dried orange slice garland for the holidays

I love having orange and mandarin trees in our backyard. Not only because it’s wonderful to have fresh fruit, but I always have access to greenery for decorating! I love using my mandarin branches on table settings, and I love using dried oranges for decorating all year long! Today I want to share a simple tutorial for making a dried orange slice garland. I like to use mine for decorating in both fall and winter. I even added some fun oven-baked beads that I made myself! Keep reading till the end for a fun giveaway for a Sculpey Polymer Clay Prize Pack and instructions on how to make the clay beads I use in my garland!

dried orange slice garland

materials needed:

dried orange slices
Sculpey polymer clay and toothpick (optional)
string or jute & a needle

I’m going to go into detail below about how to dry your orange slices in the oven. This is probably my favorite part of the whole project because it smells so good! If you really want to skip this part you can purchase dehydrated orange slices. I also decided to add some clay beads to my garland this time around and it was so fun trying something new! It’s also a fun way you could get your kids involved in this craft.

Once you have your dried orange slices and your beads (if you’re using them) then you just have to string them! I used a thick string but you can also use a jute, just make sure it’s thin enough to thread through the beads. I alternated orange slices and white and brown Sculpey beads for my garland. Another pretty option would be wooden beads or even cranberries!

| DIY Popcorn Garland |

Materials needed for a dry orange slice garland..

how to dry your oranges

I know some people use a dehydrator to make their dried orange slices but if you don’t happen to have one (I sure don’t) you can also use your oven. It might take a little trail and error to figure out the right temperature for your own oven, but it will smell amazing while you’re figuring it out! If you haven’t had success with this before you probably either tried baking too high (resulting in burning) or not for long enough (resulting in slices that won’t dry properly).

Preheat your oven (I suggest 250° F). After you slice your oranges pat them dry with a paper towel. Then lay them out on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. For my oven it takes about 3 hours at 250° F for my ¼” orange slices to dry appropriately. Check on them halfway through and if baking more than one tray at a time rotate the top and bottom tray on the baking racks. Don’t overbake–remember that the slices will continue to dry as they lay out over the season and the slices are actually easier to string if they’re slightly still soft. You can also purchase dried oranges online if you prefer not to mess with drying them yourself but then you’ll miss the amazing smell in your home while they dry!

| DIY Burlap Garland |

Dried orange slices, string, and clay beads.

ASsemble your dried orange slice garland.

making Sculpey beads

I decided to add some baked clay Sculpey beads to my dried orange slice garland and had so much fun making them. Sculpey clay is easy to work with because it won’t air dry. So if you can mold things with playdough you can work with Sculpey clay! I simply measured out equal portions of clay, rolled them into balls, then pierced through with a toothpick so you have the hole for stringing. Then just follow the instructions on the package for baking once you’ve formed your beads.

| How to Make a Balloon Garland |