Whimsical Orange Ornaments
Do oranges make anyone else think of the Christmases of childhood? A tangerine in the toe of your stocking, spiced apple cider with oranges added, pomanders with cloves, dried orange slice decorations. There’s just something about it that invokes warm, cozy feelings and the joy and delight of childhood.
(insert four paragraphs of extra childhood memories that i won’t make you all scroll past ;) )
This year, I decided to do something a little different and make orange slice ornaments. I sliced and dried the oranges, gathered botanicals from outside and from my pantry, and plugged in the hot glue gun. We turned on a christmas movie (bc come on, its almost a rule to watch cheesy Christmas movies while crafting this time of year) and started creating. I love the way these turned out- it feels like bringing a little nature magic to the seasonal festivities. I hope you love them too. If you try this, let me know what you think!
Whimsical Orange Ornaments
(perfect for decorating the Christmas tree or Winter gifts)
supplies:
oranges
salt
medium sized clothes pins (you don’t want them to be longer than the dried orange slices)
hot glue gun + glue
dried botanicals (here I used dried flowers and flower petals, red cedar, acorn tops, sticks, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, usnea lichen, lavendar, eucalyptus- you can use whatver is forageable in your area or what you have on hand. )
Process
slice and dry your orange slices. I prefer to use a mandolin so the slices are uniform in size, but you can just slice them with a knife too.
After much trial and error, I’ve found that lightly salting the orange slices to pull out moisture works best- simply sprinkle salt onto the oranges and let them sit for about half an hour, then blot them dry of excess moisture. set your oven to the lowest setting or use a dehydrator- i set my dehydrator on 158 and dried the oranges for about 12 hours and they turned out perfect- fully dry but not browned.
If you’re using an oven, you likely won’t be able to go lower then 170 and should keep an eye on your oranges, flipping them every so often so they don’t brown.
once they’ve cooled, gather your botanicals and start creating! Glue a clothes pin to the back of each orange slice, then flip it over and arrange everything in a way that gives you the warm fuzzies inside. I had extra fun creating tiny mushrooms using acorn caps and sticks.
Once the glue is dry, clip the ornaments to your Christmas tree or use them to adorn holiday gifts.
