That time of year is back, the Christmas decorations come out of hiding and we give our houses a full festive make over. But let’s be honest some of these decorations are a few years old and could use a sprucing up. One easy and great smelling way of levelling up your decorations is a DIY dried orange garland. We’ve found ourselves making several of these and wanted to share how we’ve done it.

You will need:

3 Oranges (can also use other citrus fruits like lime or lemon)

Baking paper

Paper towel

Twine or thread

Needle

Knife or mandolin

Method:

Step 1: Preheat your oven

Your oven needs to be set to a low temperature, max 100ºC, to dehydrate the oranges. Having the temperature to high can burn the fruit and have the opposite of the desired effect.

Step 2: Slice the oranges

The oranges need to be cut into slices, they shouldn’t be too thin or too thick, around 3mm – 8mm. If the slices are too thick, they won’t dry, too thin they will not hold the weight stringed up.

Step 3: Soak up excess juice

Blot the orange slices with the paper towel to soak up the excess juice.

Step 4: Arrange on baking sheet and bake

Arrange the slices leaving a centimetre space between each slice so they don’t stick together. Shove in the oven and leave to bake for about 3-4 hours. Halfway through flip and keep an eye on them to check it doesn’t burn.

Step 5: Cool and sew garland together

Once they become see through, shrunk, and changed colour, remove from the oven, and leave to cool down. When the slices cool use a thick needle threaded with twine to pierce a hole through each slice, knotting the twine on both sides of the slice. Leave 4 figures between each slice of orange. When done, add to any garland to hang across the fireplace or as a centre piece on a dining room table.

We hope that you enjoy our latest how to blog and make sure to tag us in your garland photos on Facebook and Instagram.