Holiday wreath from blackberry vines
Channel: PacoWarabi
Date: 2012-12-16

Edit: Check out Forrester Bushcraft's take on this method by adding in boughs of evergreen to make your bramble wreath even more festive!  http://youtu.be/Say8Q-srgJk

In my quest to create art from nature, I realized that I have all the building materials I'd ever need -- blackberry bushes.  This video is my first foray into the medium.

For those of you not from the Pacific Northwest, blackberry vines could be the ideal material to work with.  It is relatively flexible and dries well, and best of all, grows everywhere.  We have to fight to keep it from taking over everything.  I'll never run out of raw materials.

This is a relatively simple project, but it shows how to harvest the vines without cutting yourself up.  The first few times I did this, I came back with plenty of scratches and puncture wounds, so you might want to wear gloves.

For additional ideas of how to use blackberry vines, check out this very cool organization, the Urban Weaver Project http://theurbanweaverproject.wordpress.com/about-2/

For where I might go next, try Googling "Willow Sculpture."  Not sure if it will work, but I won't know until I try!