These DIY gifts are succulent: Los Osos studio offers workshops on succulent wreaths and more
By Ryah CooleyI have approximately 128 DIY related pins on my crafty board on Pinterest. I have attempted zero of them.
I think about making the wine bottle glasses or the farmers’ market T-shirt tote. And then I think about how those crafty attempts might play out: with my hand gushing blood or with a million pieces of T-shirt on my floor and something that doesn’t even remotely resemble a tote.
So I happily signed up to undertake a crafty pursuit under the supervision and expertise of Joan Martin Fee at Heidi Borchers and Friends Creative Studio in Los Osos one rainy Sunday afternoon. Our mission was to create a decorative wreath using drought-friendly succulent plants.
The process was simpler than I could have hoped for. We started with a wreath made of moss that would serve as the soil for our succulents. Then taking a pen or pair of scissors, you simple poked a hole in the moss and then shoved your succulent—chosen from a large table piled high with locally sourced succulents of all varieties—into it. And the succulent stayed put! Well mostly. Rebellious succulents were put in place with a greening pin. The process was repeated until the wreath was filled out, which took just under an hour.
“This is like a crafter’s dream project,” Martin Fee said. “I like this because it’s simple, it’s gratifying. You can’t go wrong.”
The succulent wreaths can hang on your door or garden wall. They can even be brought in and used as a centerpiece for a holiday meal simply by adding a candle to the center and some festive red flowers to the wreath. Martin Fee said that if properly taken care of, the succulent wreaths can be a holiday gift that will last for years to come.
“What we like to stress is that it’s all here for you,” Martin Fee said. “You don’t have to bring anything, you don’t have to clean up.”
While a wreath with just a few succulents on it could cost you $130 from a local nursery, a succulent wreath workshop that will leave you with a handmade personal gift to give to a loved one will cost you just $50 for a fully filled out 9-inch wreath or $80 for an 11-inch wreath.
If plants aren’t your thing, the studio also offers workshops on edible gifts from the kitchen, sea glass jewelry, and mosaic projects. Check out studio owner Heidi Borchers’ site for more information. Crafters who want to get their DIY on solo style can purchase moss wreaths for their own succulent crafts at topiaryartworks.com.
Ryah Cooley is pro-succulents and other water-saving plants at rcooley@newtimesslo.com.
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