Making Lavendar Wands

by Anja Bartlett

© 2005 M. Bartlett. All rights reserved.

You need:

• ¼ inch ribbon
• Freshly cut lavendar (use the English variety, preferrably - longer, tougher stems.)
• Scissors, knife or other cutting device
  (see 1)

Instructions

1. Cut your lavendar when it first begins to bloom, when only a few flowers are open, early in the morning, before the sun gets hot. Traditionally, don’t use a regular knife, but use one of copper or bone, but scissors work. I have a pair of plastic kid scissors that I use alternately with my boline.	1. Lavendar at the right stage of bloom.
2. Put what you have cut into water immediately.	2. If you don't have a vase, a watering can works, or a tall jar.
3. Take an odd number of stems, (no fewer than 7, but 9 or 11 work best) strip them of extra blossoms and leaves and then line up the bottoms of the heads. Trim the stems off so that they’re all the same length.
3. Lined up	3b. Extra blossoms
4. Tie a slip knot in the end of your ribbon.
4. Loose	4b. Tight
5. Loop it over the heads of the lavendar right at the base and tighten.	5
6. The first two rounds of weaving are more a folding down process." Hold the lavender bunch head down with the ribbon end tucked inside the flower heads. Fold down every other stem as you wrap the ribbon around the flower head bunch and hold them down, spreading them out evenly around the flower head bunch. Tighten the ribbon.	6
7. After the first time around continue on, wrapping the ribbon over the first "round." (pic 7) At this point you should start to see the "over, under, over, under" of the ribbon going around the stems. Tighten the ribbon.	7
8. After you’re all the way around the 2nd time, continue the "over, under" process (pic 8), tightening the ribbon after each round, trying to tuck errant blooms back inside (pic 8b). You will lose some bits. This is normal (pic 8c).	8
8b. Tightening the ribbon after each round, trying to tuck errant blooms back inside.	8c. You will lose some bits. This is normal.
9. When you’re nearing the base of the bunch and you find the "vase shape" starting to tighten in, you can pick up the dropped blooms and tuck them in from the bottom, if you wish.	9
10. When you’re at the point where you’re at the end of the flowers, or it’s getting difficult to keep weaving, loop the ribbon around the bunch and through the loop as in the picture.
10. Loose	10b. Tight
11. Do it again, as in the next pic....and tighten (pic 11).
11. Loose	11b...and tighten
12. Leave a long end of ribbon and either wind it around the stems so that they dry straight or take a piece of string or scrap ribbon and tie it around the ends for the same purpose.
12	12b
13. Hang them to dry in a place with good ventilation. 14. After a day or two, undo the knot at the base of the "vase" and tighten up the weaving, then re-knot it (pic 14) and wind the ribbon down the stem (pic 14b) and knot at the base as before (pic 14c). You should probably put a dot of glue inside the final knot to keep it secure.	14. undo the knot at the base of the "vase," tighten up the weaving, and re-knot it...
14b...wind the ribbon down the stem...	14c...and knot at the base as before.
15. Trim off the extra ribbon (pic 15). Let dry for at least a week more if they will be shut up in a drawer, otherwise use and enjoy!
15. Trim off the extra ribbon.	15b. Enjoy!

Tips

• Be careful to keep your ribbon flat and untwisted. This makes the best container for the blossoms as they dry.
  
  
• Use English Lavendar! The stems are longer than perfume (French) lavendar and more flexible than the other types. Cut it and keep it in water.
  
  
• Use ¼ inch ribbon. Narrower can be pretty, but it takes forever. Wider will be harder to make flat and tidy and if there are larger gaps, bits will fall through the weaving.
  
  
• The scent will last for quite a while; years even, in a quiet spot, but it can be refreshed with lavendar essential oil. About 3 drops will do it, dripped into the end of the "vase" away from the stems.