Lavender Wand Tutorial
Read below for a lavender wand tutorial that will teach you how to make an all natural, sustainable and very lovely air freshener!
This Independence Day I headed to Strawberry Banke with my family. We enjoy their American Celebration and we try to attend the celebration each and every year. This year, while enjoying the Colonial inspired events, I came across a woman making lavender wands in one of the beautiful gardens on site. Like all the volunteers who help out at Strawberry Banke, she was very friendly and took the time to explain this wonderful Victorian craft to me. Specifically, she taught me how to make a wand or bottle out of ribbon and fresh lavender. I am not certain as to exactly when these wands were first designed and used as air fresheners (particularly in linen drawers and closets). However, I guarantee that they have been in use for hundreds of years. They smell so lovely, they are not made with plastic and chemicals, and it is clearly time to resurrect these lovely wands!
There are many variations to the lavender wand. A few things to vary are:
- The number of lavender flowers
- The ribbon width
- The tightness of the weave
- The ribbon color
- Ribbon can be exchanged for yarn too!
Vary things up a bit and determine your favorite design for these wands!
Materials required to complete the lavender wand tutorial:
Fresh lavender
Satin ribbon – 3/16″ in width is ideal in my opinion. I used 1/8″ ribbon as the smallest ribbon in my photos below, but I thought it was a bit too narrow.
Scissors
Instructions:
1. Cut ~19 lavender flowers with long stems (I use 19 in the images below). You can use more or less, but you need an odd number.
2. Remove the leaves and any petals further than 2.5″ from the top of each stem of lavender. I have already done this in the image below.
3. Cut a long piece of ribbon. About 2 feet for 3/16″ ribbon or 4 feet for 1/8″ ribbon. With thinner ribbon you will want to conduct more wraps around the lavender, and you therefore need a longer piece of ribbon.
4. Gather up the flowers into a bunch with the flower bases aligned (meaning that all of the purple flowers should be aligned as in the image below). Tie one end of the ribbon around the green stems, under the base of the flowers. See below.
5. Use your thumb nail to soften the stem directly under the ribbon. Basically you want to press into the stem gently with your finder nail. When you bend the stem, the crease created with your thumb nail will allow the stem to fold without breaking into 2 pieces.
6. Gently bend the stems back down over the blooms. See below.
7. Weave the ribbons over and under the stems working in a clockwise direction. I alternated over and under but you can try other variations. When you make your first full circle be sure that you are then going under stems you were going over on the previous row. This should always be true as you continue to spiral around the lavender. Pull the ribbon tight as you go, compressing the blooms as you go. This is important because as the blooms dry they will reduce in size. You do not want a saggy wand of dry lavender a week after you make your wand!
8. When your weaving covers the blossoms secure the ribbon at the base of the blossoms with a half knot. Pull tight. Cut another piece of ribbon and tie a bow around your knot. The half know is shown below. The ribbon is shown in the 1st image in this post.
9. Trim the stems to be even at your desired length. You may trim your weaving ribbon at the bow or use it to wrap the stems. If you wrap the stems tie another knot at the bottom and trim the excess ribbon.
As always, don’t be shy! Please post your own thoughts and experiences with this project using the comment box below.
Best wishes,
Kirsten
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
