How to Make a Pinecone Wreath That Lasts All Season

Updated September 2026 · Home Project Resources

Learning how to make a pinecone wreath comes down to four decisions the finished piece will live or die by: gather cones that are dry and intact, bake them so nothing hatches in your living room, wire them to a frame rather than trusting glue alone, and work the form in one direction so every cone leans the same way. Do those four things and you get a wreath that holds its shape through a whole season and goes back in a box for next year. Skip the baking and you get an unwelcome surprise in January. Skip the wire and you spend December picking cones off the floor.

This guide covers the build only: choosing and cleaning cones, the oven step, wire versus glue, filling gaps, adding dried orange slices and greenery, sealing, and storing the wreath flat so it survives the attic. Once it is finished, hanging it is a separate job with its own rules, and we have a whole page on that.

Updated September 2026

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How to make a pinecone wreath: the whole process at a glance

Here is the sequence before the detail. Gather roughly twice as many cones as you think the frame needs. Shake and brush them clean, soak them if they are muddy, then bake them low and slow to kill insects and set the sap. Sort the dried cones into three piles by size. Wire the large cones to a frame first, all facing the same way around the circle, then fill the spaces with medium cones, then tuck the small ones into whatever is left. Add accents last, seal if the wreath will live outdoors, and store it flat.

Plan on two sessions rather than one afternoon. The cones need to cool and re-open after baking, and rushing that step is how sticky sap ends up on your fingers and on the ribbon.

Choosing cones that will actually hold up

Not every cone on the ground is worth carrying home. Pick up cones that are fully formed, with the scales still attached all the way around the base. A cone missing a chunk of scales will show that bald spot forever, because there is no way to hide it once it is wired down.

Look for cones that are already dry and open. A closed, heavy, green-tinged cone is still full of moisture, and it will open later, on your wreath, which pushes its neighbors out of place and loosens the wire. If you only have closed cones, that is fixable with the oven step below, but you want them opened before you attach anything.

Mixed sizes are a feature, not a problem. A wreath made entirely of same-size cones reads flat from a few steps back. You want a range: large cones to set the outline, medium cones to fill the body, and small cones to plug the gaps between them. Aim for something like a third large, half medium, and the rest small.

Two more things to check in the field. Avoid cones with a crust of dried sap along the scales, since that sap softens in a warm room and picks up dust for months. And avoid anything that has been sitting in standing water, because the core stays damp long after the outside feels dry and it can grow mold inside the wreath.

Gather more than you think you need. Between the ones that turn out crushed, the ones that break while you wire them, and the gaps that eat far more small cones than expected, a comfortable margin is roughly double your first estimate.

How many cones for a given frame

Cone counts vary with cone size more than anything else, so treat this as a starting point and adjust after you dry-fit the first quarter of the circle.

Cleaning cones, then baking them

Start dry. Hold each cone by the base and shake it hard over a trash can, then run a stiff brush down the scales to knock loose dirt, needles, and spiderwebs out of the crevices. An old toothbrush handles the tight spots near the stem. For most cones gathered off a clean forest floor or a lawn, that is enough.

If the cones are muddy, soak them. Fill a sink or bucket with warm water, add a splash of white vinegar, and submerge the cones with a plate on top to hold them under. Twenty to thirty minutes is plenty. The vinegar helps with surface grime and discourages mold. Rinse in clean water and lay the cones on newspaper or an old towel.

Here is the part that surprises people the first time: soaked cones close up tight, and they look ruined. They are not. Cone scales open and close with humidity, which is exactly what they do on the tree. Once they dry out again they open right back up.

Baking to kill insects and set the sap

Cones brought in from outdoors carry passengers. Beetle larvae, small spiders, and the occasional egg mass live down in the scales where no brush reaches. A low oven takes care of all of it.

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment, because sap will run and it is unpleasant to scrub off a bare pan. Spread the cones in a single layer with a little space between them. Set the oven to around 200°F and give them 30 to 45 minutes, checking every 15 minutes. You want them warm and dry, not toasted. The kitchen will smell like pine, which is a fair trade.

Three cautions worth taking seriously. Never walk away from the oven with cones in it, since sap is flammable and a hot oven with dry pine in it deserves attention. Never turn the oven up to speed things along, because the sap can scorch and darken the cones. And do not use the broiler at all.

Pull the sheet out, let the cones cool completely on the pan, then leave them somewhere dry and warm overnight. By morning they will be fully open, sap will have set to a hard clear film, and they are ready to work with. Sort them into your three size piles at this point and keep the piles separate, because you will be reaching for a specific size over and over during the build.

Picking the frame

Three frame types cover almost every pinecone wreath.

Wire ring frames are the traditional choice and the easiest to work with. They come as a set of concentric rings joined by cross wires, which gives you plenty of places to pass a wire through. Cones sit down into the frame rather than perching on top, so the finished wreath is compact and holds a clean circle.

Straw or foam rings give you a solid body you can push a wired cone into like a pin. They are forgiving for beginners, they hide easily under the cones, and they take accents well. The tradeoff is weight and thickness, so the finished wreath stands further off the door.

Grapevine wreaths work as a base when you want some of the frame to show. The twisted vine reads well behind cones, and the loose loops give you natural places to hook wire. They are the least uniform of the three, which is either character or a nuisance depending on the look you are after.

Match frame diameter to where the wreath is going, not to how many cones you have. Cones add roughly 2 to 4 inches to the outside diameter of the frame, so an 18-inch frame finishes at more like 22 to 24 inches once it is loaded. Measure your door or your wall space and work backward.

Wire versus glue, and why the answer is mostly wire

Hot glue is fast and it feels solid the moment it cools. It is also the reason so many homemade pinecone wreaths shed. Glue bonds to the outer edge of a few scales, and scales are exactly the part of a cone that moves. Every humidity swing flexes them, the bond breaks, and the cone drops. Add a warm doorway in afternoon sun and hot glue softens on its own.

Wire holds because it goes around the cone, not onto it.

The method is simple. Cut a length of florist wire, around 8 to 10 inches for a medium cone. Slide the middle of the wire down between two rows of scales near the base of the cone, wrap it once around the stem so it seats in the groove between the bottom rows, and twist the two tails together tight against the cone. You now have a cone with a two-tail stem. Push those tails through the frame and twist them off on the back. Trim the twist short and press it flat so it does not scratch the door.

Use 22 to 24 gauge florist wire for medium and small cones and step up to 20 gauge for the large ones. Thin wire is easier to thread but it cuts into your fingers when you twist it, so wear a pair of light gloves or use pliers for the final turn.

Glue still has a role. Once the wired cones are down and the wreath holds its shape, a dab of hot glue under a small filler cone or a dried pod is a reasonable way to plug a gap that has no frame wire nearby. Treat glue as the finishing touch, not the structure.

Work the form in one direction

This is the single step that separates a wreath that looks made from one that looks piled.

Decide on a direction, clockwise or counterclockwise, and commit. Every cone goes on tipped the same way, base toward the center of the ring and tip angled along the circle. Picture a school of fish all swimming the same way around the ring. When the light hits it, the scales all catch it from the same angle and the whole thing reads as one piece.

Start with the large cones. Space them evenly around the ring, and lay them all out loose before you wire anything. Walk away, come back, and look at the circle from a few steps back. Gaps and clumps are obvious from a distance and invisible up close. Adjust, then start wiring.

Work the large cones all the way around before you touch the medium pile. Then do the medium cones the same way, tucking each one into the valley between two large ones, still angled in the same direction. The medium row is what turns a spoked outline into a full body.

Rotate the frame as you go so you are always working at the near edge. Reaching across the wreath to wire the far side is how the near side gets crushed by your forearm.

Filling the gaps

Stand the wreath up and look at it against a plain wall, or better, take a photo on your phone and look at that. The camera flattens the wreath the same way distance does, and gaps you talked yourself out of seeing will jump out.

Fill from the outside in. Small cones go into the perimeter gaps first, angled slightly outward so they break up the hard edge of the circle. Then work the inner ring, where cones should angle slightly inward toward the center hole. Last, plug the face gaps, the ones where the frame shows through between two cones. Those take the smallest cones you have, sometimes just a cone tip snipped off with pruners.

Two tricks for stubborn gaps. Snip the bottom rows of scales off a small cone with heavy shears so it sits deeper into a tight space. And keep a handful of the very smallest cones aside from the start, since they are exactly what you will want at the end and it is frustrating to have used them all early.

Dried orange slices, pods, and greenery

Accents go on after the cone work is done, never during it. Adding them early means wiring cones around them, and they always end up in the wrong spot.

Dried orange slices are the classic pairing, and they are easy to make. Slice oranges about a quarter inch thick, blot them dry, lay them on a rack, and put them in the oven at the same low heat you used for the cones, roughly 200°F, for 2 to 3 hours, flipping once. They are done when they are stiff and leathery with no soft center. Attach them by threading a wire through the flesh near the rind and twisting it to the frame, or by tucking the slice between two cones and gluing the back edge.

Pods, nuts, and berries add texture. Acorns, sweetgum balls, small pods, and preserved berry sprigs all bake alongside the cones on the same sheet and get attached the same way. Skip anything soft or fresh that will shrink and fall out.

Greenery softens the outline. Short sprigs of preserved cedar, boxwood, or faux fir tucked between cones fill the outer edge and give the wreath depth. Wire each sprig into a small bundle first, then push the bundle stem through the frame and twist it off on the back. If you are using fresh greens, accept that they are a few-week accent that will dry and drop, and plan to pull them out rather than trying to make them last.

Ribbon goes on last of all, and only after you know where the top is. Mark the top of the frame with a twist of wire early in the build so you do not lose track of it, since a pinecone wreath has no obvious orientation once it is loaded.

Sealing, and when to skip it

Indoors, a pinecone wreath needs no finish at all. The bake set the sap and the cones will sit happily on a wall for years.

Outdoors is different. Cones open and close with every damp night and dry afternoon, and that constant movement works wire loose over a season. A clear coat slows the moisture swing and locks the scales roughly where they are. Take the wreath outside or into a well ventilated garage, hang it from a hook, and mist a light clear acrylic or matte spray sealer from about a foot away, moving constantly. Two light passes beat one heavy one, which pools in the scales and dries glossy and plastic-looking. Let it cure fully before hanging.

Skip the sealer if you want the cones to keep opening and closing, which some people like as a living detail, or if the wreath is going somewhere fully sheltered. A covered porch that never gets rain blown onto it does not really need it.

Worked example: an 18-inch wire frame

Numbers make the sequence concrete.

The frame is an 18-inch double wire ring. The cone haul is a mixed bag from a park: 30 large, 55 medium, and a bag of small ones. After cleaning and baking, four large cones turn out crushed on one side and get set aside, leaving 26.

Layout. The 26 large cones go around the ring loose, spaced roughly a hand's width apart, all tipped clockwise. Two gaps look wide, so two cones move over and the spacing evens out.

Wiring the large row. Each cone gets a 10-inch length of 20 gauge wire seated in the groove at its base, tails pushed through the frame and twisted flat on the back. This is the slow part, roughly 45 minutes.

Medium row. Around 40 medium cones go into the valleys between the large ones, same clockwise tip, using 8-inch lengths of 22 gauge wire. The wreath goes from a spoked ring to a solid band.

Fill. A phone photo shows five gaps on the outer edge and three near the center hole. Eight small cones handle those, and three cone tips snipped with pruners plug the face gaps where the frame was still showing.

Accents. Six dried orange slices go on in a loose triangle, not evenly spaced, because odd groupings look more natural. Four preserved cedar bundles fill the outer edge at the four points where the outline needed softening.

Finished size. The 18-inch frame measures about 23 inches across once loaded, and weighs enough that it needs a real hanger rather than a light adhesive hook.

Storing it flat for next year

A pinecone wreath is a compression problem in storage, not a moisture problem, assuming you dried it properly. Anything stacked on top of it crushes the outer cones flat, and they never spring back.

Store it flat, face up, in a shallow box that is wider than the wreath and no taller than the wreath is deep. A large flat storage tote works. Line the bottom with a towel, set the wreath in, and lay a second towel loosely over the top. Do not wrap it tight in plastic, which traps any residual moisture against the cones.

Then label the box on the top and on one side, and put nothing on top of it. If you have to stack, put the wreath box last, and put a rigid lid on it so anything that ends up there later spreads its weight to the box rim rather than the cones.

Pull it out in early fall and let it sit out for a day before hanging. Cones that have been in a dry attic all summer will be tightly closed and will relax back open in normal room humidity.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need to bake pinecones before using them?

Yes, if the cones came from outdoors. Insects and eggs live down in the scales where brushing does not reach, and a warm house is exactly what they need to hatch. Thirty to forty five minutes at a low oven temperature around 200°F handles it, and it sets the sap at the same time. Store-bought craft cones have usually been treated already, so check the package.

How do you attach pinecones to a wreath so they do not fall off?

Wire, not glue. Seat a length of florist wire in the groove between the bottom rows of scales, wrap it once around the base, twist the tails together, then push the tails through the frame and twist them off on the back. Glue only bonds to the outer scales, and scales flex with humidity, which is why glued cones drop.

Why did my pinecones close up after I washed them?

That is normal and it is temporary. Cone scales close when they take on moisture and open again as they dry. Lay them out somewhere warm and dry, or run them through the oven step, and they will open right back up within a day.

What size wreath frame should I use?

Measure the space first, then subtract. Cones add roughly 2 to 4 inches to the outside diameter, so an 18-inch frame finishes around 22 to 24 inches. For a standard front door, a finished diameter in the low twenties is a safe target. Go smaller for a narrow sidelight or an interior wall.

Can a pinecone wreath hang outside?

It can, with two changes. Seal it with a light clear spray so the cones stop opening and closing with every damp night, and hang it somewhere with at least partial cover. Direct rain on an unsealed wreath loosens wire over a season and can gray the cones.

How do I make dried orange slices for the wreath?

Slice oranges about a quarter inch thick, blot both sides dry, lay them on a rack over a sheet pan, and dry them in a low oven around 200°F for 2 to 3 hours, flipping once. They are ready when they are stiff and leathery with no soft spot in the middle. Wire them through the flesh near the rind to attach.

How long will a pinecone wreath last?

The cone structure lasts for years if you store it flat and away from moisture. The accents are the limiting factor. Dried orange slices fade after a season or two, fresh greens drop within weeks, and berries get brittle. Plan on refreshing the accents and keeping the cone body.

Can I use a foam ring instead of a wire frame?

Yes. Wire each cone as usual, then push both wire tails straight into the foam like a staple and bend them over inside. Foam is forgiving and holds accents well, but the finished wreath is thicker and heavier, so it stands further off the door.

The short version

Gather twice as many cones as you think you need, in three sizes. Brush them clean, soak them only if they are muddy, then bake them low and slow to kill insects and set the sap and let them re-open overnight. Wire the large cones to the frame first, every one tipped the same direction around the circle, then the medium row, then the small ones into the gaps. Accents and ribbon go on last. Seal only if it is going outside, and store it flat with nothing on top.

Then comes the part this page deliberately leaves alone: getting it onto the door without a nail hole and without a sag. Our guide on how to hang a wreath on a door covers the hanger for each door material and the weight rule that decides which one you need, and hanging garland on a mantel applies the same weigh-it-first approach to the rest of the room.