Lavender Wands...

obviously our teacher's sample!!!

making a stem cage around the flowers...

Lavender wands, batons, spindles or bottles as they are sometimes called, are wonderfully relaxing and easy to make...even better when you are with a group of like minded women...all crafty!!!

Lavender originates from the Mediterranean but was spread through Europe by the Romans.There are 115 varieties around the world...that's why our wands were more like little onions, as, the variety we were working with, had very small flowers...mine was classified as minature. There are many ways to make these...some use odd numbers of flowers and weave every two stems then every one stem till you nearly reach the bottom where  you start weaving every two again, or some even stuff their wands with essential oil infused cotton wool to make the wands bigger .We did it our way!!...

We started with 38 stems and wove around every two stems...it was a little tricky in the beginning but we all soon got the hang of it. When we reached the end of our flower heads we just pegged the stems and now they are in our cupboards waiting to dry off before we tighten up the weaves and wrap the excess ribbon round the stems which ever way we choose...Thanks to Taline , our teacher , and the  girls : Renata ,Mary, Evangelia, Ann from Ireland ,her sister in law who was here on holiday from Scotland, and Pri from Australia, for a great morning at Crafty Ideas.I will always remember it when I open  my cupboard and look at the first ever lavender wand I made ...Maro