MATERIALS – (for one lavender wand)
- About two yards of thin ribbon, about 1/2 inch thick in any color you choose.
- An odd number of fresh lavender strands – 17 will make a good-sized wand. You can increase the number of strands once you have the the technique mastered.
- Scissors to cut the ribbon
INSTRUCTIONS –
1. Gather the lavender stems together, making the heads even at the top with the stems facing downward.
2. Tie a knot with your ribbon around the base of the lavender heads.
3. Flip the lavender heads upside down and one by one bend the lavender stems down, as if you were peeling a banana. Use your fingernail to gently bend the stems over the lavender heads, being careful not to break them. Try to bend them evenly over the lavender flowers. This will help later as you begin to weave the ribbon.
4. The knot you tied at the bottom of the lavender heads should now be at the top. Here’s the tricky part… Begin weaving your ribbon between the lavender stems using an over-under pattern. As you are doing this, try to keep the stems evenly spaced around the flower heads to create uniformity. By the time you come around the lavender heads for the first time, you should have gone either over or under each stem one time.
5. After the first pass, continue to weave the ribbon over and under each stem. If you are doing this correctly, a pattern should emerge, encasing the lavender in your ribbon. If you come to a place where you missed a stem, stop and undo the ribbon, going back to find where you missed one.
6 Eventually you will reach the bottom of the flower heads, and they should be completely wrapped in ribbon. Wrap the remaining ribbon around the bottom and tie a knot. Cut off the extra ribbon. You can also use the additional ribbon to make another knot at the bottom of the stems so they don’t stick out.
