Paper Wreath

They call me Mello Cello.  Well, actually they don't as my musical abilities are quite lacking.  However, Mello Cello is the name of one of the pieces of music from Albert's Album of 14 Modern Waltzes, a book I used to make this paper wreath.

The wreath also features pieces from Chappell's Song and Dance Album when I ran out of paper.  These songs came with ukulele accompaniment.  Both books were originally 2'6, and I got them for 50 cents each at the Save the Children book sale last year.  That's not quite true.  My Dad was going to the book sale and I sent him on mission to find old sheet music, which he did, and he bought a whole pile and generously donated them to the paperbakesew cause.  Dads are so good like that.

Wreath-making is time consuming, but ultimately very satisfying.  I started with a 15cm foam ring from Spotlight, and covered it with small pieces of modern waltzes.  I cut pages of sheet music into 4cm squares.  I put some glue on the bottom of each square and then rolled each side into the centre so it looked like a double cinnamon quill.

I then started glueing each 'quill' to the bottom of the wreath and slowly built up layers around the ring.  It was a tedious process as I kept running out of quills and had to keep cutting more and more paper and using more and more glue.  The paper was also quite fragile and would rip and tear if I wasn't careful (or even when I was careful), which led to more cutting and glueing.  I have to admit there was a moment when I felt like frisbeeing the wreath across the room. However, I overcame my frustration and continued glueing until there was no more room on the ring. To finish off, I glued some quills around inside the centre of the ring.

I then neatened the back of the wreath with some washi tape (I am always looking for an excuse to use it!) and then glued a ribbon to the back. For extra strength, I pinned the edges of the ribbon into the foam.

The photos don't really do the wreath justice as it has texture and character, history and interest.  This post doesn't really do the wreath justice either as, in spite of my earlier comments, it made me very happy to give new life to a discarded book of sheet music.

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