As promised from yesterday's Columbia road post, here is the wreath I made using the tulips I bought last Sunday at Columbia Road Flower Market.
I'm not going to lie to you ... this DIY was an absolute nightmare to complete / get right / be happy with. Out of all of the wreaths I've made before from the daffodil to the eucalyptus to the wreath I made using this bouquet nothing has been as time consuming as this wreath! I did make mistakes along the way which I will detail for you later so hopefully if you attempt to make one, you can avoid my pitfalls! A mini disclaimer before I carry on with my do it yourself quick tips - with all the wreaths I've ever made, I have never looked up a 'how to' or learnt from anyone, so I pretty much get a foam wreath and have a go - there may and probably is brilliant guidance somewhere out there on Pinterest/ the world wide web, this is just my (rather shoddy!) attempt at it.
Okay, for this DIY, tools are simple, you need tulips which I'd recommend buying at a local market, as shop bought bouquets of tulips can be expensive or cheap with few flowers in. This wreath used four bouquets of tulips (with about eight heads leftover) however the wreath size is large, and you can buy smaller foam wreaths which looking back now I would definitely opt for - bigger is not always better! I didn't use other foliage for this; I did use the largest leaves off of the tulips which covered the base of the wreath. Other tools needed are a foam wreath and scissors - I used school style scissors.
Mistake number that I made, which you can avoid right from the word go - leaves make their way onto the wreath first. I tried sticking the flowers into the foam, then adding leaves afterwards for foliage which is how I normally make wreaths - tulip leaves are long, floppy and do not stay in place as the stem does not seem strong enough to stick into the foam or stand alone. So after sticking all the flowers in, I took them all out again, and wrapped tulip leaves, overlapping each other around the wreath. Then I tried sticking the flowers back into the wreath again through the leaves - after trial and error I stabbed a small hole using the scissors where I wanted to place each tulip. I started by making a pattern between the cerise, purple and baby pink colour, then added clusters. In my head, I wanted the wreath covered in tulips but ran out, however a small foam wreath may have achieved this.
I was happy with the end result - the wreath lasted around two days so would be a perfect Good Friday DIY ready for Easter Sunday dinner!
