Artificial Holly Berries, 1870s

Time to try some of the Victorian Christmas decorations I've been gathering references for. 

I found two different methods for making imitation holly berries: one in the 1871 Illustrated Queen Almanac, and the other in the 1875 volume of the same publication. Even though these are instructions from the 1870s, imitation holly berries are mentioned in some of the 1850s sources, and all the materials they call for were available at the time, so I feel comfortable using them for my 1850s-1860s events.

The 1871 instructions call for affixing peas to wires, then dipping them in sealing wax varnish (sealing wax diluted with spirits of wine, aka ethanol), which is straight-forward enough. The 1875 instructions instead use a pea-sized piece of cotton wool attached to a wire, which is dipped in white wax and then dyed or painted red. I opted for a combination of the two, using cotton and wire for the base, but dipping them in the red sealing wax which I had on hand rather than dyeing white wax.

Raw materials, the assembled forms, sealing wax for dipping, and completed berries.

The actual process started by dissembling some extra large cotton balls, tearing them into 8ths or 12ths. Each bit of fluff was then roughly shaped into a tight ball, and wrapped around with a bit of wire until secure. Meanwhile, I melted a small piece of left-over sealing wax.  Once it was nicely melted, I dipped about 5 of the prepared cotton cotton-wire-pieces in it, letting each one dry while dipping the next, and doing a second coat of wax as needed. When my hand was full of drying berries, and paused to let them finish hardening, then set them down on a plate to fully cool. I then set the wax back on the fire, added another fragment to melt when it ran low, and prepared more bases.

When the berries were all made, I twisted them together in clusters of 3 (and in once case 5) for future use.

All told, I made 29 berries out of 3 cotton balls and about 3/4 of a stick of sealing wax (though it was hard to judge exactly how much wax because I was using little scraps).  Even the rather rough berries actually look very well once they're set among greenery, and the wires almost disappear into the leaves.  

One berry cluster, used in a modern centerpiece.

Honestly, this went very easily, and I'm pleased with the results. For next time, I'll want to remember that the smaller berry forms work best (~1/12 of a large cotton ball or slightly more), and that allowing a bit more that the 4" of wire called for the directions will make it easier to attach the completed berries to boughs and wreaths . Also, the wax finish on the berries looks best if the wax is fully melted at the time of dipping, which allows it to spread more easily and gives a nice sheen as it dries. The wax stays malleable as it first dries, which allowed me to slightly re-shape berries that were lumpy or had a missed spot, but that handling ruined the sheen.