Craft herbal feather wreaths for your Christmas feast table

Bring the outdoors to your festive table with our feathery candlelit centrepiece

“Nothing finishes off your Christmas table better than a stunning, seasonal wreath, and here we show you how to make the perfect one to impress all your friends and family. Enjoy collecting the foliage and feathers on a lovely walk and then in the comfort of your home, take some time to create something beautiful to enjoy throughout the whole festive period. Finished off with a lit candle, it will look stunning on your dinner table on Christmas day, or use it to brighten up any coffee table or mantelpiece”.

SAFETY FIRST! Never leave lit candles unattended. Use thick pillar candles for sturdiness and never lift the wreath over an open flame.

YOU’LL NEED:
• Evergreen foliage such as ivy, rosemary sprigs and holly
• Small pine cones
• Found feathers
• Fine copper wire
• Tacky glue (optional)
• Pillar candles for decoration

Make festive candle wreaths
1 Select and cut your foliage carefully. Choose long tendrils of ivy but avoid stems with dead or diseased leaves, giving them all a gentle shake before bringing indoors.
2 Cut a few 7cm lengths of wire before winding a long ivy tendril loosely around one of your hands. Secure the ring by neatly wrapping the wire around it at quarterly intervals, as the image to the right. 3 Bind shorter lengths of ivy or sprigs of holly to the ring in the same way. Pad out the wreath with small sprigs of rosemary and feathers tucked between the bound stems of ivy.
4 Lay the wreath on a flat surface and adjust pieces as necessary before using a strong tacky glue to fix several small pine cones in the gaps.
5 Finish off by placing a candle of your choice inside each and lighting them at suppertime. Remember never to leave candles unsupervised.

A sign of messages from the angels, feathers are a great way to add spirituality to your decorations

For 7 ways to customise your wreath, go to page 70 of our December issue, on sale now!