Have you every made a dried orange garland? The drying process takes some time, but overall its pretty easy to make. My sister and I used to make these for our herbal shop with different dried fruits, and other botanicals, like dried red hot peppers, very pretty at the holidays.
DIY Dried Orange Garland
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
The Materials
Oranges
Whole Bay Leaves
Cinnamon Sticks, 2.75 Cut, 1 Lbs
Twine
The Process
Start by slicing oranges about 1/4 inch thick and placing them straight on the oven rack. Back at 200 degrees (F) for about 4 hours, turning every hour or so. I made them in two batches in the evening and after 4 hours turned off the oven and let them sit there overnight. I tried something similar with whole oranges and little clementines but it did not work as well. You can read more about that project in the dried citrus ornament project.
Next gather your bay leaves in a bowl. I bought a big bag of bay leaves. Many were not big enough to string on the garland so it helped to weed through them ahead of time.
Drill holes in the middle of the cinnamon sticks. You can also just wind the cinnamon sticks around the twine as you go. I did this for half of my garland then switched to drilling holes. Drilling takes more time, but the cinnamon stick stays in place better.
Now all you have to do it string them together. I started with a cinnamon stick, then an orange slice. Then I added 8 bay leaves, another orange slice, 8 more bay leaves, a final orange slice and repeated this combination until the end. It is helpful if you have a large embroidery needle, but you can always use a paper clip or even a piece of wire.
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Of course you can use any combination you’d like. To give you an idea, the garland above is about 4 feet long. For this I used approximately 11 oranges, 18 cinnamon sticks (2.75 in) and 250 bay leaves.
I think in the future I might add more cinnamon sticks.
A little time consuming but totally worth it and I got to enjoy the smell of oranges, bay leaves and cinnamon while I worked.
About Patti Estep
I love this idea (and the pics are gorgeous). I was thinking about dried oranges the other day and now I think I have to try this. Great post!
Remember the ones with garlic and hot red peppers? They were all so fun and now I’m bringing them back!!
What a great idea and what a beautiful seasonal mantel! I love all the different scents of autumn.
Thanks Maureen,
Gotta love fall!
You are full of surprises. KEEP them comming. I love your energy.
Thanks a bunch. Being a crafty person I’ve been looking for non-gender gift for Christmas. Dried oranges combined with all the good smells of fall/Christmas will make a good smelly for adults as well college age grandchildren. I’m excited to get started!!
Love this – I’m thinking I may do this for the Christmas season. I’m wanting to go all handmade and natural this year. Natural scents are the best.
Thanks Carole,
I agree that natural smells best and this project would work great at Christmas. In fact, I like it as a kitchen ornament all year round.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week.
Patti
how can I refresh the aroma when it looses the smell?
Hi Donnalee,
You can try placing few drops of essential oil or fragrance oils on the garland if you want the scent to last longer. Otherwise it still looks pretty even if the scent has faded.
Thanks for stopping by,
Patti
Me encantó la idea de hacer una guirnalda, estoy segura que el aroma será exquisito! Gracias
Thank you. So glad you liked it and yes it would make a wonderful wreath!
Do you think that it would work good with apples too instead of oranges? Could I dry out the apples the same way you dried out the oranges and have it work just as good as yours came out? Not that the oranges are not a great idea because it is a great idea but I was just wondering if my house would smell like apple cinnamon if I used apples instead of oranges.
Hi Amanda,
I haven’t done apples for a while but as I recall they are not as fragrant and oranges. Still they would look beautiful and if you cut them in whole slices they have a pretty star effect where the seeds are. Certainly worth a try.
I actually have a question. Can you do this with apples also? I love apple cinnamon for the winter time. I usually make my own brew in a crock pot, but would like to add this in the living room.
Hi Dawn,
I have not tried this with apples but I suspect it would work. I’m not sure how much scent they would hold but they may look really nice. You could try sprinkling cinnamon on them when you put them in the oven. I bet your house will smell fantastic while they are drying. Have you ever sliced an apple from the top? There is a pretty star or flower patter in the middle where the seeds lie. This would be a good hole for stringing the apple. Give it a try with one or two apples and see how it goes.
These are gorgeous! I love natural decor, and these garlands are some of the nicest I’ve seen. I’ll definitely be making my own, thanks for sharing!!
Hi Stephanie,
So glad you liked the garland. It was a fun project to make. I haven’t used apple slices but I have used dried chilis in the past for a nice southwest look. Just another thought.
Have a great week!
Patti
Hi, I am wondering if the oranges drip juice while in the oven. I understand that the orange slices go directly on the oven rack. Did I read this correctly? I have used a dehydrating machine before to dry out oranges and it gets sticky from the juice. Don’t want a mess. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Nettie,
I totally understand. What I did was dry the oranges on paper towels first. Blot them with as much as you can with paper towels too. They did not drip in the oven. I think maybe the rack did get a little sticky, but nothing that couldn’t be cleaned afterwards. I don’t know if a little vegetable spray would help? I did flip them several times so that they did not stick and dried evenly.
Hope it works for you and let me know if you come up with any different solutions.
Patti
What a gorgeous and festive idea- I bet it smells fantastic too!
Lovely! thanks so much for sharing on craft schooling Sunday, and great to meet you!
This looks so pretty! I love the rich fall colors! And, I bet this smells amazing!!! Thanks for sharing with us on the Family Joy Blog Link Party!
>> Christene
Keys to Inspiration
This garland is gorgeous. It reminds me of hot spiced cider and a crackling fire. LOVE it!!! Pinned and sharing. Thank you for linking up to Family Joy Blog Link-Up Party this week!
Your garland looks so great. I have not dried oranges in years and you have given me the incentive to do it again.
Thanks,
Bev
I’ve wanted to do a dried orange garland for a while now and your tutorial is wonderful. Thank you for sharing at Snickerdoodle Create~Bake~Make link party.
Just a quick note to let you know I am featuring your dried orange garland at Snickerdoodle today.
Hi Sharon,
Thank you for featuring the garland.
I hope everyone loves it.
Have a great week!
Patti
Oooh, this is beautiful! I love how festive it looks too!
Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
xoxo
This is so nice I bet it smells amazing. Maybe I need to add making one to my fall bucket list. Thanks for joining us at the Inspiration Spotlight party. Shared.
Used to have wonderful garland very similar to yours I bought when we lived in KY.There are so many wonderful antique/vintage shops there, still miss it. Mostly miss our house and land.
Have been here in western CO for over 12 yrs. now, miss MT where we lived before KY. Every place we’ve lived has something I miss, jury still out on western CO, lol. Favorite even over San Diego area is MT. Lived in San Diego areas for 21 yrs. before MT., before S.D. lived in Tucson for 20 yrs., was born in Cleveland, Oh, lived there til I was 10.
Sure am glad you featured your incredible orange garland, will be making this very soon.
Have wonderful Fall weekend
Hi JaneEllen,
So many wonderful places to live. I’ve been to San Diego twice and really loved it. Just got back from Lexington, KY weekend trip with friends and had a great time. Living in Pittsburgh, PA, I’ve been all over Ohio and my kids live there. I haven’t been to Colorado since I was a teen but I remember it also being beautiful. I’m sure you’ll learn to love it too. Now, Montana is one place I’ve never been. I’ll have to put it on my bucket list.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you love your garland and enjoy the rest of this beautiful fall weekend.
Patti
Love this! And the photographs are so pretty too! Thanks for sharing at Totally Terrific Tuesday Party, hope to see you back here this week! Pinned it!
I am totally making this garland this holiday season! It’s gorgeous!
Hi Erin,
So glad you liked it. You could even use it later as a wreath by tying the ends together and hanging it in the kitchen.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!
Patti
This garland would be perfect for my mantle! Thanks for linking it up to Saucy Saturdays!
this is a cute craft! Looks so original! thanks for sharing!
Could the oranges be done in a dehydrator? This looks so nice!
Hi Corrine,
I would definitely think they could be dried in a dehydrator but have never tried it.
I think you could get good results with a little experimentation.
Good luck,
Patti