Friday, December 6, 2013

Simple Straw Angels


A long while back I bought a bag of "straw"…hoping that it would inspire me to create something.  
It was while looking at an ancient craft book that I came across instructions for some "straw angels", so I decided to take something old and put a bit of a "me" spin on it!

To make one you will need:
lengths of straw
embroidery floss
one pipe cleaner (for body and halo)
wooden bead
glue
and paint to paint the face

There are quite a few steps involved, but these are really simple to make…trust me on this!!

*Before you begin you need to soak your straw…
place it in the sink and cover it with  warm water for about 4 hours.


(clockwise from top left)
Cut 8 pieces of straw 3 inches long…mark each of these pieces in the centre with a pencil...
String a needle with your embroidery thread and push it through at each pencil mark...
Now take your thread, pull it tight tight tight…you want your pieces to fan out
*these are your "wings".
Tie a double knot...  
Then get your other pieces ready for the body…you want 10 6-inch pieces


(clockwise from top left)
Gather your straw in a bunch and tie the pieces in the middle with embroidery floss...
Straw by straw fold the top half over the bottom half…hold the bundle together tightly...
Insert your pipe cleaner into the hole in the centre of the straws...
Glue the bead onto the pipe cleaner


(clockwise from top left)
Lift up a few of the pieces of straw you just folded over and slip in your "wings"
Now take some embroidery floss and loop it right underneath the "wings"
Tie it tightly…the bottom straw will flare out…this is your dress…you want as much flare as possible.
You can now bend a few pieces of straw to make arms…you will have to glue these into place.


The last steps are to paint on a simple face…hair if you want…and glue on a little "halo", 
(fashioned from a sparkly pipe cleaner)!  
Tie a piece of thread around the angel's neck to hang her off the tree…in the window…
where ever you feel you need a pretty little angel to keep watch!

Wishing you all peace, love and craftiness during the holiday season!

Maureen

6 comments:

  1. Just adorable! Thanks! Love your handiwork!

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  2. Beautiful little angels! I think I still have some straw leftover from making stars, if so, I'll have to turn it into some of those sweet angels. Thanks for sharing this tutorial!

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  3. So sweet...thanks Maureen.
    p.s. have I mentioned I am glad you gals are back?

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  4. So cute! I must try this as a lovely addition to my straw stars.

    Great to see you back by the way!

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  5. That is very pretty. In Germany we used to have lots of straw ornaments.

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  6. Where did you buy your wheat stocks from?

    ReplyDelete

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