How to Make Double Door Wreaths

Making double door wreaths sounds like an easy task. Just make two wreaths the same right? Well, it can be a bit more difficult than that for the average crafter.....like me))) Any time I've tried to make double door wreaths, the second one came out a little bit different...maybe larger, maybe smaller...just different. But Trendy Tree's floral designer, Rachel Wiygul, is an old hand at it and she created these double door bicycle wreaths for a special customer. My job was to watch and learn! Working Board The first thing Rachel did was create a board that she could work her magic on. Rachael is creative, not only in her floral design, but also in the work behind the scenes. To make double door wreaths, she needed a space where she could work on two bicycle wheels at the same time. So she created it! She took a piece of board and whipped out her electric drill and fashioned a work board. Propped it up in a chair against the wall and went to work! Styrofoam Base She cut two small blocks of Styrofoam and secured to the wheels. Floral wire was wrapped with paper tape first. Then the wire was wrapped around a piece of wooden floral stem and then pushed through the Styrofoam. The Styrofoam was secured to the spokes and rim of the bicycle wheel. She fashioned a temporary hanger for each wheel using a chenille stem. The spokes were counted and the Styrofoam secured at the same area on each wheel, just opposite sides. Back view of the Styrofoam. Wrapping the wire with paper tape helps to keep the wire more secure. The piece of wooden floral stem is just to keep the wire from pulling through the Styrofoam. Please note that the wheels are the same size. The angle of my camera makes the lower one look smaller, but they are identical. The bicycle wheels are a new product for Trendy Tree this year and they are available in several colors and sizes. They are REAL bicycle wheels, just no tires and the sprocket was altered to allow the wheel to lay flat against a door. See our assorted bicycle wheels here: Bicycle Wheel The Styrofoam could have been covered with moss prior to adding florals, but bagged moss was not available in the shop today.....so Rachel had another plan. Snippets from this Spanish Moss pick was used later after the florals were inserted to covered up any areas where the Styrofoam showed. Florals Next step was to start adding florals to the double door wreaths. Rachel picked out some fall florals using colors that the customer had requested. Rachel started with a main fall pumpkin pick and then filled in with more airy less dense florals and greenery. She cut this pumpkin pick in half, between the pumpkin and the pinecone. The pumpkin piece was used at the top and the smaller pinecone piece used at the bottom. The SteelPix machine was used to attach steel picks to the ends of the stems. Stems were then dipped in hot glue and secured into the Styrofoam. The hot glue pan isn't shown, but we use an inexpensive electric skillet and Gorilla glue sticks. The key to make the matching wheels was to place a floral on one wheel, and then place the same floral on the next wheel before moving on to the next piece. The remaining florals, cream sunflowers, were added in this same manner. Stems from the sunflower bush and filler fall greenery were separated and picked with the SteelPix and as she would add one stem to the top wheel, she would add an similar stem to the bottom wheel. Working back and forth. The initial gap between the primary pumpkin pick was left as a gap because the bow would be placed in this area. Ribbons Rachel made a free handed bow for the double door wreaths using three styles of ribbon. Two of the ribbons were 2.5" in width and one was 1.5". Ribbon tails were about 20" in length and loops were about 6" She started with the plaid ribbon as a base, then added the cream black stripe for contrast in color and size, and finished with the cotton boll ribbon which had been the customer's favorite ribbon choice. Bow was secured with wire and inserted through the Styrofoam and attached to the wheel. Bow steps were repeated for the second wheel. Finishing Touches Snippets of the Spanish Moss pick were hot glued to cover up the Styrofoam and mechanics from the back, sides and front. Rachel removed the chenille stem hangers and replaced these with a piece of the stripped ribbons for an attractive hanger. Sorry I didn't have double doors to photograph them on! Leave us a comment if you would like to see more crafting of wreaths like these. I'm learning a lot just watching Rachel and taking photos! I'll try sneaking into the store more often to watch her work))) *This post contains affiliate links.