Brass Metal Christmas Wreath

Hello! You're all very welcome to my instructable on making a brass christmas wreath. I first saw one of these on tv and I knew I just had to make one myself! Why not join me and make your own? It's so easy!

Note: I am aware that some of the photos below look a bit funny, but please bear with me, and they will be look a lot better on a future date. The point is that this would not have any effect on your ability to follow the steps laid out below.

Here is a list of everything you need to complete this instructable:

• 4x10" 0.005" thick brass sheet, 2 packs (4 sheets altogether)
• 10 metres of 0.5mm brass wire
• soldering iron and solder
• soldering flux
• 30cm brass floral hoop
• 1 small popsicle stick
• Small needle-nose pliers
• Glue stick

Please note: I have tried to look for a central place where brass sheet, wire and floral hoops are available, but Amazon doesn't seem to have the particular items I used. However you will more than likely be able to get these things from your local hobby store, or somewhere like Michaels, if you're in the United States. Sorry about that!

To start, cut a piece of paper to the same size as the brass sheets. Strip some ivy and holly leaves off their branches and lay them face down on the paper. Try to lay them close together so that you only waste a minimal amount of brass sheet.

Carefully trace around each of the leaves, then stick the paper, drawing side up, onto the brass, making sure that the edges of the paper and brass sheet meet.

Carefully cut out all the leaves. You may find that it's easier to manoeuvre the sheet around, rather than the scissors, as you cut them out. BE CAREFUL! The edges may be sharp! If you can't peel the paper off easily, just soak the leaves in water for a few seconds, then it will slide off. Tada!

Now it's time to make those leaves look a bit more leaf-like! Use some of the real leaves as a reference. I started by folding the leaves with a small popsicle stick, then bending them up and down with small needle-nose pliers. I found this to be the easiest way. Keep referring back to the real leaves as you go.

Note: As I had a mixture of small, medium and large leaves, I used 4" lengths of wire for the small leaves, 8" for the medium and 10" lengths for the largest leaves.

Time to solder! Plug your soldering iron in and let it heat. Take a leaf and place it face down. Take a medium length of wire and dip the end in the flux, then dab a tiny bit of flux at the bottom of the leaf, where the wire will be attached.

Apply a small amount of solder to the iron and while holding the wire still against the base of the leaf, press the tip of the soldering iron on the wire to transfer the solder, so you have a small blob on there, that will be enough to hold the leaf. Repeat this for all of the leaves.

Now it's time to start making the "branches" of holly and ivy. Refer back to your real branches to see how the leaves are arranged, to try to keep it natural.

Grab a mixture of large, small and medium leaves. Make sure that they are all face-up and slightly stagger them on the length of a large leaf, then simply twist all the wires together all the way to the end of the wire.

Finally, spread out the leaves on the "branches" to make them look a bit more natural.

Nearly there!

Now it's time to assemble the wreath! Take a branch of either the holly or ivy and holding the leaves still, wrap the rest of the wire around the hoop. Work along the hoop on both sides, alternating branches of holly and ivy. This part is a bit like flower arranging, so take time to pull out leaves here and there to fill in any spaces there might be in between branches.

That's it! Congratulations on making your own brass christmas wreath! Now, where will you hang yours?