Holiday Wreath for the front of my
2000 Forerunner
Been wanting to put a wreath on the front of my truck for quite some time, and finally took the time to do it. I know this seems to be quite popular with the Britts, with the big red clown nose, or Rudolph nose, but I wanted something a bit more festive, such as a wreath.
Normally you might thnk it would be a simple matter to buy a store-made wreath and put it on the grill. A couple things stopped me from going that route. Firstly, was the shape. The store-bought wreaths are wither round, or slightly oval shaped. I wanted one that was wide, but not real tall. One that would fit the grill of my truck, without being too tall and looking unwieldy. The second reason, is the cost. Them wreaths be expensive and stuff.
So, being the cheap that I am, and the creative control freak to go with it, I decided to build one. Headed off to Hobby Lobby to pick up a few parts, and aftger some retrofitting and hot-glue slops later, viola, I have a finished wreath.
I bought a grapevine circular wreath that I thought I would try to reshape into the shape that I wanted. Wasn't sure of this would work, but thought if I could soak it in water, then unwind it, I might be able to get it into the shape I wanted. Long story short - it sort of worked.
Here is the wreath ready to be dunked in a trash can filled with water for some overnight soaking.
Wreath in trash can being filled with water.
The next day, I took the wreath out and unraveled it into 1 long, tangled mess. I then reshaped it into an oblongish oval, and tied it together with raffia to keep it from unravelling.
Then to further keep it in shape, I re-soaked it in the water for a couple hours and tied it to the door to my garage to try to establish the shape I wanted. The yellow twine was to initially keep the narrow profile before tying it to the door. I then let that set overnight.
Next day, once I took it out of the harness, and cut off the yellow twine, it was holding its shape quite well, so decided no more trussing or harnessing required, and time to get started on the fun stuff. I bought some of the florals in the floral section of the store and fired up the hot glue gun.
I first wrapped the wreath with 2 6-foot sections of garland, also from the floral section of the hobby store. I just wrapped it around the wreath and used 20-gauge floral wire to tie the ends to the wreath.
Now just a matter of cutting the twigs and stuffing the end into the wreath, and securing them in place with a generous dollop of hot glue. I just worked my around the wreath overlapping as I went. After making the complete circle, I had a few floral twigs left, so went back and filled some of the spots giving it a fuller appearance.
All done, now just a matter of tying it to the truck. I used 3 pieces of 18-gauge galvanized steel wire to tie the wreath in place. I was able to fasten the wire to the frame on the left and right sides, and one at the bottom center. I fished the wire through the grill, through the vine wreath, then looped the wire back through the grill and twisted the wire back onto itself.
Now the true test will be in seeing how it holds up in the snow and slop to come as we get into winter. But it is fun to see the looks of passerbys and other drivers as I head down the road. Just trying to spread a little holiday cheer anyway I can.
Happy Holidays.