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Extraordinary deco idea with poinsettias for the 3rd Sunday of Advent

Beauty to melt your heart

Impossible to ignore. The magical days of Christmas are fast approaching and preparations for the biggest family celebration of the year are in full swing. This Advent arrangement with cut poinsettias in red and salmon is especially well-suited for opulent decorations on the Christmas dinner table, and can already be prepared and decorated in advance.

The wax bowls are individually hand-poured. With a couple of tips from the experts, this is easier to accomplish than you might think, but in any case will stop the show.

All you will need are poinsettias, candle stubs, a hotplate, an old saucepan, two glass bowls, spray oil for greasing, plastic wrap, wooden skewers, pine needles, deco materials such as Christmas ornaments, artificial apples and sprigs of holly, stub wire, scissors, a knife and pliers.

Here's how it's done:

Step 1: Melt the candlewax carefully on medium heat in an old saucepan; do not leave unattended. 50-65°C is hot enough to melt wax. Alternatively, you can use a water bath, which makes it very easy to control the temperature and prevents overheating of the wax.

Step 2: Spray the inside of the glass bowl with grease or apply oil with a paper towel. Pour a bit of the melted wax in the bowl and allow it to harden. This will be the base for holding the arrangement. While the wax is cooling, wrap a second, smaller bowl in several layers of plastic foil.

Step 3: Now place the smaller, plastic-wrapped bowl inside the larger one. The plastic will later make it easier to loosen the wax from the bowl.

Step 4: Have the pine needles at hand and ready to use. Fill the space between the glass bowls with liquid wax.

Step 5: Bunch the pine needles together and insert in the still soft wax, with the pointed tips downwards. Allow the wax to harden completely.

Step 6: Loosen the inner glass bowl and remove carefully from the wax. Add more pine needles in a horizontal arrangement between the ones anchored in the wax.

Step 7: Adorn the wax bowl with natural materials such as apples, twigs and berries. Fill with water and arrange the cut poinsettias inside as a floral highlight. It’s best to cut them yourself, immediately dipping the stems into hot water first for a few seconds, then in cold water.

Proper cutting technique

To keep cut poinsettias fresh for as long as possible, the flow of milky sap must be stopped immediately after cutting the stems. To do this, cut the stems at an angle and hold them in 60°C water for approx. 5 seconds, then dip them in cold water. When prepared in this way and placed in water, the colourful bracts will stay dazzlingly beautiful for up to two weeks. By the way: Contrary to what is often claimed, the milky sap of domestic poinsettias is safe for humans.

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