Dried Orange Garland Made with Fragrant Botanicals

This dried orange garland project made with bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks are easy to create and make a beautiful statement in your fall or winter decor.

Have you ever made a dried fruit garland? The drying process takes some time, but overall it’s 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 during in the fall and for your Christmas decor.

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DIY Dried Orange Garland

Supplies

Oranges
Whole Bay Leaves
Cinnamon Sticks, 2.75 Cut, 1 lb
Twine

How to Dry Orange Slices

You can buy dried orange slices but it’s more fun to make your own. Start by slicing oranges about 1/4 inch thick and placing them straight on the oven rack. Bake 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.

The same process works for apples. You can string them too or just make a pretty bowl of potpourri.

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 is 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.

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 and some apple slices. It makes a really nice fall garland for our family room mantel. 

I just might leave it up or use it on the tree as an orange Christmas decoration.

A little time consuming but totally worth it and I got to enjoy the smell of oranges, bay leaves, and cinnamon while I worked.

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P.S. I love crafting with dried fruit and herbs. Here are a few other projects that you may also like: Dried Citrus Ornaments, Citrus Candle Rinds, and Dried Fruit Ornaments

 

Check out the DIY/Projects Page,
for more great project ideas.

 

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