I know I promised this centerpiece DIY ages ago, but what with a few major life changes, I just didn't get to it until this last weekend! Here it is, finally!
What we used:
-9 ceramic silver birch-bark vases
-newspaper
-9 blocks of floral foam
-box cutter
-silver wire
-wire cutters
-crystal garland (I think we used 3 or 4 of these)
-2 bags of reindeer moss
Directions:
1. First, I stuffed the bottom half of each vase with newspaper. since the floral foam blocks were only half as high as each vase, I had to take up the space with something! The paper was pretty firmly packed, which is important as later steps would compress it.
2. Next, I shaved the corners off of each floral foam block and shoved it inside the vases. I wanted a pretty tight fit, so they were left just a tiny bit too large and I shaved the last bits off when I shoved it down into the vase columns. This is messy, so make sure you're ready to vacuum and dust when you're done!
3. Starting to choose the branches. We ordered a sh#t-ton of manzanita branches, knowing that some would be unusable. I was looking for three that seemed to go together, in flow and feel, so there would be no bizarre gaps or openings. It was fun trying to choose the perfect branches, and we ended up having just enough!
4. Next: jamming the branches into the foam. This was probably the hardest step; most of the branches have blunt ends, and they didn't want to go in easily! For extra credit, you can saw the ends of each branch into pointed angles;)
5. I then wired the branches together really firmly, so there would be no shifting in the completed pieces. I stuffed reindeer moss around the branches and over the wire. It gave the pieces a nice pop of green!
6. Now for the fun part: stringing the crystal garlands! We used crystal graland curtains on jump-rings, which made it very easy to connect strands that needed to be longer, or disconnect sections to make it shorter. I draped around each centerpiece organically, draping some higher or lower, longer or shorter. Then, I wired each loop to the branch it was draped on, so nothing would come apart when the centerpieces are transported to the venue next week!
Ta-dah! It took most of the afternoon, but I finished all nine centerpieces! I think they look lovely, and I can't wait to post pictures of them in the venue space! Just 12 days to go!
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