In the spirit of the season, we’ve been reading “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” author Gregory Maguire’s look at the “true facts” surrounding certain events that transpired in the faraway Land of Oz.
While the focus of this week’s Craft Corner is on recycling old materials into new decorations for this year’s Halloween season, Elphaba, Maguire’s much-maligned and misunderstood heroine, inspired one of the two featured projects.
We call it Elphaba’s broom, and though our floral embellishments might make it more suited to the ostentatious style of Glinda the Good Witch, we hope that Elphaba, despite her Spartan outlook, might approve.
To make our broom decoration, you’ll need a broom, seasonal floral stems and craft or floral wire.
We found the broom for our sample in the Halloween section at Party City in Marysville, and though we had planned to make one of our own, we couldn’t resist the price ($3.99). We’ll tell you how to make a broom from scratch below, in case you can’t find one ready-made.
Once you’ve chosen or made your broom, all you need to do is add floral embellishments as desired.
We used a faux black rose, recycled from last year’s Halloween arrangement (see photo), enhanced with a few new autumnal sprigs and a bow of spider-web wired ribbon.
Place the longer, larger pieces — in our sample, the leaves and berry sprig — on the base first, add the ribbon bow next, followed by the centerpiece flower.
You can make the bow as a separate piece or tie it onto the broom. We tied ours around the broom to hide some unsightly tape used in its construction.
In some cases, the floral embellishments will stay put without being secured, but if not, use a few pieces of floral or craft wire to hold the elements in place.
Add a piece of wire to the back of the base to serve as a hanger or, if you want it to hang straight up and down, add a piece of thin, decorative ribbon to the top of the broom handle (ours had a predrilled hole). You can also lean the broom against a wall, railing or in a corner and avoid hanging it altogether.
To make your own broom, you’ll need a handle of some kind — we planned to use a painted dowel — and some raffia or other longish floral material for the brushy end. Browse through the floral department and use your imagination. We found several potential materials, and were deciding which one to use, before we found our ready-made broom.
And don’t forget to check out the yard — you may find the perfect broom materials just outside your back door.
Place the brushy material around one end of the broomstick, then wrap a length of duct tape tightly around the pieces to hold them together. You might want to cut the duct tape so it isn’t so wide, and remember that it does come in colors, not just the standard silver. Also, a little hot glue applied with a glue gun might help secure the brushy pieces to the stick before wrapping with the tape.
Keep in mind that finding a ready-made broom might be a better choice in the long run as it will save you some time and, unless you have materials on hand, will probably be less expensive — craft store florals can be pricey.
Our second project is a dark wreath — using more of the black flowers and the feather stem from last year’s arrangement — which can be updated after Halloween to serve as a general autumn or Thanksgiving wreath. We already have the little pumpkins and nut stems we’ll be using to replace the black flowers.
The wreath base is also recycled. We found it at a rummage sale and removed the existing embellishments.
Follow basic wreath construction methods: place your base materials first and add the rest in order of prominence (those you want to highlight added last).
Secure the materials with wire or glue, but if the various elements will stay in place on their own, the wreath will be much easier to deconstruct for recycling next year.
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