Last-Minute DIY: Holiday Garlands Made of Star Anise - Remodelista
Photography by Justine Hand for Remodelista. With its spicy fragrance and stellar form, star anise is perfect for holiday decor. Unlike cinnamon sticks, which can be overwhelmingly potent, star anise has a more subtle, spicy scent. Raw cotton bolls were left over from my Winter White Holiday Bough created earlier this season. Step 1: Take a small bit of cotton in hand and roll to form a slightly more uniform boll. Using a needle, string your bolls along the silver thread, making sure to leave enough room for the star anise in between. Garland 1: Star Anise and Cotton Bunting Step 2: I experimented with trying to pierce and drill a hole through the anise, but it just fell apart, so in the end I went with glue. Note: You don’t want to affix the star anise across the middle because the weight of the star will cause it to flip horizontally when hung. Voila, your simple garland. A celestial landscape: Up close the finished garland looks like a sky filled with stars and clouds. As the sun goes down, a string of LED Fairy Lights add a warm glow; $17.99 for 20 feet. A detail of the star anise and raw cotton. Not bad for about 10 minutes of work. Garland 2: Star Anise Clusters Step 1: On a piece of wax paper, arrange a pattern of contiguous stars in a slight arc. Step 2: Apply a liberal amount of glue along the length of the garland. Step 3: While the glue is still wet, lay a ribbon across the garland leaving at least six inches of bare ribbon on each end. Moon and stars on my mantel. A detail of the star-anise cluster garland.