Olive Branch

Olive branches are a symbol of peace and just simply beautiful. With delicate sage-green leaves and little felt balls to represent olives, these branches can be displayed on their own for a lovely minimalist look. They also offer a nice backdrop for other flowers to take center stage.

SUPPLIES

Sage green and olive green felt

Eight ¾˝-diameter charcoal felt balls

18˝ of 18-gauge floral wire

Three 18˝-long pieces of 22-gauge floral wire

Olive branch template

Needle-nose pliers

Wire cutters

Scissors

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

STEP 1: Cut the pieces. Follow the olive branch template to cut out twenty-five leaves (or freehand them following the tutorial). Cut about half the leaves from the sage green felt and the rest from the olive green felt. Cut one of the 22-gauge wire pieces in half. Set one piece aside. Cut the remaining two and a half pieces of wire into twenty equally-sized pieces (you’ll use sixteen of these pieces and have four left over).

STEP 2: Attach the leaves. Add a ¼˝ line of glue to the center of a leaf on the bottom end. Pinch it in place around the top of the 18-gauge wire. Attach a leaf to each end of twelve of the 22-gauge wire segments.

STEP 3: Attach the leaf pairs. Twist one of the 22-gauge leaf pairs around the 18-gauge stem about ½˝ below the top leaf. Twist until the bottoms of both leaves touch the stem. Repeat to attach four more leaf pairs.

STEP 4: Make the large leaf bundle. Take the longest piece of 22-gauge wire (the one you set aside in Step 1) and attach a leaf to each end. Twist the remaining leaf pairs onto the long wire, four on one end and three on the other.

STEP 5: Attach the large leaf bundle. Twist the large leaf bundle onto the main stem.

STEP 6: Make the olive pairs. Take four of the 22-gauge wire segments and attach a felt ball to the end of each one. Use scissors to cut into each felt ball two or three times to make a hole. Add glue to the hole and push the end of one of the wire pieces into it. Pinch the ball onto the wire until the glue sets.

STEP 7: Attach the olive pairs. Twist each olive pair around the main stem wherever they look good to you!