How to beautifully decorate a Christmas tree with a garland?

Decorating the tree with an electric LED garland helps to make it as visible as possible. With glowing lights, the Christmas tree is not just an attribute of the holiday, modestly standing aside, but its decoration that constantly reminds of itself even with a continuous glow in the dark.

Before hanging one or several garlands, they are checked for the operability of all LEDs by connecting the products to a standard power source. It is necessary to untangle it, especially when the garland is folded randomly. For tall trees from 2 meters, a stepladder is required: you need to reach the top, completing the process of hanging the light tape by installing a star.

The step-by-step process described here is very simple. The fact is that Today, garlands are produced, which are not a ring in the form of a cord with light bulbs connected in series, as it was during the Soviet era and in the 1990s, but parallel-connected LEDs located on one cord. However, even series-connected LEDs (70 pieces for 220 volts - each LED is designed for 3 volts) can be made in the form of a solid cord - everyone has one common wire, and is not divided into sections, and goes side by side. What can not be said about the second wire: that, in turn, is divided into the required segments. Therefore, the modern garland is a single, one-piece line that does not require a natural wire ring. And this means that it is not required to pass the top of the tree through this ring for each loop - on a low tree, the height of a person, it is enough just to go around the tree, laying the product in successive and equidistant loops from each other.

In addition to the horizontal orbit, which provides for a circular walk around the Christmas tree, there is also a vertical method in the practice of the organizers of the New Year and Christmas celebrations. Here the tree is, as it were, divided into several longitudinal sectors, along which the tree itself is wrapped from the top to the bottom branch.

The zigzag pattern resembles a serpentine track: each S-shaped wave beautifully bypasses adjacent branches vertically. This makes it possible to approximately halve the total length of the garland, represented by two or more specific products.

Experience shows that the cheapest, easiest and most durable way - purchase of a wear-resistant installation wire for external work with a cross section of 1 mm2 and ordering thousands or more LEDs in Chinese online stores. The cost of a garland, including a soldering iron, rosin, solder and flux, will be reduced by 2 times or more compared to a similar commercial LED cord, but you will get a product of almost unlimited length.

For example, By wrapping a pine tree with a height of 2.5 m with 25 meters of garland, the user will create a rich illumination of the desired colors and shades. You do not need several identical or different light strips. One garland, one round of the tree, the speed of assembling and disassembling the decoration of the tree as such will ultimately justify the costs by 100%. Complicated circuits, an extension cord with several outlets for, say, 4 strings, the bulkiness of lighting equipment and the extra space occupied when storing light tapes will become a thing of the past.

A thread-type garland is a simple product wrapped around a tree by going around in a circle. Its length is not limited by anything other than the number of LEDs. The second name of this product is "dew": the LEDs are located several times less frequently. That is, the "dew" can have 100-150 LEDs - and a similar "thread" - 500-1000. The dew wire is as thin and straight as possible. This makes this kind of garland the least noticeable and at the same time contrasting with the rest of the decorations on the tree.

"Ponytail" - several simple threads that have a common origin and are connected in parallel. The place where the "ponytail" converges into a bunch is located near the top (where the star is), and the lines themselves are bred vertically, in a zigzag or straight line.

A mesh garland is wrapped around the tree. It is advisable to place it as low as possible: the tree is a cone, and an excess of LEDs can cover other tree decorations with intertwined wires. Shooting it, despite its apparent simplicity, is more difficult. It finds application on large and tall trees, where the surface area available to people working on decorating the tree is impressive. Ideal: from below - a net, in the upper sections of a large Christmas tree - "ponytails" with threads.

The garland-curtain is the same mesh, only reminiscent of "rain". More suitable for walls, curtains, doors than for a tree. It wraps around the tree in the same way as the grid. Make sure the dangling LED cords do not fall between the branches, otherwise the lights will come out messy, crowded. Its second name is curtain. It is, indeed, ideal for weaving or sewing in curtains and curtains in light colors. And "rain", in turn, is formed from threads of the "curtain" of different lengths.

The ideal option is to use several types of garlands, for example, net or ponytail, net with thread, and so on. This technique is used by organizers of New Year's holidays in public places - in parks, city squares, the largest shopping and entertainment centers and supermarkets, where one big Christmas tree is visible to thousands of people a day. This creates an atmosphere of universal festive fun and expectation of something unusual.

Try to use a garland that operates on a voltage that is safe for humans: 3, 6, 12 volts. A full-fledged switching power supply is supplied with it, converting, for example, 220 volts to 12. The power reserve, as for lighting white light strips mounted under the ceiling or in the steps of stairs, should preferably be used with a double margin. So, a 40-watt ribbon-garland is used with an 80-watt power supply. This prevents the unit from overheating - as a result, it will last longer, 10 times or more exceeding the warranty period. If the standard power supply unit is not enough for a stock, then purchase a second one of the same, connecting it in parallel.

Position the LEDs correctly so that they do not dazzle bystanders. Many colored LEDs are made in the form of a match head - they have a directional diagram, the lobe of which is directed forward and concentrated at an angle of 20 degrees. It is desirable that as many LEDs as possible shine on jewelry and toys, creating a reflected rather than direct glow. In the end, a living tree should emphasize itself.

They decorate the Christmas tree with toys after, and not before, the installation of the garland, otherwise the whole design will not be fully highlighted. If the tree is in the corner or near the wall in the middle of the room, then there is no need to highlight and decorate the place facing the wall - no one will see the tree from these sides anyway while it is standing.

As examples, there are several options.

Christmas tree with thread and mesh garlands. The first one looks from afar in the form of a more distinct line, twisted in a spiral around the tree. The second is, as it were, in the background, since it was hung earlier, and is woven deeper between the branches of the Christmas tree, closer to the trunk of the tree. Often, only a more authentic thread-like garland is enough - with its help each branch is braided.

A Christmas tree with a garland of stars, into which LEDs are inserted, looks original. At the same time, decorative metal contours made in the form of a star can be decorated with LED strip. And replace the glowing star-shaped figures with hearts, cubes, polyhedrons from the same material - as a rule, this is frosted plexiglass, which does not break when dropped.

Some craftsmen buy regular 3W mains light bulbs and repaint them. The cord is a power cord. An alternative solution is a ready-made garland of unbreakable Christmas balls, in which LEDs are installed, and the wires themselves play the role of a suspension thread.

If there is not enough space in the apartment, it makes sense to make a luminous image of a Christmas tree from several garlands. The tree as such is not needed in this case. However, those who go to the end in this matter acquire a small pine tree and stretch it, flatten it on the wall so that it does not take up the volume of space in the room, but becomes flat.