Four weeks of non stop work installing the bulk of our outdoor winter and holiday decor came to a close this afternoon. Friday’s installation schedule left no time to write until this morning. Seasonal work can be grueling; there is a limit to the time you have-never mind if you don’t feel good, or don’t have any ideas worth pursuing, or if the weather is uncooperative. I should finish the outdoor work by Wednesday of next week. It has been 14 degrees here, with high winds, for three days-this is the most compelling reason to finish the outdoor work.
Someone asked me yesterday how I manage to avoid churning out work, but produce creative and varied work, under pressure, and fast. I don’t know. I do know I dream about work every night in the heat of the spring and early winter season. I wake up in the middle of the night, in the middle of a discussion about a project. Its easier for me to talk about the mechanics-those things that make it possible for me to take an idea and translate it into a visual form.
My heated workspace, undisturbed, ranks number one. My tools rank a close second. My crews know to never borrow a tool without returning it. Rob on the other hand-if you are reading this Rob, can you return my pruners? Frustration is a bucket of cold water that will unpleasantly drench any project you might have a mind to take on. A well lit, warm space, surfaces at the right height, good tools, and I am half way there.
Detroit Garden Works is a source of materials for me, as well as the garden, or the field next door. The farmer’s market is a logical choice. I hear tell that Target is selling pearl lights this year. The materials that are everywhere around me make their own suggestions. I try to listen.
Fragments of materials can find a home at the holidays, so I save the bits that have promise. Having tools and materials at hand set the stage; inspiration can come from a lot of places. This wreath of wood shavings dyed red is a dramatic dose of holiday cheer all by itself. The red wood shaving rose brooch came from another source all together.
The forest floor is a perennial source of inspiration. Wiring and gluing it all together is pretty good fun. This year’s wreath list is down to the last 6, and then there will be some time to think about one of my own. After Christmas, we make an evening of a travelling dinner with friends; we share our homes dressed for the holidays. Most of the pleasure of decorating for the holidays is sharing it. My neighbors put their lights up in big numbers this year, as November was mild. 
Some gifted person invented a machine that stuffs magnolia into a steel frame in a dense and orderly fashion. They are zip-tied to the floor of a large box for shipping; they arrive with every leaf perfect. As it will be displayed indoors on a very large stone fireplace, I glued in two more rounds of leaves on the outside edge to give it more presence.
My favorite part of this wreath-what would you guess? The individual ends of the jute string bow have unravelled slightly after our first rainy snowfall. Though the bow is frozen solid, it has a gracefully natural look not one bit my doing.
It is 17 degrees this morning. This is all the reason I need to start moving towards decorating indoors.
Happy Holidays!
Years ago Jonathon asked me to dream up a phrase that would describe my shop. As we are in a tiny industrial district way off the beaten path, I thought “dirty little secret” would both reference the foundation upon which all I do becomes possible-and furthermore would encourage people whose curiousity was sufficiently piqued, to seek me out. I try my best to have my three quarters of an acre ready for company every day. This wreath, a warm, plain, and beautiful Douglas Fir wrap around a cast limestone dog, is displayed in the front of the house. The back of my house, stuffed with holiday materials scattered all over the place, is another story. I know this is my second post about wreaths in a week, but these modest circles of green can so enliven your winter landscape-so bear with me. No need to confine your wreathing to your front door either-a sculpture, a pot, a gate can be dressed in a wreath. 
I am persisting with this discussion, as I think these modest circles based on green can endow a winter landscape with an impact vastly beyond their small size. They are a distinctly personal expression. My workroom is entirely given over at this moment to taking those green circles a few personal steps further-special orders. There are so many materials-both natural and not, that can be arranged, wired or glued on the surface. I have made a lot of them over the years; they are miniature gardens that go together fast. Rob meets with his clients; pictures of possible combinations follow via email. Helping people put things together that they like individually is a big part of the job. 
The workroom, my dirty little secret , is home to the tools, the good light, and the space necessary to make things. My only wish for my life-to be able to make, and go on making. Landscapes, gardens, topiary sculptures, flower arrangements, paintings, essays-specific to a person, a time, and a place. Everything I make inplies the person out there. These landscapes do not take weeks, or years to put in place. Even a complicated arrangement rarely takes longer than an hour. The trick is having all the materials and tools at hand, and ready. The rest-trying out whatever strikes your fancy.
My workroom is not particularly fancy. A 4′ by 8′ painted plywood layout table holds all manner of materials and tools at a height that makes the work easy. Underneath the top is space for plans, rolled up and labelled with a client’s name, and date-some of which date back 20 years. Lots of flourescent lighting banishes shadows, and makes it easy for me to see the details. Every surface is put to use; if something is put away, I forget I have it available. I collect bits of this and that all year long, for the wreaths. 
Shelves loaded with containers organize like materials-I need this level of organization, given that I am in progress with multiple projects. I hate searching for the ribbon scissors, so it has a home. Things have gotten a little out of control, but I resist the impulse to clean. I am so lucky to have a big space that needs no daily cleanup. At the end of the day, I just go home-the litter can wait until I have time to clean it up. This is MCat’s favorite time of year-so many things that have fallen to the floor to play with. Some days he finds a spot on the table to snooze.
I like loading the layout table with materials that speak to each other. I move things around, I add and subtract until I get a mix that seems to work. This can take a lot of time. Once I come to some conclusion, the construction phase kicks in. My industrial grade glue gun-an invaluable tool. I cannot stitch, sew, or cook, but I can glue. I also take things apart before I use them. One half a seed pod might work better than a whole one. Garlands and picks cvan be unwired, and their elements used individually. 
The dried grasses, the oregonia, the bahia pods, the magnolia stems, acorns, the bark wire-all of these materials seem just right for clients for whom I mail out a slew holiday wreaths the Monday after Thanksgiving. They love all manner of natural materials-they trust my mix, different every year. I photograph them, so they know what gets sent.
The grocery store is a great source for natural materials; you can find cinnamon sticks this time of year in the spice department. Nuts and dried fruits, sprigs of fresh rosemary-all these things look great. Artichokes and pomogranites are easy to wire and attach fresh, and dry just fine. I avoid piercing any fresh material if I can; there is no need to invite rot. Forest floor litter can be a good source of materials as well-bracket fungus, cones, moss bits and twigs-all these things endow a wreath with a garden feeling. 
Some faux material is too awkward to wire. In the case of this nest, and the bark birds, I pierce the back of the object, and glue in a florist’s skewer; kitchen skewers would work just as well. Transparent materials, such as these skeletal leaves, gain visual weight when used in numbers. I can wedge the skewer into the woody branches of the evergreens. I try not to push the skewer in too far; avoid making your birds look pasted on the greens. Transparent materials, such as these skeletel leaves, gain visual weight when used in numbers; these are wired and glued on a short skewer. Loose and airy looks good.
Any faux berry stem needs to be tested for water resistance before it is used. I learned this the hard way; five window boxes full of white styrofoam berries, gel coated in a clear red acetate, dissolved all over the greens and pavement in front of the store of one of my commercial clients. What a mess. A short piece of dried kiwi vine chosen for its curl as a loose element to the mix. 
Ornaments made from natural materials are readily available. As with any ornament or stem, I deconstruct some things so the proportions are good with the size of the wreath. Sometimes I only need a wedge cut from a ball, or a portion of a stem. A wreath is a little world that needs to be built accordingly.
When the front door is a long way from the street, a shot of bright red makes a cheery statement from a distance. Raffia bows have great texture and resilience to the weather. The worst enemy of any wreath is not snow-it is rain. A wreath subjected to a lot of rain can have a good bit of its original shape restored. Take the wreath to a dry place, and dry up side down, and face down; gravity will do wonders.