Make Wreaths for Winter Dollars
(Page 2 of 3)
November/December 1975
By Gillian G. McDaniel
ENTER THE MIDDLEMAN?
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Next, you'll need some additional materials . . . but before you go out and buy them, you might want to look into an arrangement which can save you that trouble and a good deal more: Around here, at least, it's possible to make wreaths for local people who sell them to big-time nurseries.
Last year I worked for such a woman in my town. She furnished all the findings I needed, bought the wreaths as fast as I could make them, and sold them to nurseries in Washington, D.C., and in the Southern States. In my area (Machias), where so many people "make", it's simpler to operate this way . . . sell to a middleman and let that person worry about shipping and buyers. If not many folks in your parts are turning out wreaths, though, you might increase your profits by marketing your own creations: at a roadside stand, to nurseries, or through advertising.
One other alternative I should mention is to stop at the tipping stage and sell greenery to middlemen, who usually "make" themselves and always need materials. If you don't have a good place to work, or just don't dig making wreaths, you can still earn some dollars this way. Last year's price for bough ends was about 7¢ to 10¢ a pound.
HOW TO MAKE A WREATH
Let's assume, though, that you're going to do the "making" yourself. Apart from tips (I found I could produce about three 20-inch wreaths from the contents of one stick), you'll need your snippers again, plus lots of spools of thin wire—22 to 24-gauge and the heavy wire rings to which the boughs are attached. The last two items can be purchased from a hardware store, if you're not working for a middleman who supplies them.
All set? Then proceed as follows:
[1] Lay a wire ring down on a flat surface and attach one end of the thin wire to this base. The strand won't be cut until the wreath is completed.
[2] Take a tip and break off the top 6 to 8 inches. Fashion this and the other "leftover" pieces into a fan, with all the fat ends together.
[3] Place the fan—right side up—on the wire ring, hold the ends of the twigs together tightly, and wrap the thin wire a few times around both frame and greenery.
[4] Make another fan just like the first.
[5] Flip the ring over and place the second fan, also right side up, about 2 inches along the frame from the first (so that the two bunches are back to back). Fasten it with two or three tight turns of thin wire.
[6] Continue this process—making fans and attaching them to alternate sides of the ring, always right side up—all the way around the circle. Keep the wire wrapped tightly at all times, and try to make the bundles the same size and thickness throughout.
