Preparing Your Vines

Grapevine may look like a tangled, stringy mess, but it really isn’t, and all of its different parts have great crafting potential. Some vines may have a lot of branches, some may be long and single, while others may be very heavy or very thin. I have found uses and projects for all of these vines.

After picking and transporting the vines to a working area, the process of cleaning, separating, and sorting begins. There sits a mountain of grapevines just waiting to be lovingly crafted and woven into all kinds of beautiful wreaths, baskets, and unique works of art, but first it must be divided up into some kind of manageable amounts. It is much easier to work if you can see what you have to work with.

I start by pulling out and cleaning the thickest, heaviest vines and putting them in one pile. Cleaning is nothing more than cutting off any smaller unwanted branches, broken, or dead ends, leaves, and so on. The longest and biggest of the heavy vines, about one-half inch up to about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, are mostly used for weaving giant outdoor wreaths for houses, garages, or barns. These huge vines, which tend to be long, old, shaggy, and without many tendrils, are amazingly flexible despite their size, and it’s fun to see what monster creations you can make!

Next, I take all of the leftover branches of vine, examine and clean each one individually, and then see what each branch has to offer. If there are any long, thin, single vines sprouting off a branch, I clip them off and make a second pile. These single vines, similar in thickness to heavy twine, are ideal for basket weft, delicate heart wreaths, tiny wreaths, lashing or sewing, or other small projects.

The vine branches that are left over go into a third pile of medium-sized (about the thickness of a pen or pencil), approximately five feet in length or longer, branched or single. These pieces can be used for almost any wreathmaking. Branched vines make nice, full wreaths. Other vine branches may be good for solid wreaths or smaller wreaths.

As you can see, very little goes to waste!

Supplies and Equipment

Now that the vines have been sorted, it is time to design and create. There is no need to go out and buy any special tools for crafting with grapevine. You probably have most of these things around your house or workshop.

Garden Clippers. These are perfect for grapevines, from cutting down the vines to clipping off dead or broken branches to trimming your creation. A good, heavy pair of scissors will work just as well.

Pliers. Regular pliers are useful when making forms out of coat hangers. Needlenose pliers may come in handy to insert or pull out a vine you can’t grasp with your fingers.

Masking Tape. Masking tape can temporarily hold grapevine pieces together until they are secured by wrapping or weaving. Cut off or pick out once the area is held together.

Awl or Screwdriver. The awl or any long thin instrument can be used to open up a passageway between vines for inserting another vine.

Coathangers. These can be bent into a variety of shapes with a pair of pliers and wrapped in thin vine.

Hot Glue Gun. A good tool for attaching decorations to grapevine, but use with care — hot glue can burn. Use a stick to push the glued pieces together instead of your finger.

Tacky Glue. A good, clear-drying glue for attaching decorations to grapevine, but slow-drying.

Unscented Hairspray. An inexpensive way to apply a layer of lacquer to dried flowers, weeds, and such with fuzzy or fly-away flowers or seed pods.

Tips for Working with Grapevines

• Grapevine creations are meant to be uneven, irregular, imperfect, even lopsided. Its natural state and beauty should be stressed.

• Pick fresh, live vine. It is quite flexible and can be bent, shaped, and twisted easily. Dead grapevine is of no use.

• Begin with the thicker end or butt end of the vine and work towards the thinner end or the tip.

• Incorporate natural bends, angles, and forks into your project for shaping and added reinforcement.

• Spend time searching through the piles of vine for a particular piece that will work well for what you are doing — a certain thickness, a certain length, a fork, and so on.

• To remove bark from the vine easily, gently bend the vine back and forth so the bark cracks and separates.

• Young vine is sometimes very long and thin, great for small wreaths and rings, but it snaps more easily than older vine.

• Try to readjust your wrapping to avoid placing the knobs on a curve or a bend. Breakage will occur if you try to make the vine bend on or near the knobby areas from where the tendrils or stems sprout. It will bend nicely between the knobs.

• You can pull and twist the vine just so far before it cracks, splits, or breaks. By working with the vine, and with time, patience, and practice, you will develop a feel for the material and discover just how far it will go, what it can do, and how to maneuver it.

• If your vine does break at any point, simply tuck the broken end into the weaving, and begin in that general area with another piece of vine.

• In wreathmaking, start a bit smaller than the size you wish to end up with. Wreaths tend to increase in size as you wrap and add vines.

• Often, some of the tendrils will get buried as you wrap and twist the vines. Pick and stretch them out as you go along if you want them exposed. When making a wreath, determine which side is the front and bend the tendrils on the backside toward the center or to the sides. Cut off any tendrils that will prevent the wreath from laying flat against a wall.