firs lady Franklin woman reveals her technique for crafting perfect holiday wreathes

There are a few things you need to know before you try to make your own wreath.

First, you need to know the difference between balsam fir, which smells like those little pillows you see at every tourist shop in Maine, and spruce, which smells like cat urine. To the untrained eye, they look very similar, but spruce has needles that will rip your hands to bits.

Which leads us to the second thing you need to know: good gloves are essential, especially if you’re an amateur. They don’t need to be fancy, just durable. The third, but not final, secret to successful wreath-making is that you can’t be stingy with the greenery. If you gather too little, you’ll end up with the wreath version of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.

Donna Abbott of Franklin has known all of this since she was a little girl. She grew up in Franklin, and every November, her mom made wreaths, so young Donna helped out. Now she’s 54, and she can make a wreath faster than most people can make toast. On a recent afternoon, there was barely room to move on her porch because of all the wreaths, neatly stacked around the perimeter.

“This is what I do,” she said matter-of-factly. “I make wreaths to get Christmas money.”

She makes wreaths for fun and she makes wreaths for money. Seasonally, she works for Dickens Farms in Eastbrook, where she has made them as small as 6 inches across and as large as 7 feet.

“That one was huge!” she exclaimed.

Abbott collects her greenery at a friend’s woodlot – if you decide to make your own wreath, be sure to get permission from the landowner before you gather your fir. She is careful to collect branches only from larger trees – that way, the small ones will have a chance to grow.

When she looks for tips, she wants to find nice, full brush with rounded, not flat, branches. She usually snaps 18 inch pieces from the end of branches. She can tell when the color is a little off, so she skips any trees with yellowed needles. An average wreath weighs between 31/2 and 4 pounds, so she’s sure to gather more than that, to ensure she has enough.

“I’ve gotta get all the nice ones,” she said.

And she does. When she brings them back home, onto the porch, she sets up wire wreath rings that serve as the skeleton to the wreath. She also needs fine-gauged wire to lash the fir to the form, and pruning shears, just in case the fir is too pliable to snap by hand.

Abbott then begins breaking each branch into three pieces, layering two V-shaped sections underneath the rounded tip.

“My tops are always tips,” she said. “It’s all in the feel, how the bunch feels. You have to feel it to know if it’s heavy enough.”

Abbot knows. She’s been making wreaths so long she could probably do it blindfolded. And there’s no chance of her stopping anytime soon. She still loves the sense – and scents – of solitude it provides.

“I love the smell, and when you’re doing it by yourself, it’s quiet.”

How to.

Clear a workspace and set up a wreath form (12 inches), a bobbin of green wreath wire, and pruning shears. Put on work gloves. Forms and wire are available at most craft stores.

Assemble a pair of bunches by breaking or cutting two branches into three pieces each – stacking two Vs at the bottom, and a tip on top. Each bunch should be about 6 to 8 inches in length. Pile one bunch above the wire wreath form, and one bunch below, sandwiching the wreath form with the tips facing outward. Secure by tightly wrapping the wire around four or five times, about 11/2 inches from the bottom of the bunch.

Now, instead of a pair, place one bunch at a time about 2 inches away from the existing bunch. Affix by wrapping the wire around twice, flip the wreath and pull the wire to tighten. Repeat the bunch-and-flip sequence every 2 inches, so the wreath looks good on both sides. Make sure the tips of each bunch follow the curve of the wreath form. Note: You will not cut the wire until you have completed the wreath.

Toward the end of the wreath, you’ll need to make your bunches a little shorter so they’ll fit. When you get to the last bunch, pull back the already secured bunches, stuff the last bunch in, and tightly wrap, four or five times, being careful not to snag the previously secured bunches. You may need somebody to help you hold these back. Cut the wire, leaving a long tail. Loosen a loop from the tightly wrapped wire, pull the tail through the loop, and twist the tail and loop together – very tightly. The important thing is to make sure the wire won’t unravel. Hide excess wire in greenery.