DIY Raven Wreath

Years ago, I hosted a Poe-themed Halloween party, which of course featured ravens galore along with two beautiful feather raven wreaths. This year, I decided to reprise the Poe-theme sans the feathers. Here’s an easy DIY raven wreath tutorial to add some spooky fun to your Halloween decor.

My original raven Halloween wreaths were made with square wire wreath forms, several black feather boas and two large black ravens. They were amazing (sorry, but the pictures have long since vanished). I loved them, but quickly discovered that wreaths made entirely of feathers – shed everywhere.   

This year, I opted for an oversized oval grapevine wreath. There are dozens of moody inspiration pics for this project on Pinterest, but my hands down favorite is this one from the blog A Pumpkin & A Princess.

Gathering the supplies

I found a large wreath form and two white floral picks at JoAnn’s. Originally, I envisioned leaving the wreath and the flowers in their original colors. My bestie warned “It won’t be a Halloween wreath if it isn’t black.”  So, I decided to paint everything. 

I found these gold floral picks at a thrift store this summer and knew they would be perfect for this project.     

Supplies

• Grapevine wreath
• Two large floral picks
• Bag of smaller floral picks for filler
• One raven
• Large bow (optional)
• A can of black matte spray paint
• Floral wire
• Scissors/wire cutters
• Carboard

Instructions

Start by spray painting the wreath, flowers, and the decorative floral picks black. Use several light coats of paint, let everything dry thoroughly between coats. To make sure the paint covers everything, paint from multiple angles for full coverage.

Since I hadn’t originally planned to paint this project, I used the paint I had on hand. While this dual paint/primer worked perfectly for so many of my craft projects, in hindsight I would have chosen something formulated for use on fabric and foam.  This just required me to paint the white flowers a few times.

Use the green floral wire to attach the flowers to the wreath. Carefully twist the wire and tuck any excess into the wreath. Using floral wire instead of hot glue will let me use the wreath again for future projects. Plus, the grapevine wreath is easy to assemble because you can easily tuck the flowers and the floral picks into place and use the wire to secure on the back.

Once everything dried, I laid the flowers on the wreath to decide on placement. Next, remove the excess stems with wire cutters or scissors.

Next, decide where to place the floral picks.  My aesthetic is more minimal, so I used them sparingly to add some depth to the wreath.   

Once the picks and flowers were in place, I used the spray paint to touch up any areas that chipped during the assembly. Then set the wreath aside for a few more hours to thoroughly dry.

The final addition was adding the raven.  I have had this fella’ for years. He added the perfect pop of color to the all-black wreath. Simply attach your raven to the bottom of the wreath using more floral wire.

There you have it. This DIY raven wreath is the perfect complement to this year’s Poe-themed Halloween décor.