Witches, Wire & Wands

I'm still stuck in my temporary crafting space with everything squashed in around me and not much room to create but I couldn't miss doing something for Halloween!  I've done several pumpkin projects in the past so wanted something different.  I cast my eye about for an idea.  Then I saw this stick while we were on the dog walk...

As soon as I saw it I imagined it would make a great Witches Wand for Halloween!  The first thing to do was to strip it (old potato peelers are great for this task)...

I gave it a wash with some soap and left it to dry overnight.

To make the Wand 'handle' I cut a small piece of felt and hot glued it to the stick, wrapping and tucking the ends in as best as I could....

I cut a second, longer piece and glued that on to give it a longer 'handle'..




Next, I took some copper wire and coiled each end loosely...

and wrapped it around the join between the two pieces of felt to embellish the handle a little..

Then I took a much longer piece of wire and did a similar thing at the top of the felt but this time wrapping it all the way up the stick and then back down in a 'criss-cross' fashion.

I used tweezers to 'tweak' the wire which both added a nice effect and tightened it onto the stick.

After that I just got hold of lots of beads, charms and glass nuggets and, using a dark green covered wire,  began to wrap and attach them all the way up and down the stick in a random fashion (from the handle to the tip).

A final piece of copper wire was added to the tip  - it's really up to you how you decorate your wand - just go wild!

All you need now is a tall black pointy hat and you are ready to cast a few spells ;-)

Happy Halloween!




All photos & text (c) Addicted to Making 2014

Building, Boxes & Dressing for Downton....

So this is the view from my temporary crafting space..  

As you can see it's not hugely inspiring (even worse on a wet day!) but hopefully means I will soon have a lovely new crafting space to play work in.  Anyone who's had building work done will know, it's a necessary mess and you have to play lots of move-boxes-around-the-house which basically means I can't find all the bits & pieces I need to be able to make the projects in my head (still.... it won't be forever...)

It's also very noisy and hard to think straight... as you can imagine I've done very little 'making' recently as a result!  However, this week I had to get rummaging through the boxes so I could find all the pieces & tools to make a necklace for my daughter who is going to a 1920's themed party.  Rather than the usual 'Flapper Girl' style she has gone for a more Downton Abbey dinner dress and I have followed suit with a long beaded necklace with focal tassel. 

I chose a large sequin covered bead for the focal point and decided to add tassels to it. Once you've made the focal tassel bead the rest of the necklace is a sinch..here's the step-by-steps:

I began by securing the thread to the bottom row of sequins and then threaded 2-3" length of bugle beads before sewing back up through them. This was followed by another few threads in and around the sequins before repeating with the next strand and so on..

Keep going, adding as many beaded strands as you can fit around the bottom of the bead. 

Next add a jump ring to the bottom of an eye pin..

Then sew more strands of beads onto the jump ring..

 Thread the eye pin up through the bottom of the bead...

Then turn a loop on the end of the wire so it will be ready to thread onto your necklace.

To make the long beaded part of the necklace, first sort out a pleasing arrangement of beads with gaps of around 2inches.

Then begin to knot them onto some thread (waxed cords or synthetic works well)

Work down the first side (work out how long you want the necklace)

Add the tassel bead to the center point and bead up the second side..

You can leave long ends on either side of the necklace to make it easy to tie and/or adjust the length.

You should now be ready to dance at Downton!


Happy Making!


All pictures & text (c) Addicted to Making 2014