How to Make a Driftwood Wreath

How to Make a Driftwood Wreath – I recently made a driftwood wreath and thought I’d share the photos I took along the way in case anyone else wanted to make one too. 🙂 

Not only was this wreath super easy to make, but thanks to the custom size of the wooden wreath form I found on Etsy, I was able to make the driftwood wreath the exact size I wanted. 

The number one thing I was worried about when I made this wreath was the pieces of driftwood breaking off. Well, it didn’t happen! For two reasons; cutting the driftwood pieces in half before adhering them to the frame and the use of Gorilla Glue.

Supplies I Used

• Scroll Saw
• Wooden Wreath Form
• Nautical Rope
• Painter’s Tape
• Driftwood 
• Gorilla Glue
• Shells and Sea Glass

How to Make a Driftwood Wreath

The size of the driftwood you’ll need will depend on the size of the base of your frame. I used a 24” {outer dimension} wooden frame with a 21” inner dimension. This gave me a 3” base to glue my driftwood pieces onto. 

The overall sizes of the driftwood pieces I used varied from 9” to 12”.  All were collected from nearby beaches and dried in the sun. The width of the driftwood also varied from a pencil sized width to that of a PAYDAY candy bar.

For the first layer of wreath, I cut the driftwood pieces in half using a scroll saw lengthwise. This allowed them to lay flat against the wreath form. My husband jumped in and helped cut a few pieces as well. 

Using the scroll saw was a bit tricky {and not for the faint at heart, so BE CAREFUL!}.

Let’s just say, it took a while to get all the pieces cut. 😉

How to Make a Driftwood Wreath

Once I was sure I had enough pieces of driftwood for the first layer cut, I laid them out on the wooden form and moved onto the next step.

We had a bit of nautical rope in the garage {sisal rope would work too} so I used that to line the interior of the wooden frame. I simply applied wood glue to the inside edge of the frame and taped the rope in place.

After allowing the glue to dry for 24 hours, I removed the tape. I then began to glue my first layer of driftwood to the frame.

This is what the wreath looked like after the first layer of driftwood had been applied and allowed to set for 24 hours. 

There were a few gaps, which were to be expected, but since I had planned on adding another layer of driftwood on top of the first, I wasn’t worried.

After the second layer of driftwood was applied {and had set} I went through my shell collection and picked out a few mussel and razor clam shells along with a few bits of sea glass to add to the driftwood wreath.

I glued the shells, sea glass and a bit of mica I found along a path to the wreath using the same Gorilla wood glue I had used to adhere the driftwood to the wreath form.

Here is the driftwood wreath up on our wall.

So there you have it, how to make a driftwood wreath! 

Keep calm and craft on. 

~Mavis