It's the most festive time of year, and I'm so excited for all of the joyful + cozy feels these next two months will bring! I'm currently figuring out how to spruce my home for the in-between time...you know those couple of weeks leading up to Thanksgiving until it feels juuuust right to pull out the quintessential Christmas decorations. While I'm not quite ready to go all-Christmas, I'm certainly listening to Christmas music and I do have one tree up (because twinkle lights are dreamy). And I think whatever makes you happy is what you do!
For years I've wanted to try my hand at a dried orange garland. Inspired by our Twine & Cotton "Threaded Winter Garland," I knew this was my year to finally make my own! I think it is an exceptional way to decorate for November, but also perfect for carrying over to December too. It's quite inexpensive, provides intentional crafting time (whether by yourself or with friends & family), and it just looks lovely. I think it would be a fun tradition to create each year, and you know I've already decided it will be one of ours.
The process itself is fairly hands off. But it does require time for the drying to sufficiently take place. So plan to dry your oranges on a quiet morning or simple afternoon where you know you'll be home for 3 hours.
- What You'll Need
- Oranges (I used 4)
- Cooling rack
- Twine
- Needle
- What You'll Do
- Preheat the oven to 200°.
- Slice the oranges to 1/4" thickness. Lay the cut oranges out on paper towels, and using another paper towel, gently press the oranges to soak up as much of their juice as you can. This will significantly help with their drying process.
- Put the orange slices in the oven, directly on the rack, setting the timer for 30 minutes.
- At the 30 minute mark, turn the oranges to the other side. Repeat this turning process every 30 minutes until the slices have been in the oven for 3 hours.
- Then lay them out on a cooling rack.
- Next, you'll thread each orange onto twine. If the eye of your needle isn't big enough for twine, you can bend it to make it work. It's what I did.
- I started threading from the back to the front, starting in the middle toward the top, near the rind. Making about 1/4" spacing, I threaded the twine back through. Repeat until all oranges are on the twine. (See the photos below for a little tutorial.)
- Some Tips
- Be gentle threading because the oranges are delicate.
- Once the twine is threaded through the needle, do not make a knot. It will be too big for threading the orange slices and isn't necessary.
- Once the dried slices are on the twine, try to get them in the position you want them, because adjusting later may cause you to tear the orange slice.
- You can arrange the slices as a garland or as individual ornaments. In this case, you can thread the twine through the orange slice the same way, or once through the very middle of the slice. It all depends on the look you're going for!
Enjoy making this garland, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!! And if you're looking for another cute and festive garland DIY to pair with this one (see the last two photos for how I paired mine), check out THIS POM POM GARLAND TUTORIAL!
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