diy | leafy crown

In many of my artistic endeavors, I choose to use plants as a key component, so I find myself constantly stringing vine-y plants together to create crowns/wreaths/garlands/anything else imaginable. A lot of my ideas come to me while I am out and about and accompanied by a lack of supplies; I just make use of what is around me--usually the plant itself and my hands. I've found plenty of tutorials online for making floral crowns and all of them have one thing in common: you need quite a lengthy list of supplies. Not for this one. It is super simple (and fun).

what you'll need:

vines (strands about 8 in long are ideal)

a bowl of water

your hands

1. store your pieces in a bowl of water to keep them fresh | choose two pieces and hold them together (you can twist them if you'd like)

2. take a third strand and begin wrapping it around the other two; the end of the vine should be to the right for the first time around and then to the left for the remaining times | tip: leave about four or five inches of the vine uncoiled 

3. hold the three vines together (as you did with the two in the first step) and incorporate a fourth; make sure that the end of the vine is to the right for the first coil | it should be smooth sailing from here on because the start is really the hardest part

4. repeat the steps above until you reach the desired length | make your crown just slightly larger than necessary in order to complete the next step successfully

5. when you are satisfied with your crown's length, overlap the ends and hold them together with one hand

6. take a shorter vine from your supply and slip it under the two ends; leave about an inch uncoiled (later, you will need to tie the two ends together)

7. wrap the strand around until an inch is left over

8. tie the two loose ends together a few times; repeat steps 6, 7, and 8, if necessary 

Enjoy your crown! You can wear it or you can hang it on the wall or you can think up an entirely different use for it. Be creative. You can apply this same process to create floral crowns (just weave in some flowers along with vines), wreaths, or even garlands. xx