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Good morning friends, how was your weekend? It was a beautiful here. The weather was perfect for long morning walks that were just cool enough that once you were home you needed to warm yourself by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate. Sunday, although I would have enjoyed an extra hour of sleep, the pups had us up extra early for breakfast because they do not understand the time change. We went to our first chili cook-off where we tasted 22 different chili recipes along with various cornbreads and toppings. Although it was to taste chili with beans, chili with no beans, chili with bison, chili with cinnamon and smoke and variations on those recipes I still like my recipe mine the best.
pinecone wreath on wire frame no glue
I sorted my Christmas decorations this weekend in preparation for decorating this week. When we moved and down-sized houses I didn’t downsize my Christmas stuff. To be honest I still haven’t gotten rid of anything but it is organized now and the few things( including these trees and this bowl) I purchased over the last few weeks are going to work perfectly with what I already have.
Today I am going to show you how to make the easiest and most beautiful(I think) pinecone wreath without wire or glue!
I have wanted to make a pinecone wreath for years but have put it off for many reasons. 1) I am not very crafty. 2) I have a love hate relationship with my glue gun, mostly hate because I always get burned and the glue ends up everywhere but where it is supposed to. 3) I just never get around to it because I leave it until I have too many other things to accomplish for the holidays.
pinecone wreath on wire frame no glue
This year I was determined that making a pinecone wreath was going to be the first thing I accomplished and you know what they say when you sent your mind to it, you can do anything.
How to Make a Pinecone Wreath With a Wire Frame
For this wreath you need skinny pinecones, not the cute squatty round ones, save those to make ornaments, garland and to use as bowl fillers. I used pinecones from Eastern white pine trees, these trees grow all over the Eastern portion of North America, and if you cannot find them where you live you can purchase them on Etsy. Coincidentally the Eastern white pine is also a traditional choice for a Christmas tree.
Materials Needed to Make Pinecone Wreath
wire wreath form, I purchased mine at The Dollar Tree
approx.100-110 pinecones depending upon the size of cones
Pail or bucket(s) of water
How to make a pinecone wreath(without glue or wire)
1.The first thing you need to do is gather your supplies, pinecones, wire form, water.
2. If you are foraging for your pinecones you need to clean the critters and dirt off the cones, you can follow this easy tutorial to bake them. If you purchase them they should be clean but check with the vendor or inspect them before you make the wreath.
3. After the pinecones have been cleaned and baked sort them into 3 piles, small, medium and large.
4. Soak the pinecones in water for 30 minutes minimum and make sure that they are fully submerged. Obviously the cones above are not submerged, I had them weighed down with a plate but took it off so that you could see the cones.
After about 30 minutes the pinecones will close up. Now for the fun part.
Note: I like to sort the cones before I soak them and I used three large Tupperware containers to soak them and I placed another Tupperware bucket on top to weight the cones down. You can soak all of your cones at once if you prefer and then sort them after they have their water bath.
5. Take your larges pinecones and start sticking them into the outer edge of the ring, you want to stick at least 3 -4 scales into the wreath form, this helps anchor the cones as they dry and expand. For my wreath form each section took about 6 pinecones, as you get the edge of each section squish the pinecones together and jam in another pinecone. You repeat this process until the entire outer ring is filled.
Then you take the medium pinecones and fill up the middle ring the same way and finally take the smaller cones and fill up the inner most ring.
As you are placing the pinecones they will be standing straight up and down.
Note: This image is for a wreath with only 2 rings, I accidentally deleted the images of this step with the 3 ring form.
You want the pinecones to be as closes as possible so that when the pinecones start to dry they open up and they intertwine with one another and hold each other into place.
Drying the Pinecone Wreath
Once you have the entire wreath stuffed with pinecones take it to a dry place and leave it to dry for a week. Over the course of the first few days while the pinecones are still damp you can move them a bit to fill in small blank spots. I also like to push the cones from the outer and mild ring out and a little more flat from their original standing position. You can also move the wreath into the un to speed up the drying process.
Once the wreath is full dry you can attach a piece of wire to the back to hang it. You can also add springs of berries, greens or a bow. You could spray paint it to match your decor or Christmas theme. I personally like it plain.
pinecone wreath and some plaid ribbon Pinecones and Acorns
This is it my friends, can you believe how easy this pinecone wreath is to make? And the best part is that is cost one dollar and a little of your time.
More Information About Pinecones
10 reasons why you should be foraging for pine needles.
DIY Wreaths From Friends
My friend Regina made a beautiful wreath from pinecones and you can see it here!
Pin Me for Later
I hope you have fun making this wreath, if you try it let me know! Or if you have an easier tutorial let me know that too. Have a great day friends.
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What a genius idea! I would have never thought of that!❤️
Love this! Editing my post to include yours
Regina thank you! Your wreath is so beautiful!
I swore off DIY but this wreath is so beautiful! And what a brilliant method to make it.
I am not a diyer in any sense of the word, I have done some but I am not always the best at it and frankly I have zero patience. But this is the easiest thing I have ever made and I love it!
This great! when I get more from my neighbors I will make one with no glue.
I just made one and add hazelnuts in the shell to it and I love it
It went really fast and the hot glue behaved
Your wreath is beautiful and it is wonderful that you made it without wire or glue.
What a great wreath and so nice that you could do it without glue
Gorgeous wreath, Elizabeth! The best pinecone wreath I’ve seen … and no glue gun. I’m with you when it comes to glue guns … I don’t even own one. I know it would mean certain disaster. But you … you’re DIYer after all! xo
Juliet, it is so easy and it is such a beautiful wreath, honestly I cannot believe it turned out so well. As for the glue gun, I hate mine, it is horrible but then again I do not use it very often.
Have a wonderful week. xo
This is really amazing and my kind of craft. Do you know about how many pine ones you needed to fill the ring? I’m going to order them today.
Hi Lynn, I used about 120 pinecones for this wreath. I think you will love it, it is so easy!
Very creative.
Thank you William
Your wreath is gorgeous! I love anything with pinecones.
I love this. I have always wanted a pine cone wreath for after Christmas, a more winter look. Now to find 100 pine cones.
Rosemary let me know if you cannot find enough or any. I will try to find some more.
Elizabeth…you always find The most beautiful products…..it’s always an enjoyment to visit your posts! Wishing you a lovely Thanksgiving!
Thank you Betsy!
I love this idea! How beautiful and seemingly so simple too… though I am sure I would mess it up! Great to know wreaths can be made without glue or wire, I’m like you with forever getting burned! Sim x #TrafficJamWeekend
PS. 22 type of chili?! I’m not a fan so you are very brave in my eyes!
Thank you Sim, I am sure that you would not mess it up it is the easiest thing I have ever made.
Such a great project – and it came out beautiful! I’m with you on the glue gun…I almost always burn myself! By the way, I included a link to this post in my latest blog post about decorating for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Have a great week!
Cheers!
Shelley
Thank you Shelley! I appreciate you sharing my project!
This is wonderful. I love that you did this with no glue. Hot glue and me don’t really mix – burned fingers! Thanks for sharing this.
I’ve always wanted to make one of these and we have a plethora of young pinecones around the farmhouse. Thank you for linking up to Farmhouse Friday. We are featuring it tomorrow. Hope you link up again soon. pinned
Cindy, I hope that you make one! I would love to see it. Thank you for the feature!
What a beautiful wreath! I have a pinecone wreath that a friend made for me 30 years ago. Our yard has lots of pine trees, so a few years ago I bought some chicken wire, planning to make more wreaths. Uh. . .NO! That was an exercise in frustration. Your method looks very doable!
Thanks so much for joining the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace. I’m featuring you this week!
Richella, thank you so much for the feature! I appreciate it. I feel the same way that you do, I could never make a wreath out of chicken wire! This is about all I have the patience for.
What a beautiful wreath Elizabeth!! I have those same pinecones in my yard!! Pinned
Cindy, you need to make one! They are so easy.