With that I set out to make a wand my little magician. I wanted to make something soft so he wouldn't hurt himself or others. Running around with a stick in his hand just shouts, "Doom!" A wooden star wand that you pick up at the craft shop was an option but then I could visualise it flying across the room like a ninja star towards his sister...hmmmm, perhaps not. So I decided to go with some felt and make my own tip of the wand. I turned to Rhythm & Rhyme for some inspiration. I'd seen some wands she made up awhile ago and liked their look. I however decided to use a real tree branch from our hard for the handle. We have a curry tree in our vegetable patch that we sadly have to constantly chop down because the root system is bothering our neighbours water pipes. We constantly hack at it to make sure it doesn't grow too big and of course it just grows back with a vengence. It has pretty much become a supply tree for me. I use the branches for all sorts things now!
I think the way I did this craft demonstrates how you can make something for little to no money. I actually had everything on hand and most of it was from something I recycled: the felt was from my scrap box, the branch was from the yard and the ribbons were from one of my shirts (you know the pesky hanger holder loops from the shoulders?), I snipped them off and the matched the wand perfectly and added a little pizazz, too! I used pure wool fleece as stuffing (I always have a bag on hand thanks to our local woolworks farm). I can't help but to think of the sheep when I'm using it. Lachlan always likes to run over to the paddock and say hello to them when we pick up supplies; so we do literally know our fleece by name :)
If you make a wand, make a design that is meaningful to your child. I chose to do moon and stars because Lachlan absolutley is fascinated by them both. I drew the star and moon free-handedly on paper and then used that as a template to cut from the felt. I just used a few beads from my craft box as stars. I sewed a larger, purplish bead as a 'wishing star.' After I finished sewing them all on I heated up the hot glue gun. While I was waiting for that to heat up, I sewed the purple ribbons to the base of the stars (hiding the top ends inside where the stuffing will go). I then glued the felt stars to each side of the branch. Next, I took the floss and began doing a blandket stitch around the outer edges, stuffing the star with wool on either side of the branch before closing it of with stitches. And, voila! There ya have it, I magical wand for you little magician made from natural fibres.
I was pleased with how it came out considering it was something I whipped up in a jiffy. I think this wand with the moon and stars would be a cute think to add to a child's bedtime who is a bit fussy about going to sleep. It could be that magical 'sleep wand' from the Goodnight Fairy. A wand that makes you very, very sleepy!
As all wands should have a special magical rhyme, I made this one up for ours:
"Give your wand a little swish, close your eyes and make a wish!"
What types of wands can you make up? I'd love to see what materials you use and what magical spell you give it!
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