Create A Victorian Wreath

Dove Originals Details How To Create A Wonderful Victorian Wreath

I love both Victorian decor and wreaths, so it was perfectly natural to bring both together in a very large wreath that hangs on a door in my dining room. This Victorian wreath measures about 32 inches across and literally "grew" over time. By 

that I mean it started as a modest 12 inch wreath that I simply added to as time, whim, and materials allowed.

I began with a 12 inch wire wreath form and created a base using dried Silver King artemisia that I grow in my garden. Silver King is a beautiful perennial, easy to grow, and not invasive like it's native cousin mugwort.

Dried Silver King lasts for years without deteriorating and makes an ideal base for any herb wreath.

I harvest artemisia in the fall when the heads are fully open and stand it upright in baskets to dry. That way the heads tend to droop a bit which helps them to conform to the round wreath form. Once the artemisia is thoroughly dried I  gather bunches of it together, cut off the bottom stems,  and use florist wire to hold the bunches in place on the form, overlapping them as I go around. You want the base of your wreath to be full, so you will need a substantial amount of dried material. This process on how to make an ornament wreath is what I follow for all of the herbal, flower, and silk wreaths that I make.

Once the base was completed for my Victorian wreath, I gathered up a variety of materials: silk stems, velvet flowers, pearlized grapes, dried hydrangea flowers, leaves, etc. Some flowers were salvaged from floral arrangements I no longer wanted and others were simply dried materials from my garden 

such as hydrangea, rosemary, lavender, bay, etc. My favorites, 

however, are the velvet flowers often used on millinery that I have collected over time. I used all sizes, colors, and shapes and did no pre-planning but rather let the wreath literally take shape on its own, balancing color as I pushed in another stem here and there. Over time- as I spotted an attractive flower or two on sale- these too were added to the wreath. The artemisia base works exceedingly well holding everything in place as I added layers of flowers, trims, fruits, leaves, and more, including the occasional Christmas ball. I'm calling my Victorian wreath completed at this time as it barely fits on the door, but if I spot a lovely purple velvet rose, all bets are off.