About That Paper Wreath . . .

The trickiest thing about making the wreath that I made and showed in an earlier post here, is finding the right paper. An old onionskin type tissue paper is essential. The type found in very old encyclopedias or dictionaries.

I found mine at a flea market. You can see just how old it is.

Even the tattered cover could be used for a future project.

The pages for my wreath are about 8x11, and make for a large full wreath. A smaller hanger with smaller pages would give a little different look. Foxing on the paper only adds to the wonderful vintage vibe.

I have also used an over-sized wire hanger, larger than the standard dimensions. I found a supply of these at a flea market as well, and use them mainly to display vintage linens. But you could use any sturdy wire shaped into a circle.

Just rip the pages from the binding. Taking a single sheet at a time, loosely fold the page lengthwise into an "S", in thirds, without creasing.

Pinch and crimp at the center of the page to make what looks somewhat like a bow, and place the center at the wire. Bring the two sides gently together and give one or two twists at the base to secure the sheet to the wire as shown below.

Begin at the hook of the hanger, and slide the twists firmly against the twisted wire to start. This provides a firm place to push the paper twists against to secure them.

As you work, press the twists tightly against each other at the base to hold them in place. (The hook at the top helps with this.) No gluing required. A few twists pressed together look like this.

Eventually the twists fan out to find their own direction surrounding the wire, but you may want to shape the "back" of the wreath to lie flatter than the "front" for hanging such a full wreath against a flat surface.

Continue until the wire is completely full and tight with paper twists.

Easy as pie!

 I found a smaller old dictionary on the weekend that I will be using with a smaller wire hanger. I'll post that one for you to see when I'm finished too. In the meantime, have fun!

Jacqueline

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Thanks so much to Kerryanne for featuring my wreath on her blog this week!