Glowforge: How to Make a Wooden Christmas Wreath

In preparation for your project, download the below templates.

Download the PDF template here

Download the PDF template here

Begin by covering your sheets of plywood with masking tape - this will help protect the surface from burn marks when cutting out the wreath.

Switch on the Glowforge and place one sheet of plywood on the cutting bed.

Connect your device to the machine and proceed to open the Glowforge web application.

Click ‘Create a new design’, then ‘Upload a file’, and open the downloaded file named “Glowforge Botanical Christmas Wreath - Cutting File.pdf”.

With both layers selected, scale the design to fit on the plywood. Ensure the design is as large as possible whilst maintaining that all lines are a solid red colour - this shows that the design is within the cutting area.

Navigate to ‘unknown’ in the top left of the web app window. Search for, and set the material of use to, ‘Medium Maple Plywood’.

Select one of your layers and set it to ‘ignore’. Select the other layer and set this one to ‘cut’, making sure the proofgrade cut option is ticked.

Press print, and once the print time is displayed on your screen press the pulsing blue button on your printer. Wait until the machine is done cutting out the template – you will be notified of this on your device.

Remove the sheet and all pieces from the cutting bed.

Next, place the second sheet in and close the lid. Line up the design to fit on the second sheet (without scaling) and repeat step 5 & 6. Make sure to swap which layer is set to ‘ignore’ and which is set to ‘cut’.

To paint the wreath, you can use the illustration file (‘Glowforge Botanical Christmas Wreath Painting & Assembly Guide Illustration‘) as a guide.

Start by painting your leaves, you will need to create 3 different shades of green, one for each of your leaf types. Each of your leaves will need 2 coats of paint!

Tip: It can be helpful to test the paint on the waste plywood as the colours can get much darker as they dry.

Then mix a bright red for the holly berries.

Paint the berries on the bottom layer of the wreath, and paint the cut-out berries (sticking these onto a piece of masking tape makes them easy to manage). This may need several coats.

Mix two darker shades of red and a pale yellow to paint the flowers.

Use a pale yellow to paint the centre of the flowers. Again, these will need 2 coats.

To assemble the wreath, begin by laying all the pieces out according to the illustration.

Use an old paint brush to spread the PVA onto the back of one piece, hold it in place for a few seconds and then give it some time to dry.

Start by sticking the flowers together.

To finish off, tie some Christmassy ribbon to the wreath to hang it from.