Nut Wreath

The colors in this wreath embody the month of November in my mind. The wheat colored Almonds and Walnuts contrasted with the dark mahogany of the Chestnuts and Brazil Nuts and the reddish warmth of the Hazelnuts and Acorns makes this wreath glow in a jeweled pallet of late Autumn.

What you will need to make this wreath:

• A variety of nuts in the shell. Each wreath used about 2 lbs of nuts. Grocery stores sell them by the pounds seasonally.

         We used Walnuts, Almonds, Brazil Nuts,     Chestnuts, Hazelnuts and Pecans

• We also collected a variety of Acorns around the yard

           Northern Red Oak Acorn, White Oak Acorn, Pin Oak Acorn and Burr Oak Acorns

• A round or half domed Styrofoam wreath form
• brown spray paint (optional)
• brown Silicone in a tube (you can find this at Home Depot)
• caulk gun
• scissors or a razor blade
• Acrylic Spray coating (we used Krylon UV-Resistant in Clear Gloss)

When we made these wreaths we didn't paint them, but after finishing we thought that it might be a good idea just so that the green doesn't show through from the wreath form. We made it work by using the silicone a little heavier to cover spots.

Cover your table with newspaper or an old plastic cutting boards would work great.

Lay your wreath form down and begin piping the silicone onto the wreath. Use a back and forth motion and lay it on thick. This silicone is about the consistency of frosting, you want the nuts to settle somewhat into the thickness. I worked in 5-6 inch increments. And worked as wide as I could across the top of the wreath form without the nuts wanting to slip down the sides.

You can work in what ever pattern you want. I used a loose pattern of repeating the large nuts and then worked the smaller acorns and hazelnuts in between to fill the empty spots. If you want the caps to stay on the acorns, place a small amount of the silicone in the cap and press onto the acorn. Acorns also look nice when they are polished on a soft flannel cloth to remove the dull outer coating.

Once the top of the wreath form has a layer of nuts, let it dry for at least 15 minutes. The silicone wont be set at 15 minutes, but it will be sticky enough to handle gently.

Turn the wreath on it's side and begin sticking the nuts to the outer edges of the wreath. Leave the back blank. You can work the outer top edge, and the inner bottom edge with each turn. I worked in 5-6 inch increments and let it dry for about 10 minutes before turning to the next section. If you have a table top easel to place it in you don't have to hold it in between sections. You can also lean it against something sturdy and place two objects under each side to keep it from rolling.

Before spraying with Acrylic.

Once the wreath is completely covered in nuts, let it dry overnight.

After spraying

Give it a coat of Acrylic Spray and let it dry 24 hours.

The spray really deepens the color of the nuts and makes them shine.

This wreath would look beautiful hanging with a wide sating ribbon in dark chocolate or wheat color.

I plan to display mine on our Thanksgiving table with my Amber Glass turkey and my antique Amber Glass dishes.