How to Make a Centerpiece Using Artificial Fruit

Polish the fruit to make it glow. For wooden fruit, use furniture wax. For plastic fruit, use wax, and for ceramic fruit, polish it with a drop of vegetable oil, which will also help fill in scratches.

Choose a container for your centerpiece. Traditional bowls and baskets work well, or try the unexpected, such as a silver ice bucket, a clay flower pot or a child's toy dump truck. Clean the container well.

Combine the fruit with other objects, such as leaves or evergreen branches, silk flowers and even feathers. For the look of a bountiful harvest, add unshelled nuts to the mix. Pile the fruit and other objects loosely in a bowl, basket, pot or the bed of the dump truck. Trail ivy, leaves or bunches of grapes over the sides.

Keep it simple with one kind of fruit, such as a vase full of shiny lemons or a basket of polished apples. You can also alternate a line of fruit and votive candles on a long, mirrored tray.

Make a topiary by inserting floral picks in your fruit and sticking the fruit into a Styrofoam cone. Wind silk ivy around and between the fruit to fill in gaps and hide the Styrofoam.