I have made several Christmas Grapevine Eucalyptus trees and they are beautiful. Where I live in PA, it is difficult to find the grapevine cones. Does anyone know how I might find them?

Any help you can give, I would appreciate. Love making these trees; it takes time and patience but the end product is beautiful. May make a small business out of it when my husband and I retire.

Toni

[ July 30, 2004, 07:30 PM: Message edited by: Toni ]

Toni do you mean pine cones???

Hi Chatty,

No, I know what you mean by pine comes but these are made entirely out of grapevines in the shape of a Christmas tree. They are then lined with eucalyptus and then ornaments and lights.

They cost about $30.00 for a medium sized one and they are hard to find. Virginia has them in abundance; Ohio does pretty good.

Thanks, Chatty.

What do grapevine cones look like? This sounds interesting. Do they look like pinecones? I don't think I've seen them. I'm curious. We have one grapevine here but I don't remember seeing any cones just long vines.
Maggie

Hi Maggie,

Grapevine cones are in the shape of a Christmas tree, and made exclusively of grapevines. Making the cones, I've heard, is difficult and time-consuming.

Once you have the grapevine cone, you next put on the lights. After that, the eucalptus is carefully placed on, one at a time and then the ornaments are put on.

Once completed, it is absolutely beautiful; lights can be multi-colored, or one solid color. Eucalyptus comes in red, pink and green. Some lights come with muscial tunes that can be played.

I'm trying to find a place that sells or knows where I can buy these grapevine cones. They are hard to find.

Thank you for your reply...

Toni

Hi Toni,
Thanks for the description. Were getting ready for our Church bazaar workshops. I will ask the ladies there about these and also the gals whose shop I put my stuff in. One of them is from back east so has probably seen these and used them. Your trees sound gorgeous.
Also when I'm checking through catalogues.
Were off to Portland so have to run if I see anything today will let you know. Sometimes I get to stop in a crafts shop.
Thanks,
Maggie

Toni, I think I know what you're talking about. You want to buy the items that are already shaped like cone/trees and made out of grapevines? Then you add the eucalyptus, decorations, and lights?

If that's the case I think they sell them at Michaels which is our local craft shop.

Hi Maggie and Dotsie,

Thank you both for your input on the grapevine cones.

Maggie if you see anything like the grapevine cones at the craft show, let me know. Would be very interested in what you see....Have thought about entering my trees in a craft show; may look into this, this year--if I can find the cones.

Dotsie, from what you said, that's what I'm looking for. I will search online for Michael's Crafts. I believe they had a couple of Michael's stores in Ohio. Thanks for the tip!

Toni,
I didn't get to any of the stores yesterday. Too much going on when the guys go with me.
I agree with Dotsie, Michael's is a great place.
Also here Craft Warehouse and JoAnn's.
Would the internet have anything about this?
Maggie

Hi Maggie,

I emailed Michaels yesterday; so far no reply. I'm going to try several others tomorrow. There's a place in Ohio that used to sell them; will check there also.

Thanks so much for your input. Really helps!

Toni

Toni, I called the Michaels Craft shops here and they carry eucalyptus branches but they have flowers on them and no cones, they told me to check another place but they didn't have any idea what I meant. I figured if they had them I could get what you needed and box them up and mail them to you but no dice...sorry and I hope you find what you need.

If you can put the eucalyptus on the grapevine cones, I'm sure you could make the cones yourself. I've got a grapevine and when it's green and growing, it's easy to shape it any way you want to. Take the leaves off -- it'll dry brown I've made wreaths and things with it. You can find wild grapevine all over the place, ewen in the suburbs. You could probably get a sytrofoam cone shape and use that to mold the vines around.

Hi Chatty and DJ,

Thank you both for your help and searching. Finding these objects is difficult and time-consuming--no need to do any further searching...it's often frustrating. I will be searching online a store in Ohio that used to sell them. I will either purchase several from them or seek another outlet.

I don't have time or the skills to make the grapevine cones; otherwise, I might attempt it. I'll see what I can find...

Thank you again for your time and efforts...Much appreciated...

Toni

Hi Toni,
Hope you have luck with the other store, but I had one more thought. We do a lot of shopping for crafts at thrift shops. Goodwill in Portland is the favorite of the gals in my craft group.
If we see any will let you know.
Maggie

Hi Maggie,

Thank you so much for that idea! I will be doing some on and off-line searching for the elusive grapevine cones...

Let me know what you find out...

Again, thank you for such a thoughtful and kind offer...

Toni

Hi Ladies,

Found a place in Ohio where I can buy the grapevine cones. Also, may go to Virginia in August to pick up a few.

Wanted to let you know that I finally found them.

Thanks for all of your help and input.

Much appreciated.

Toni,
Is there a picture of one of these as a finished product? I would love to see one. Thanks!

JJ

Toni: did you get your grapevine cones already? I don't think I've seen any.

So glad you found them Toni. Yes, I too would like to see a picture of the project. Sounded neAT.
Maggie

Hi Ladies,

Thank you for your interest in the Eucalyptus Christmas trees. They are beautiful! I will search for my pictures of them--may take some time but when I do, I'll scan them into my website and then you can click on to see them.

I'll take a guess and say that this will happen in the next one to two weeks.

When I find the pictures, I'll post a note here in this Forum.

I learned to make them over 10 years ago from a friend. It doesn't take long to learn the process but it does take time--several days to complete one tree. The work is worth it because the tree lasts for two years and provides great beauty.

I may take a completed tree and enter it into a Thanksgiving or Christmas Bazaar. Been wanting to do this for a long time....
Will keep you posted.....

Ladies,

I can't believe it but I found the pictures in the first place I looked! I will have the pictures placed on our site this weekend. Will give you the exact location where the pictures will be! (Probably Saturday or Sunday.)

I meant to say that we know of a store in Manassas, Virginia that has the grapevine cones. Also, in my homestate of Ohio, they have them, too.

I can't remember the name of the store in Virginia but we'll be going there for Roy's doctoral program in October and I will be able to give you more information on the store and such. I will make sure to get some pamphlets about the store while I'm there. Then, I will be able to share this information with you.

Thanks, ladies...

Please give us the link when you have it.

Hi Ladies,

It looks like I will be able to put my picture or pictures of my trees on our Homepage, Sunday. The site is directly below.

Hope you like them...

Hi Ladies,

Just wanted to say that my Eucalyptus Christmas trees will be on my homepage this Sunday. Just click on to www.writingandcommentary.com and you will see them.

Also, Songbird, Janis, Sherri and Donna--your links are on my Quick Links Page.

Sherri, we added your wonderful writer's resource page to my Quick Links. It is a great and helpful page for all writers.

Hope you ladies like what we did.

If anyone else is interested in sharing links, let us know. We help each other by doing this and they are great resource tools.

Have a great weekend!

Beautiful christmas trees, Toni. I can only imagine all the love and work that was put into them!

Thanks for including my link on your "Quick Links".

Absolutely! I've always enjoyed making things for Christmas and know that things like this do take a lot of time and care. You've done an excellent job here Toni. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Shoot, before you know it, Christmas will be here too! eeek!

JJ

Thanks, JJ and Songbird! So glad you like them. It does take a lot of time and work but the end result is worth it!

Stop by anytime, always glad to have my 'boomer' friends at my site.

The trees are lovely and add a nice touch to your website. Thanks for showing them to us.
smile

Thank you, Smiles for stopping by. Glad you liked the trees...

I love making them and can't wait for October to roll around so I can get back to it!

Toni,
These trees are gorgeous. Thanks for shareing them and I am so happy you found the cones to make them.
Maggie

So Maggie, are you going to be making any of those trees this year?

Thanks Dotsie,
I thought I might see if our bazaar group would like to make one if its OK with Toni of course. Are you going to make one Dotsie? It would be fun if those who did them could share a picture don't you think?
Yes, I am always on the lookout for new projects for the church bazaar.
Maggie

Maggie,

So glad you liked my trees. Sure, that would be great if you want to make the trees! I think it would be a wonderful idea for a church bazaar!
Should anyone here on the site create a Eucalyptus Christmas tree, it would fun to view each other's tree. Each tree is individual--so many variations can be created. The sky's the limit when making them!

There are vocational schools and hobby stores that someetimes give instruction on how to make them. It does take time and patience to learn the craft of making them.

Some Ben Franklin stores sell the grapevine cones and some garden stores do, also.

When my husband and I travel to Virginia in October I'll see if I can find out some information on them.

The average cost per tree can run between $70-100 or more--depending on the size and number of lights and objects put on them. Stores like Odd Lots or Big Lots sell small items for the Christmas trees at a low cost. The less one pays for the creation of the tree, the more profit it will bring.

Let me know how it goes for you should you decide to make a tree.

Hi Ladies,

I'm sure many of you know about eucalyptus and other like plants and that they need to be 'fresh' and in good color but in case you don't, let me interject a few words of caution.

Be careful when you buy the eucalyptus--some of it may be old and will not look or work well on the cone. Sometimes I've had to ask for better eucalyptus--sometimes kept in the back of the store--or went eleswhere.

Eucalyptus also needs to be kept in an 'airy' environment and will usually last--kept in a healthy environment for about two years.

Also, be careful with the 'glue' guns. As you know, they get very hot and when applying it on to the eucalyptus, one needs to be careful. I came close to burning myself several times.

I know that you probably know all of this but I just wanted to present a word of caution.

They are interesting and fun to make and the finished product is worth the hard work.

Let me know how it goes should you decide to make one.

(Read this over and sounds like an instruction manual Oh well, better safe than sorry?)