Recently we posted a Baby’s Breath Heart Wreath tutorial using floral foam and many of you shared how floral foam is horrible for the environment–thank you for the feedback! We are happy to repent and change our ways. We quickly sought to find alternatives that could replace the hazardous material. Turns out, there are several methods and alternatives that are much more eco-friendly!
Keep reading to find multiple great alternatives for floral foam. We can’t wait to use these instead in our future projects!
Materials:
A few of our favorite spring projects in the past incorporated floral foam. Like this Colorful Baby’s Breath Wreath and this DIY Paper Shamrock Plant. However this year we want to replace floral foam with a more eco-friendly alternative.
In order to recreate the Our Baby’s Breath Heart Wreath using alternatives to floral foam, we came across some eco-friendly solutions that may be found around your home or from your nearest garden store. You may even find some materials along your walks around your neighborhood! Keep an eye out and look for the floral foam alternatives below.
Floral Foam Alternatives
- Pliable twigs
- Straw
- Willow, rattan or other pliable reeds
- Wood wool
- Compact moss
- Chicken wire or metal pins
- Flower foliage (e.g. boxwood, preserved evergreen fern, or other tangled leaf materials)
Materials such as straw and wood wool are commonly found in clusters often used in food packaging. They may be ideal for our Baby’s Breath Wreath tutorial because of their ability to stay in shape and hold the baby’s breath stems in place. You can easily cluster and tie them into a heart shape to form a firm base to insert flowers.
Pliable twigs and reeds may need more maneuvering and layering to tie into desirable shapes. You can attach them to the heart-shaped cardboard base (found in the original instructions) in order to create a net for the baby’s breath.
Moss is a favorite amongst eco-green floral designers because of their ability to hold water. Because moss tends to have a loose texture, they may need attachment to other materials such as chicken wire. Cut some chicken wire to wrap or attach to the heart-shaped cardboard base. Then insert clusters of baby’s breath to create the desired effect. If you have shrubs in your lawn or have wilting flowers in your vase that need composting, you may want to save the stems and shape them as you would with the straw or twigs. In any case, when there’s a will, there’s a way!
Get creative and show us what you use as alternatives for floral form! Use the hashtag “larsloveslove” to share your ideas with us!
More Eco-Friendly Projects You’ll Love
Check out our other eco-friendly DIY projects made with recycled materials, like these lampshades,recycled egg carton vases, and painted cardboard vases. We also have a roundup of sustainable products we love hereandhere.
