August 20, 2014

Tips For Making A Garden Hose Wreath


Usually you would think a garden hose wreath would be
displayed mainly in the Spring but where I live in Alabama,
I have to get out the hose every day in August to keep the
flowers I planted back in the Spring from wilting in the heat.

In honor of all the time I have to spend watering with the hose
these days, I wanted a garden hose wreath for my front door. 

Back in the Spring, in addition to putting out plants, I had a
of the wreaths that I made was a garden hose wreath. 

Garden hose wreaths had been all over the internet so I was
very surprised by folks' reaction to this wreath at the raffle.
Many said that they loved the wreath and they had never
seen one before.  After making the garden hose wreath
 for the raffle, I had several requests to make more so I 
am going to share some tips that I  discovered
from putting them together. 

If you are going to make more of a fun garden hose wreath
with gardening items on it, shop for supplies at dollar stores
or other places that have inexpensive tools, gloves and seeds. 

You don't need quality items to just look cute. You can  just
use hot glue to attach the items to your coiled up hose but since
I was making most of these wreaths for other people, I wanted
to make sure that the items did not fall off later.  Attaching tools,
gloves, etc. with fishing line first (almost invisible) and then 
putting a little heavy duty glue underneath them made them
very secure. The seeds packs only needed the glue.


 In the above photo the jute string is holding the garden fork in proper position while the glue dries.
It was taken off when the glue was dry. 
 The fishing line is trimmed and stays on to help hold the tools. 


Little faux butterflies can cover up prices on the seed packs.
Garden gloves can be gathered up almost like a bow before
being attached to the hose.

Hoses can be expensive but again, don't worry about a quality
hose for these wreaths.  Dollar General had a 50-foot hose
for $10...it made three wreaths by cutting it up. 


  Personally, I think one of the cutest parts of the hose wreath
is the brass endings/attachment pieces.  If you start with the 
big hose and cut it up, you don't have enough brass pieces to
emphasize to others "This is a garden hose, folks!"  Did you
know that those brass pieces are over $5 each to buy 
individually?  These sprayer nozzles were only $2 each and
they give another element to the wreath of hose-i-ness. 
 The nozzles were attached with heavy duty glue like contact cement or Gorilla Glue. 
The one time I did try hot glue, the nozzle fell off in a day. 


Here's the backside of a similar wreath made for a couple
 that like to garden together.  I can't find a picture of the 
finished front...I guess I forgot to take one.  Since the elements
are the same as the above wreath, maybe you can use your
imagination to "see" what it looked like. 

The difference in the above wreath is that I added a piece of
cut dry floral foam as a base for the seed packs since they 
were going to be more suspended than in the previous wreath.
I thought they might get droopy from moisture over time if used on an exterior door.

Floral wire was used to secure the foam between loops of 
the hose.  The wire was also used to make a loop for hanging.

You can choose to have a lot of exposed hose on the wreath
 and only add a few items to it. An old hose can be used for
 a wreath. If you don't like the color you can spray paint
it like Debbie Doos did for her garden hose wreath. 

 Here's one from our yard that was going to be thrown
 away. After cleaning it up enough to be presentable, about 
 25 feet was cut off  to be used for the wreath.  

The more heavy duty the hose, the harder it is to get it to stay in
 a wreath shape.  To even get this one started, the cut end of the
hose had to be wired down to keep it from popping out of place. 

A pair of garden gloves, a garden fork and some fake
flowers were added to the side of the wound up hose. 

I tried to get away with only having this wreath secured on
one side but it needed a little bit of wire on the other side
also to help hold it into shape. To cover the extra wire,
 just a flower and a little greenery were put on the 
wreath and attached with hot glue.

I left the ends of the wire long so I could curl them
 around a pencil to make them look like vines. 

Three of the fingers of the top glove were hot glued 
onto the hose so they would not droop over time. 

Two of the fingers of the bottom glove
were glued around the handle of the fork.
 This not only made the fork more secure but it 
looked  like the glove was holding onto the handle. 

A  wreath with a non-decorated top can just have some
 of the hose loops hung on a wreath holder.  

The possibilities are endless of how you could use your
creativity to add elements to the wreath. You can use floral
wire, covered wire (that looks kind of like stems),
 fishing line or twine to tie items onto the coiled hose. 

These are also good items to use to keep the hose in a 
wreath shape.  Here's an example of how to make the
 wreath base from the hose on the first wreath I made:

Use enough wire, twine or fishing line to keep the wreath
in the shape that you want to make secure and stable for 
adding gardening objects, etc. 

If you are not going to have the foam piece added at the 
top (as a place to add elements), you can put the top 
securing tie slightly off center.  This allows most wreath
hangers to catch one loop of the hose and you don't have
to add an additional wire for hanging. I worried that the
person that won the wreath might not have a wreath
hanger so I did make a wire hanger on the back.

 The sign was one that I bought at Jo Ann's.

The wreath for the raffle was made more with flowers and
greenery than with gardening elements.  Because I wanted it
to be as attractive as possible from all angles, I did not use 
the foam as a base for the flowers but I wired floral items
together almost like a floral headpiece at a wedding.

It was pretty but time-consuming! Keep in mind how long
 you are willing to devote to making the wreath.  
A fancy wreath may take more time than a fun wreath to create.  

Faux butterflies were also wired in. 
I found a 15' hose inexpensively at Wal-Mart in the 
spring but they had sold out when I went back to get
more for additional wreaths.  That's why this wreath
does have the two brass end pieces. 

I really liked the faux ferns that I found at Michaels...quite realistic.

When a friend asked for a garden hose wreath but with 
hydrangeas on top instead of poppies, I was not  going to
wire the flowers together again.  I went for a quicker method. 

I cut a chunk of styrofoam and wired it at what would
be the top of the wreath. 
On one wreath I did glue the foam piece also but it melted some of it.
It did not affect the foam ability to do its job.




To make some greenery pieces reach the bottom of the
 wreath I did wire a few fronds midway down onto the hose loops.

Then some greenery was just glued on the end and
stuck into the foam.  I think that will make it secure.

My friend likes mostly pinks and purples in her Spring and
Summer garden but she had also amended the soil around
her hydrangeas this year and had some blue ones appear too.
These faux hydrangeas are inexpensive bunches that came
 from Michaels.  I cut them apart to have more control over
the length and placement in the foam. 

I also added a dab of glue on the end of the cut stem of 
the flowers so they would not fall out over time. 

She also wanted an extra dose of butterflies on her wreath.



Since this wreath is a little more "fancy" than "fun" I 
did not add the nozzle on it but I let the end of the hose
with the brass fitting hang down to make it easy to see.

So, it is finally late August when I get around to making 
myself a hose wreath.  I decided to use flowers that could
be a transition into Fall (even though it doesn't feel like it).

Here is what the mechanics of my wreath start out as:


Styrofoam wired into place for flowers and greenery.
The same covered wire is used to make a loop for hanging.

This greenery was a little longer so it reached far enough
down the hose wreath form by just being stuck in the foam.

Since this is just for me I didn't glue the greenery or flowers
since if something falls out, I can just stick it back in. Also
I could change the elements out later for different seasons. 

When I was going to try the half-made wreath on the hanger
that had been left on the door from a previous wreath, look
who was there:

He stayed there all night.  I think he decided it was a good 
place to catch bugs that were attracted to the inside house
lamps shining through the glass on the front door. 

He was gone the next morning so I could finally hang my
late Summer garden hose wreath.  



My wreath is a mix of "fun" and "fancy" so I did add a
left-over nozzle on it.  This wreath is also using up the end
of a cut 50' hose.  I think it probably had about 30' of hose
used on it.  You can look at the original raffle wreath that
used a 15' hose to see the difference in the amount of loops
that each size gives you in determining how much footage
of hose you need to make your own garden hose wreath. 

Have fun and make it your own by the elements you
choose to add!


23 comments

  1. As soon as I saw those wreath pictures in my reading line-up, I knew it had to be you! Your talents are amazing and I love checking out your new skills when you post. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those wreaths are so cut that I just have to pin them. Thanks for the great tutorial!

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  3. Your garden hose wreaths are so colorful and pretty! You would probably do well selling these in an Etsy shoppe. They are so lovely and unusual.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a cute idea......have never
    seen these before either. Really a
    darling idea, they are all so cute,
    really liked the one with all the gardening paraphenalia on it.
    Thanks for sharing it.
    Blessings, Nellie

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow so gorgeous! love this wreath and so much creativity! The lizard is nice but a bit surprising lol. Stop by sometime and visit our Snickerdoodle Sunday, we would love to have you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. So cute! I've never seen this done before, but I will definitely be trying this, myself! Pinning!

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  7. So happy to discover you!!! I was searching info for how to create a swag with mesh! You are my kind of gal Miss Kopy Kat! I LOVE everyone of these wreaths!!! I need to go back and check everything else you have so cleverly created. Thanks for such wonderful tips!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your tutorials, and the wreaths are adorable. Thanks so much for sharing them at Snickerdoodle Sunday. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Garden hose wreaths are so fun and you created some darling ones. Thanks for sharing your great tips with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very cute and full of great tips! Thanks so much for linking up at Snickerdoodle Sunday and I hope you'll come back this week with new project posts!

    Sarah (Sadie Seasongoods)

    ReplyDelete
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  12. Wow! Love your blog! I cant wait to make a garden hose wreath! I might try to make a removable flower spray so I could use the hose! Any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I used a wooden stick that I glued and ran up in the cut end of the hose. when it was dry I took the gasket out of the spray nozzle slid it up on the hose and slid the stick with glue on it into the nozzle. when it was all dry I slid the gasket into the end of the sprayer to give it a seamless look.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great tips for making garden hose wreath. It is the best way to used old garden hoses. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for sharing! These are great tips for making a hose wreath. Your wreaths are beautiful and you have inspired me to make a few for my garden.

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