How to Make a Lavender Wand and Win One Too

I’ve wanted to learn how to make lavender wands ever since I first knew what they were. I looked at instructions but I’m a tactile learner—I have to see it done and do it myself to really get it sometimes.

So when I saw in the Folk Festival newspaper that there would be classes on making wands, I made sure to find out about it. Wouldn’t you know, it was my friend Melissa Dennison who was teaching the craft! Melissa had a booth in the crafts show and was selling her soaps, herbs and lavender wands. In no time at all she put me to work and I had a finished wand in about 15 minutes.

Today I am off work because it’s my birthday (isn’t that cool, we get our birthday off!). I had to go in for a couple hours this morning to start my guys on a project, but I was home by 10am. The lavender beckoned; it is at the perfect stage for making wands right now and I figured I’d give myself the gift of a few minutes to try wand-making on my own.

It was just as easy as Melissa had promised. Here’s how I did it. Remember, this is my first attempt so you might want to look at the instructions here and here for directions from other sites.

Step one: Cut your lavender with stems as long as possible. You want to use fresh lavender for this craft because it will lose pliability and flower buds if it’s too dry. I have the old standard lavender and it grows some really long stems, which are perfect for this purpose.

Step 2: gather your supplies. You need lavender, rubber bands, scissors and ribbon. That’s it.

Step 3: Put together a bundle of about 15 stems. I’ve seen all kinds of recommendations as to the right amount; I used 15 and it worked pretty well. Even up the flower heads; it doesn’t matter if the stem ends are uneven because you’ll be cutting them off at the end of the project.

Step 4: put a rubber band tightly around the bundle of lavender just below the flower heads.

Step 5: Cut a long piece of ribbon—at least 3 or 4 feet long. You can use thin or thick ribbon, it doesn’t matter. I found that the ribbon that was very narrow was harder to work with, but maybe that’s just me. It takes more thin ribbon too, because there's more weaving to do.

Step 6: Tie the ribbon around the stems, over top of the rubber band. Wrap it several times around the rubber band to cover it.

Step 7: bend the stems over the rubber band so that the flower heads are under the stems. Make sure you space the bent stems evenly around the bundle of flowers in the center. This makes a “cage” with the flowers inside, if that makes sense.

Step 8: using 3-4 stems held together in a bunch, begin basket-weaving the ribbon in and out. You will want to make sure you have an uneven number of bunches so that the weaving comes out right.

Step 9: continue to weave ,pulling the ribbon tight as you go, until the flower heads are completely enclosed by the woven stems.

Step 10: Pull the ribbon tight and secure with a slipknot. Tie a hanging loop in the end of the ribbon.

Step 11: Cut the stems off evenly.

Step 12: Enjoy your wand!

I made three today: the first took 20 minutes, the second 10 and the third, the one with the thin red ribbon took about 20 minutes because there was a lot more weaving involved. I included one made by Melissa as an idea of a variation on the wand--this one looks like a little basket filled with lavender buds.

Melissa did say something about the need to tighten the ribbon after a few days, as the wands will dry and the ribbon will become loose. I haven’t done this part yet, just passing on the information.

Now, since it’s my birthday, I will send one of my wands to a lucky someone as a thank-you gift for being a reader. All you need to do is be a follower of my blog and leave a comment here within the next three days. Good luck!

Glenville Folk Festival, Part 2

This year the folk festival tried something new in the schedule: ghost stories! Now you know that's right up my alley. The problem was that the ghost stories program was scheduled at the same time as the evening concert, and there were people in the concert I really, really wanted to hear--like Phyllis Marks, one of the few old-time ballad-singers left on our state. I had to make a choice, and this time the storytelling won out.

When we arrived, Dr. David Corcoran, publisher of the Glenville Democrat newspaper, was telling his version of the Greenbrier Ghost story, one of my favorites and the most famous of West Virginia ghost tales. Dr. Corcoran told about a couple of experiences his family had in a house they owned in Greenbrier county, then opened the floor to the people in attendance.

One man told stories about ghosts in Weston, West Virginia and the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, another told a story about a girl in white who appeared in a house they lived in. I decided to offer two stories: one is a supposedly true story told to Larry by his grandmother about a boarding house in Olcott, WV where Larry grew up. The owner was reportedly locked in the attic by her son and left to starve to death, and until the place burned down people could hear her walking about in the attic, or opening and shutting cupboard doors in the kitchen, apparently looking for food. I also told Tailypo, an old mountain "jump tale", or story that makes the audience "jump" from a scare at the end. I was surprised that no one in the audience had heard it before since it's a fairly well-known and often-told story.

At the end of the storytelling, a drawing was held for a woodcut of a story in a book by Dr. Ruth Ann Musick called "The Telltale Lilac Bush." Everyone present was invited to put their name in the hat. And guess what? I won! How amazing is that! The picture is of a headless peddler who was murdered and whose head was seen burning near a whirlpool in the river (see page 93, of you want to read the story). Even stranger than the fact that I won is that I have told this story in the past. The woodcut will travel with me whenever I tell ghost stories now. And of course I'll have to tell the story about the peddler, too.

Here is a picture of the plaque and of the festival newspaper that includes an article by me on the importance of storytelling in today's culture:

The back of the plaque tells who made it, when and where he got his inspiration. True folk art, this.

And here's a close-up of the front of the plaque.

I love it! I've already volunteered to help with next year's ghost stories and I hope I'm taken up on the offer. We didn't get to go to the cemetery, but those who did were treated to more tales, especially the local legend of Sis Lynn who is buried, I hear, in that cemetery. There are so many reported sightings and incidents about Sis Lynn that it would be hard to label them all as coincidence. I definitely want to go to the cemetery myself and see her grave.

Glenville Folk Festival, Part 1

Here's my first post with photos about the West Virginia folk Festival in Glenville, WV this weekend. I'll have at least one or two more posts to follow.

The festival sponsors many events, all free to the public. Saturday was a full day, with the parade, the Oral Traditions tent, a spelling bee, shape note singing, and an evening concert on my to-do list. Larry's list included a session with a History Alive presenter who represented Mad Anne Bailey, and time listening to musicians in the singing tent. It was a hot, hot day, so I was glad to find activities we could do that were in air-conditioned buildings!

Our favorite place to eat in Glenville is the Common Place Restaurant. Yesterday I noticed this clock on the restaurant wall: "Booger Hole, Where Time Stands Still." That had to be a picture! As I snapped it, the restaurant's owner told me that his wife grew up in Booger Hole and knew many ghost stories from the area. I hope to return and interview her soon, because I know the area, in Clay County, is rife with stories. You can read my review of a book about the area and its history here.

Jim and Judy Meads are part of the Festival's organizing team, and work with me to organize the Oral Traditions tent. They are fast becoming good friends, and Jim is a fellow blogger--you can link to his blog from my sidebar or click here.

The Belles represent their home counties at the Festival. This year a session for Belle Storytelling was added and several participated. Here the Mason County Belle tells a story about her years as a military wife in Alaska, where she lived for 35 years. These ladies had good stories to tell. I hope this becomes a regular feature of the festival.

The spelling bee drew an almost full-capacity crowd, many to watch and about 20 to participate. I tried! I was fourth from the last one standing, I think, and went down on vinaigrette--I reversed the "ai." Daggone it. I knew better than that. But it was okay since I wanted to attend the shape note singing class anyway and it was almost time for that. I listened to a little of the class and got completely confused, so I left and I went to listen to Janet do her reading.

I invited Janet Smart to be part of our Oral Traditions tent this year. Janet is a new author from my county who writes middle-grade fiction and picture books. One of her books is currently under contract. Janet followed me to blogging and then to Two Lane Livin' and writes a column for children. In this photo, Janet is reading from her picture book "Miss Maizey" while two girls portray the scarecrows in the story. It was fun to watch a story I've helped to edit come to life. It's why a writing group is so important to a writer's career--we help each other to grow.

A little actor shows her stuff, while in the background is one of the many jam sessions that were scattered all over town.

Later in the evening we attended the evening concert that featured some of the finest old-time musicians in the region, and wandered for hours among the many jam sessions which featured some of the same musicians who had been on stage as well as many other fine, fine fiddlers, banjo pickers, guitarists, hammered dulcimer players, mandolin and bass players.