Pop up a tree ornament or hang a plant

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, November 19, 2005

This week’s Craft Corner features two completely unrelated projects: clear glass ornaments filled with popcorn for the holiday tree and macrame kits.

Popcorn ornaments

While picking up a few supplies at Craft Mart in Marysville last week, we made a great find of the crafty kind when we spied the popcorn-filled ornaments.

We wondered how they managed to get the popcorn into the glass ornaments without crumbling it beyond recognition, and Lisa English, one of the store’s customer service reps, gave us the secret: use the microwave to pop the popcorn right in the glass ornament.

Lisa said that the ornaments were very popular last year, but somehow we managed to miss them, so the idea may be new to many Craft Corner readers as well.

The ornaments are easy and fun to make – kids will enjoy helping – and will add touches of whimsy and nostalgia to your holiday decor.

All you need are some clear glass ornaments (available at most craft stores in a couple of sizes and costing about $5 per box) and holiday ribbon, yarn or cord for embellishment and hanging.

Make sure you use plain popcorn with no salt, butter or other coatings, or you’ll end up with a mess inside the glass ball.

The instructions are simple: Remove the metal top from the ornament, place some popcorn kernels inside and microwave for 2 to 4 minutes.

Lisa recommends 15 kernels for smaller ornaments; we used about 30 for the larger ornaments.

In our opinion, it’s better to err on the side of a few extra kernels rather than coming up short, as your ornament won’t be filled if you use too few kernels, and trying to pop more corn in an ornament after the initial popping is risky as you can easily burn the already popped kernels if you microwave them a second time.

Just make sure you keep your eye on the ornaments once the corn starts to pop, and shut the microwave off as soon as the glass is sufficiently filled.

Careful! The ornaments will be very hot, so remove them with a potholder and let them cool down a bit before handling.

When the ornaments have cooled, simply shake the unpopped kernels out through the opening, replace the metal top and add ribbon or other embellishments as desired.

If you do come up short, you can add pieces of tinsel or other lightweight fillers that mix well with the popcorn.

Macrame kits

We are suggesting macrame kits in this week’s column to introduce readers to the skill of knotting in preparation for next week’s column, in which we will feature a couple of dog collars made by using macrame techniques.

Macrame kits, books and online instructions are readily available. We found several kits, including those for making belts and planter hangers, at Pacific Fabrics &Crafts in Everett.

The kits cost about $5 each and are perfect for introducing – or reacquainting one with – macrame skills.

For our samples, we used one of the planter hanger kits, followed the instructions to complete the project, then used the same directions to make another hanger with different materials for a completely different look.

The original was a rustic hemp hanger with beads and shells, used to hold a terra cotta pot, while our second hanger was made from black and red nylon cord – beads and shells replaced with knots – to hold a ceramic pot coated with gold Rub ‘n’ Buff, which gave the planter a kind of Far Eastern look.

You’ll need to master two simple knots, the square and half knot, for next week’s collar project, both of which can be found in how-to books or online (just do a search for macrame knots and you’ll get a list of online instruction sites to choose from).

For a work surface, an inexpensive cork message board works well, and you’ll need some T-topped pins to hold work in place.

And you might also want to brush up on your crochet skills (specifically, the chain stitch and single crochet), as we will be throwing in directions for a crocheted collar as well.

Contact Jonetta Coffin at jrocoffin@aol.com