Corn Husk Crafts – More Corn Husk Wreaths
Posted by Karen Bastille - 13/10/09 at 04:10 pm
Set against wood panelling or in an informal room, a corn-husk wreath is a Christmas decoration you are not likely to see in every house in town.
The same method of looping husks that you used to make the small Christmas tree is the way to make the wreath.
Wet the husks. Use strips about 2 inches wide. Fold a strip into a loop and put three or four loops in one group. You can wire the husks together and push the wire into a Styrofoam wreath base. Or you can tie the loops together and secure them to a wire or rattan frame. The wreath above was tied to a rattan frame.
Really pack the loops in because as they dry they shrink. Remember? And you don’t want a scraggly wreath.
Corn husks alone can be drab, so add pine cones or dried milkweed pods or teasel flowers. Highlight the color with a little antique gold spray or clear lacquer. A red calico ribbon or clusters of dried rose hips or red berries is a nice touch.
Fringed Wreath
For a wreath like the second one shown above, you need a coat hanger or other wire of similar size which can be curved into a circle, along with masking tape and many husks. After you have made a circle of wire, tape it together.
Look at Illus. 36 below, to see how to loop the husks onto the wire frame. You make a loop and lay it under the frame with the loop on the outside of the wreath. Take the tail of the loop and bring it over the wire and through the loop so that it knots. Pack these husks in as tightly as you can.
When the frame is completely covered, use a needle to shred the husks (as before) beginning next to the frame and pulling the needle out to the edge with the grain of the husk. When the husks are all fringed, cut them evenly and spread them out with your hand. Hang the wreath up to dry.
Wire on some pine cones or berries or a ribbon to decorate your wreath.
