DIY: Dried Orange Holiday Garland & Ornaments

Dried orange slices deck the halls in Graham Kechnie and Andraya Frith’s old stone house in Hastings County, Ontario. Andraya uses the fruit to make ornaments for her Douglas fir and a garland for her master bedroom fireplace. Learn how to craft the two holiday decorations below, and see inside the couple’s character-filled country house in our November 2017 issue, on newsstands from October 9.

DIY: Dried Orange Garland

Materials:

Oranges (Andraya uses navel and blood oranges), parchment paper, two cookie sheets, jute or natural twine, skewer or nail, Christmas hooks. 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to bake at 250°F.

2. Cut oranges crosswise into equal ¼” w. slices (four oranges will make a 6′-long garland).

3. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Pat orange slices dry with paper towel and place them on cookie sheets in a single layer.

4.  Bake in oven for approximately 3 hours until dry. (To ensure the slices dry flat, turn them over at the midway mark.) Remove from oven.

5. Using skewer or nail, poke two holes in the orange flesh at the top of each slice.

6. Thread twine through each hole, evenly spacing the oranges on the garland. Tie off each end with a knot or a loop depending on how you plan to use the garland.

DIY: Dried Orange Ornaments

1. Repeat steps 1 to 5 of the above garland instructions.

2. Hook a standard Christmas ornament hook through the hole of each orange slice or thread a 4” piece of twine through the hole and tie at the top.