Dried Fruit Decor

My dining room/kitchen area has a homespun decor thing working... slowly but surely. I have it in my mind and it looks awesome. Though it is a slow going process to procure furniture and decorative supplies that meet my mental expectations. I've grown to love and to hate craigslist and the local thrift stores to meet my needs. But my most important resource in creating a homespun look? My own home-spinning self. 


My most recent venture has been in the field of drying fruit for the use of decoration. I was inspired by some gorgeous pictures online. The look is exactly what I wanted and with some research, something I knew that I could procure on my own with very little effort.


Some of my online musings...

Moment's in Thyme "Apple Wreath"

"Apple Delight"

TheKeepersHouse's Dried Apple Wreath

No Meat Athlete's Baked Ornaments

First and foremost, the process of drying fruit must be learned. It is actually very simple- slice your fruits very evenly... not too thick or too thin. Apples look best when you can actually see the star in the middle, if you plan on showing them forward facing. The thicker the slices, the longer it will take to dry- but the skins look awesome when you can actually see them.

Lay your fruit out on a cookie sheet and bake overnight! Online instructions vary in oven settings, 150* seems to be the norm but my oven does not go that low. I baked my slices at 170* for roughly 14 hours- turning them over a few times. I put them in before I went to bed and they were done the next morning when I went to make breakfast. I got up and flipped them over a few times during the night while neurotically checking to ensure my house hadn't caught on fire. Flipping is necessary to ensure that the fruit does not roll up on itself while drying.

If you wish, you can scent your fruit with various spices. First soak your apple slices in lemon juice, enough to ensure the apples have been completely covered. Sprinkle them with a spice mix and dry as previously mentioned.

Spice mix recipe-

8 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Allspice
1 tsp Cloves

Some sites call for soaking your apples to keep them from turning brown, but I liked the brownish tinge that some recipes left behind. If you want your apples to remain pretty white- use lemon juice! Some also call for salt to aid in the drying process and preservation. However since not all sites called for it and I planned to seal mine up with spray- I decided to skip it. For me, the process worked perfectly.

After your fruit cools- it is not ready to become decor yet. Let it set out on some drying racks for a few days to allow them to procure and finish drying if needed. They will not be hard but will remain rather rubbery. After 3 days I sprayed my apples and oranges with acrylic clear coat to seal them up. Spray one side, allow to dry for an hour, flip and spray the other side. Best to do this outside and not fill the house with fumes!

After the clear coat has dried, you are ready to decorate! I bought a heart-shaped crafting wreath from Michael's and used a hot glue gun to adhere my fruit. I also made some stars with Cinnamon dough and some red beads to look like berries. I'm quite pleased with what I got and hung it above the back door.

 

If I could, I'd go back and alter the orange slices so that they were not lined up as perfectly as that trio there on the top. But I can live with it.

To coordinate with my fruit-heart wreath, I made a garland strand to hand across the window to the left of the door. Luckily it is the only window in the room and thus pieces together quite well.

 

You can see that I again used the Cinnamon Stars and the red beads. Well... maybe you can't, but they are there. I threaded the garland with a pretty green ribbon to give it some contrast and let the ends hang down from the sides of the swag. I really do think that it ties nicely with the wreath over the door without seeming like I've used too much of the same decor.

See? Very simple yet colorful. I like that in a fruit.