An emblem for the season - decorative harvest hang-up

Sunset, Nov, 1994 by Rosalva Welsch

It's easy to make a harvest hang-up from flesh and dried ingredients

THERE'S SOMETHING about fall that makes us want to bring the natural beauty and bounty of the season inside. As we found out, gathering autumn's rich colors and deep textures can be as easy as a trip to the local grocery store.

When shopping for the ingredients to make this decorative hang-up, we chose whatever seemed appealing from among the ornamental foods stocked for the holidays: colorful dried corn and squash, pecans, walnuts, artichokes, sheaves of wheat. What resulted is one of many possible interpretations.

You, too, can bring the harvest indoors. Keep in mind that you are free to do what we did--select ingredients that appeal to you and arrange them however you like.

HOW TO GET HUNG UP STEP-BY-STEP

Gather tools and materials. You'll need a hammer and a few nails, a wire cutter, a glue gun (or silicone glue), a handful of either flat wood screws or eye hooks, a screwdriver, and a few rolls of florist's wire, available at craft stores.

Attach with wire. To attach the ornamental corn and squash, start a hole in one end of each vegetable the quick way--with a hammer and nail. Pull out the nail, then screw in an eye hook or a flat wood screw (make sure the nail is thinner than either). Tie one end of a 10- to 12-inch length of wire to the eye hook, or circle the wire beneath the head of the screw and cinch it tight.

To attach the wire to a nut, make a tiny loop at one end of a 5- to 7-inch length of wire. Set the loop on top of the nut and place a dot of glue over the loop with the glue gun. Hot glue sets fast, but silicone does not--read the label carefully for drying time.

Group the elements. After each piece has been strung with wire, put like with like: corn in one group, squash in another, etc. Set aside the artichokes and wheat for now.

Twist together. First, place a nail in the door or wall where you want to hang the arrangement. Next, starting with the cluster of corn, twist all the wires together to create a single cable. Tie the top of this cable to the nail. Twist the squash wires together in the same manner and then attach to the nail in the wall. Adjust the length of the squash cable as needed for a more snug display.

To attach artichokes, loop wire underneath the leaves and then attach the wire to the nail. Use clumps of nuts and groups of miniature ornamental corn, their wires twisted together as described above, to fill in spaces around the artichokes, squash, and larger ears of corn. Attach to the nail in the same manner as the rest of the vegetables.

Arrange the elements.

When all the nuts and vegetables have been securely fastened to the nail, you can shift individual pieces into more desirable positions. Use glue to hold clusters in place, or adjust wires at the nail.

The finishing touch.

Top off the hang-up with two crisscrossed sheaves of wheat. You can tie them together using raffia and attach them to the nail with wire. If the hang-up is kept in a dry location, it can last from two to four weeks. Design: Dennis W. Leong.