Harry Potter Hits the Garden - The Lavender Wand Tutorial

I like lavender, it thrives on neglect and just gets on with its life... I love the way that the bush is alive with bees when I leave the house and how if you just run your hands through it, it takes you back to Tuesday afternoon's when my mother used to polish the furniture  If you think that you can grow nothing then, give lavender a chance.

One of the most wonderful things about lavender is that  it retains its scent and therefore makes a wonderful smelly for sheets and towels and is said to keep moths away from your woollies.  So this week, we are going to use lavender from your garden (no, you cannot borrow it permanently from your local park)... it is best to make the wand when your plants have started to flower and to make them immediately you have cut them so that the stems are still malleable and do not become brittle and break.

You will need:
A lavender bush from which you cut 15 stems (it has to be an odd number)
Between 2 - 3 yards of narrow ribbon... I used 7mm skinny ribbon from my Jane Means stash and a small piece of contrasting ribbon
A pair of secateurs
Scissors
2 sequin pins (these are very short pins which are so handy for jobs like this.
Matches

From your bush cut 15 long stems... it really must be an odd number to make the weaving work.

Find a sunny spot in the garden, with just a bit of a breeze and sit yourself down with a cup of coffee or a chilled glass of wine and trim off any excess leaves or flowers below the flower spur at the top.

Line up your stems and trim them up so that they are all of equal length.

Take your ribbon and tie it securely just below the flowers, now bend the stems over the flowers and tuck the loose end of your ribbon in with the flowers and start to weave under and over the stalks.

As you have an odd number of stalks when you start the next round of weaving you are automatically placed to go under the stalks that you went over... if this is not the case, then you have made a mistake, so you will need to unravel and start over from the point where the error occured.

Once you have covered the flowers, wind your ribbon very tightly around the stems until you have covered between 4 - 6".  Use your sequin pins to pin the end of the ribbon home, as  these pins as so short, they are ideal for this job.

Flame the end of the ribbon to seal it properly.  Although the wand looks fine, au naturel, I think a little ribbon tied just under the weaving just finishes it off nicely.

Now sit back, drink your tea or coffee and imagine how lovely your sheets and blankets will smell through the winter months as they infuse the lavender perfume. Cheers!


Right, if you need a break from our fantastic Olympics team, take a look at all the people who  take crafts to a new level every week, not just once every four years at Handmade Monday.


Go Team GB... and all you fellow Crafters!