray, pine cones -optional) The only rule of thumb for wreath making is that there are no rules!\u00a0 This activity is all about having fun [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49031,"featured_media":414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209283],"tags":[15508,209304,209303],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentcog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}