How to make your own Irish garland
Habitat bright ideas with Fleur Thorpe – DIY projects
Celebrate St Patricks Day with this good luck horseshoe garland. Remember to always have the horseshoes displayed so they look like a ‘U’ shape as this will help the horseshoe ‘catch’ the luck.
You will need
- Cardboard (Fleur used 637gsm cardboard)
- Horseshoe silhouette printout or draw your own silhouette
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Paintbrush
- Resene testpots in your choice of colours, Fleur used Resene Anise, Resene Go Go Go, Resene Crusoe and Resene Groovy
- String
- Ribbon in rainbow colours
Instructions
Step 1
Start by drawing or printing out a silhouette of a horseshoe. Cut this out with scissors and then use a pencil to trace around it onto your cardboard. Cut this out with scissors.
Step 2
Use a paintbrush to paint on one coat of Resene Anise.
Step 3
Paint on two coats of Resene Go Go Go. This will give the horseshoe a lovely shiny finish.
Step 4
Experiment on the other horseshoes with different base colours under Resene Go Go Go. The shoe on the left has a base of Resene Anise, while the shoe on the right has a base of Resene Crusoe.
Step 5
Once the paint is dry, punch a hole in both ends of each horseshoe and thread through a length of string.
Step 6
Between each horseshoe, tie short lengths of ribbon in a rainbow pattern.
Top tip: Try a fun splatter effect. It’s best to do this outside with a dropcloth underneath to catch any drips. Basecoat your horseshoe shapes then splatter on the topcoat colour by flicking a paintbrush loaded with paint. Use a range of greens for the best effect.
Styling and images by Fleur Thorpe. Mar 2022.