This Straw Wheel is my second project in my straw crafting series. It reminds me of the depiction of sun wheels. So it’s acutally quite fitting for the season. 🙂
For this Straw Wheel you don’t have to do any weaving, braiding or any other complicated technique. It’s amazingly easy and a beautiful alternative to all the other wreaths you see around
1. I used 12 pieces of rye, one metal hoop (available here*)some twine and nice ribbons (available here*) to make the straw wheel. Before you start, you should prepare the straw by letting it soak in warm water for a while. This way you’ll be able to bend it whithout breaking the stems.
If you don’t have access to any rye you can also use dried wheat straw stalks. (available here*)
2. Gently remove the leaves from the stems. Try to keep them long. Don’t throw them away, you’ll need them in the next step. If your straw has no leaves, you can use corn husks instead.
3. Cover the entire wire ring with the leaves. Hide the loose ends under the next leaf. Just fold them over and wrap the leaf around the ring and the loose ends. I got my wire ring at the florist supply.
4. If your ring is fully covered in leaves, secure the last leaf with some twine.
5. Tie the first rye head to the ring. Hide the twine between the grains. It should be nearly invisible like that. Go around clockwise and tie all the pieces to the ring like that. Be careful to spread them evenly.
6. Tie the second rye piece to the first one. Leave a little space between the head of the first piece end the knot. The knot should be directly under the head of the second piece. Continue to tie all the pieces together like that.
7. Every new piece should lie ABOVE the previous pieces. Tie the end of the first piece to the ring exactely where the head of the 6th piece is secured. The end of the second piece should be tied to the spot where the 7th piece starts, and so on. You always skip 4 rye pieces! You’ll get a nice even criss-cross pattern like that.
8. When you reach the 9th piece, you get to the point where you cross the first peace again. To finish the pattern correctly, you have to tuck the ends of the following pieces UNDER the first pieces in the straw wheel.
9.You could leave your straw wheel like that, or decorate it in some other fashion. I wanted a pop of color, so I weaved a star in the middle with some yellow ribbon.
10. To keep the points of the star in place, just secure them to the straw with some twine.
11. I wrapped the outer ring with some blue ribbon. I really like the combination of the straw with the blue and the yellow.
12. You can hang up your straw wheel like a wreath or place it on a table. I left the ends of the blue ribbons a little longer, so I can hang up my straw wheel on my front door. 🙂
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