January 26, 2013

Make A Deco Mesh Valentine Wreath


About this time last year, I attempted one of my first
 deco mesh wreaths which was also a heart shaped one.

It was a more tradition wreath that went around
the edge of the form.  This new wreath takes the mesh
back and forth vertically across the middle of the form.

Here are the supplies that you will need to make this
large striking Valentine decoration for your home:

8 feet of aluminum wire
(the kind on the floral aisle at Michael's and Jo Ann's works well...
sometimes you can even find it in red!)
red craft paint
a pack of red chenille stems
floral wire
 36" wooden dowel rod (about 1/2" diameter)
a roll of 20" x 30' of red deco mesh
a sheet of black or red craft foam
foam glue
craft glue
(If you already have the glue, I think the other costs would be about $20)

I looked for a large heart-shaped pre-made wire wreath
form but did not find any in my home town.  They are 
not that common even on the internet.  

To make your own frame for the wreath, use aluminum
 wire to form a heart shape.  I used a purchased 24" 
round wreath (that was used to make a similar wreath for
  Christmas) as a size guideline so I wouldn't make it too large.
I knew that this size only required one roll of deco mesh.
(The picture shows the back side of the Christmas wreath.)
  
As a decorative element that also adds necessary stability,
use floral wire to attach a dowel rod to the heart.
This will become an arrow later on.




Paint the wires and the dowel with red craft paint.
The deco mesh has an open weave so the wreath frame
sometimes shows through the mesh.  Painting the frame
and the arrow makes these structures less noticeable.

Some of the paint may get knocked off during the construction
 phase but you can go back and touch it up if needed.

When the paint is dry, add the chenille stems
 to the wire frame. (We used to call them "pipe cleaners").

 The pattern you will use for placing the
14 stems along the frame looks like this:

The above photo also shows the order in which you
will attach the mesh to the frame. 

Wrap each stem around the wire...

...then twist the two parts of the stem together. 

You can repeat the "wrap then twist" for each attachment
stem for extra holding especially if you don't have time for glue.
Whether you "wrap then twist" once or twice, make sure the  
arms are open to the top side of the wreath to accept the mesh.

Hopefully you do have time to glue the chenille stems to the
wire frame with craft glue.  It keeps them from moving around. 

While you have the glue out, put some glue on the wire
 and dowel rod attachment point. If you get tired of waiting
for the craft glue to dry, you could add some hot glue also.

 The only place in my city that carries deco mesh at reasonable
prices is Hobby Lobby.  They have a limited color
selection but they did get some red back in after Christmas.

Leave about a 12" (at least) "tail" before your first gather of mesh.
You will be tucking this in to the back of the wreath later.

Gather the mesh (I find that making little accordian-type pleats
works well) and attach your gather to the wreath form with the
chenille stem at the far right top side of the wreath. 
(Number 1 in the picture that shows chenille
stem placement above.)


Use the "arms" of the chenille stems to hold the gathered mesh
 onto the frame by twisting the arms tightly on top of the mesh.

Next, gather the mesh further down the roll.  You want to gather
at a point that will give you a little "pouf" to the mesh when
you attach the second gather to the wire frame directly below
your first point of attachment.

Make sure that the side of your pouf has enough mesh
that it can cover that side of the wire frame.

Your next gather point will be further down the roll at a point
 that allows the mesh to reach across the wreath back up to the
 top at point 3 and also has some "slack" to make a pouf.


At each attachment point, before you twist the chenille stems to
hold the mesh, fluff/pull/arrange the mesh to make sure you are
leaving enough mesh to cover the edge of the frame.  Don't
leave too much mesh on the edge...it will hide the heart shape.

Keep going top to bottom and back with the mesh.
Here's how it will look half way through:

Don't skip any attachments points...you need them all.

Well, at the end, I had seven feet of mesh left.   I didn't make this
wreath as puffy as the similar-in-technique wreaths of the
pumpkin or the Santa belly so the heart shape would be evident.

Instead of cutting the extra mesh off, I pulled it to the back
and added it on the back side with the same chenille stems
that were used on the front.  This made the wreath look
visually fuller without affecting the shape of the heart.

Tuck the beginning and the end of the mesh roll into a 
pouf on the back side of the wreath.  The cut edges cling to
the other mesh and usually stay in place easily. 

After tucking the ends, I turned the wreath
 back around  to look at the front.

Yours might look better than this after adding the mesh to the
wire form, but I wanted a little more defined heart shape.

By using the chenille stem arms already on the wreath form
and by adding more stems where needed, I could push the ends
of the stems through the loose weave of the mesh and kind of
"sew" the mesh closer to the wire frame.

I know both sides of the heart are not the same but it
makes the wreath a little quirky and whimsical.

I worked out a pattern for the ends of the Cupid's arrow
for the wreath.  You could make yours however you like but
here are the measurements that I came up with if you want
to try them.  I don't know how to make a PDF .

The shaft on the arrow for both pieces is 1 3/4" wide.
Both the point of the arrow and the feather end start
out as a 5" tall and 4" wide piece of paper.
The feathers are 3/4" wide with a 1/4" space between.
The red lines represent the shaft so I didn't want to
cut into the width of the shaft.
 
Here's what the pattern pieces looked like:

They were traced onto the black sheet of foam and cut out.
After being placed on the ends of the dowel rod, they were
glued on with foam glue. 

They foam pieces were temporarily tied onto the dowel
rod while the glue dried.

The wreath is really lightweight.  All you need is a ribbon
tied between the rounded tops of the heart to hang it.
If you want more excitement on the wreath, you could add
curly decorative ribbons at the attachment points.

The deco mesh wreath turned out to be 28" across at the 
widest point.  The total width with the arrow was 32".  
My door is only 35" wide so it was about as big as it 
could possibly be for my house. 

I'm disappointed that the black arrow blends into the brown 
door visually.  I might change it to red or try glittering it.
Whatever I do (if anything) needs to be weather resistant..
any ideas?


It shows up much better against the mortar-washed brick. 




After seeing these pictures, I decided that maybe I should make 
the heart shape a little more symmetrical.  It was easy to bend
the main aluminum wire frame to make the sides match better...
but not perfectly...it still has personality. 

I'm sharing this post at
Throwback Thursday party @ Glitter Paint & Glue blog

15 comments

  1. Well, isn't that cute? I LOVE the size of it! It is just perfect for your front door- xo Diana

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  2. Hi Miss Kitty, I love this red mesh valentine and arrow. Your tutorial is easy to follow. Just Beautiful!

    ~Emily
    The French Hutch

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  3. I love this wreath. This is so cute. You did a great job.

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  4. Your mesh wreaths always look so beautiful and this one is no exception. It is a good size for your door and maybe the arrow will show up better if it was white or covered in foil. I don't know if glitter would stand up to the elements either. You have such good ideas - I'm sure you'll come up with one that works.

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  5. I love the wreath, so large and puffy! Your valentine's crafts are all so cute. Great job.
    Hugs,
    Patti

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  6. Such a sweet wreath and you gave such wonderful instructions...I may even be able to do that you gave such good info!
    Hope your weekend has been wonderful!
    Cindy

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  7. I think you are the mesh queen! I have never seen so many projects done so well with mesh.
    Kim@reposhture.blogspot.com

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  8. Cute! I don't think I realized the size till I saw it on the door! Thanks for linking up at Throwback Thursday.

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  13. I love this wreath, thanks for sharing. I will be making it with my library teen group following your instructions.

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