Do It Yourself Dried Hydrangea Wreath
Dried hydrangea wreaths are so beautiful and versatile in a home, and a lot of fun to make. You can either buy already dried hydrangeas for your wreath, or dry your own. The biggest tip to drying your own is when you pick them. The best time is right before the first fall frost. If you pick them too early, they will not dry correctly.
You can either hang them upside down in a darkened room to dry, or you can set them in a vase upright, even adding a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the vase, although even that is optional. As long as they are picked at the correct time, it’s difficult to fail with them. It’s fun if you can, to pick several blooms from different bushes, as it will provide a nice variety of colors to the wreath. After they are dried, pick off any dead / discolored brown blooms.
For a wreath base pick any type you want, I like either grapevine types or Styrofoam, depending on the look I’m after. Take floral wire and wrap it around the wreath and form a small loop in order to hang it when finished.
If using Styrofoam based wreath, use a low melt point glue gun. Take each larger bunch of hydrangea and break up into smaller florets. Add a drop of glue to each floret and poke into the wreath base. Move from top to bottom, left to right, and inside and outside of the wreath base until it’s completely filled in.
What you are looking for here is balance. In shape you don’t want any sticking out way beyond the others. You don’t want one side fuller than the other, you are also looking the balance of color. Step back and look from a distance and think of overall shape as you’re looking.
The second area to look for is balance of color. This is the purpose of doing each bloom all over, then filling in, so you achieve that balance of color. Give another once over to check on that.
The wreath should be finished now, or you can add small sprigs of baby’s breath or other flowers if you want. You can also add a bow for a different effect if you like. Sometimes simplicity is best, but depends on the look you like.
To do a grapevine wreath, the concept is the same as above, except for a few items. If you want a bow or to glue a ribbon around the wreath, do so before adding the hydrangeas. Sometimes it look nice to leave some bare spots for the wreath base to show through. Try different looks.
Sunlight will greatly reduce the life of your hydrangea wreath. Although when next year comes around, feel free to strip off the old blooms and redo with the current year’s harvest.
Typically people expect dried floral arrangements to last for years and are disappointed when they don’t hold up. This is a myth. Expect them to look good for about a year, that’s really all they were meant to hold up for and still look good.