DIY Candle Rings

If you are like me, you aren't partial to silk ivy decorations. About the only thing positive I can say about ivy, is that it is plentiful;) I mean, it is everywhere! No, no, what I really wanted for my new candelabra were boxwood candle rings. Have you priced those lately?! Well, I did, and they are really expensive. (I now know why boxwood is so scarce, and ivy so plentiful).

So, I set out for Hobby Lobby and bought a sprig of greenery. They didn't have exactly what I wanted, but it was close enough. It was on sale for $8.99. I forgot to take a before picture, but it looked something like this:
 

(picture obtained from Afloral.com 

 

You'll need the following items: greenery, scissors, wire cutters, floral wire and floral tape.

 

 

Start out with the length of wire you need to go around your candle, plus add two inches to the front and back. I prefer to cut smaller portions of tape so it doesn't get tangled, but do it however you prefer.  

 

 

Notice how the wire is sticking out of the front - you'll need that for later. Place the end of your sprig against the wire and wrap TIGHTLY with the floral tape. I repeat, tightly! For the first piece, I wind around 4-5 times.    

 

 

Once you have done that, it should look like this:  

 

 

Now a somewhat tricky part, is determining how thick you want the ring to be. Obviously, the fuller you want it to look, the closer you have to overlap the sprigs. Once I wrapped an end I would place another right over top, but slightly further behind and wrap again. Now repeat that process 3,258,145 times and you should be done:) 

 

 

You can see that I place mine close together for a fuller look.  

 

Okay, once you've gotten the length you need, pull the wire ends towards each other to form a circle. Notice the two wire ends sticking out? Cut them to 1-2 inches long.  

 

Now, carefully wrap the extra lengths of wire around the ring to keep it closed and secure. This is a bit tricky, but the nice thing about working with wire is if it doesn't look right you can just unwrap and try again.  

 

 

The ring above was just a sample size for the purposes of this blog. Below is the underside of the ring that I made for my pillar candle. Notice the wire wrapped around to keep it closed?

 

Top view:

 

Side view: 

 

 There they are all together. All that for just $9...less then what I would have paid for a single one!