How to Make my Suspended Autumnal Branch
Get ready to meet Giovanni the branch - he’s quite the charmer!
You might be wondering why this whimsical Fall display has landed in your inbox the day before Halloween. Well, that’s because I’m not the hugest fan of it, Halloween that is, not your inbox. I know it’s a huge deal in America and it’s become much more so here in Britain, but it just doesn’t melt my butter. People knocking on my door after dark slightly makes me panic. I have visions of axe murderers or cackling nuns with no face, so the idea of a gang of loitering mischievous trick or treaters doesn’t thrill me.
They’re no longer the sweet, innocent children they used to be either, very demanding these days. A lollipop each won’t suffice, they want a whole tub of Cadbury’s Heroes. I’m telling you it’s the truth. We’ve had to get extra supplies in. Woe betide anyone who dares to say: “trick” - you’ll get a lot more than you bargained for and might be wishing it had indeed been an axe murderer after all!
So my friends I’m keeping things very calm with a rather pleasant autumnal ceiling installation for your delight and merriment. Now, I know it looks like I just hauled a huge North American Maple into my kitchen/diner and hoisted it up to my ceiling, but appearances can be deceptive. It’s much more clever than that. You see, if I had done that then all the leaves would have dried up and crumpled to floor by now and all I’d be left with is bare wood. Now, sometimes that’s not such a bad thing, but in this case it would be disastrous, so I had to think hard on how I could create the illusion of autumn suspended in mid-air.
Do you remember a few weeks back I showed you how to preserve leaves, or dry them in an old book? Well, if you had a go at that, then now is the time to go fetch them and make your own Fall branch. It doesn’t have to be a great big stonking tree like mine, it could just be a little happy branch that sits in your bay window. We’re going to glue each leaf to the branch individually. Yes, it’s going to require much patience and half way through you may lose the will to live, but it’ll be worth it to be the envy of every villager that passes by. Plus, if you do get trick or treaters, then you’ve got a very good excuse not to answer the door because you’ll be stuck up a ladder on a date with a hot glue gun.
If you’ve followed me for an eternity then you may remember my Kitchen Branch named Luca, who did indeed have leaves stuck to him, but they were plastic and times have changed. We try not to use non-compostable things unless we reuse them a million times, so that’s why I’ve worked on my preserving techniques. Anyway, Luca had a terrible accident, bless him. So, ever the anthropomorphist, he’s been replaced with Giovanni. World meet Mr Giovanni the Maple branch from San Gimignano (actually, he came from a backyard in Chichester and is a Cox’s Pippin, but don’t burst his bubble, let him run with it). He’s a fine specimen isn’t he? Great bone structure. You wait till you see him sporting the spring collection!
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Do be careful with the glue gun. I have asbestos fingers, but you might have just had a manicure and have super soft skin. The glue is very hot! Also, when you are tying the fishing line to your branch make sure you secure it with quite a few knots. You’re going to need:
A branch, preferably one that is dead and fallen to the forest floor. Please don’t go around cutting other people trees down.
Three ceiling hooks.
Fishing line.
Dried Maple leaves, or whatever you have.
Glue gun and glue sticks.
A ladder.
A helper if you are lucky enough to have someone willing.
Patience, lots.
Watch my short little video to see how I did it and I can’t wait to see some of your branches. By the way, when it’s time to start decorating for Christmas (that’ll be 1st November on Instagram), if you are careful, then you can peel the glue off of the leaf stalks and your branch to be able to use them all again.
Wishing you all a very happy All Hallows Eve and fingers crossed you don’t have any axe murderers in your area. I’ll be popping back at 5pm on Friday for our weekly little get together on Chat. It’s a chance for us all to catch up, talk about our week, ask questions, or share anything you think is worth sharing. I’ll put a little note up on Friday at five to remind you. See you there. On Sunday it’s a bumper post about candles and I’ll be telling you my tried and tested favourites along with a big industry secret!
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Looks spectacular, love it. Xx
That is really gorgeous JP - I had to watch the film, even with your description, and am greatly impressed by how gracefully you managed it!