1 post tagged “lavender”
Here's the process I use to weave lavender wands. They are also called Lavender Bottles. I use them to lay among the linens and clothes folded into drawers to give them a fresh scent.
The first step is to harvest the lavender blooms and sort them. Here, I've set out 13 stems of lavender blooms. I prefer using 13 rather than 15 or 17 because I have plump blossoms and the more blooms you use, the bulkier the "bottle" will be and the less likely your ribbon will cover them well.
So, I mostly use 13 stems. If the blooms are skimpy, I'll use more stems.
These are unprocessed stems. If you'll look, you'll see there are "strays" down the stems. From the bottom of the main blossom end down to the end of the stem, I strip stray leaves and the odd lavender bud so the stems are smooth all the way down.
Once I've finished stripping these stems, I'll come back and post the next step.
Once the stems have been stripped smooth, it's time to tie them together in preparation for weaving them.
I use extra narrow ribbon, the kind that's usually 50¢ a spool. Any color will do. Here, I'm using hot pink to contrast with the gray green and purple of the lavender.
Measure out enough ribbon to be slightly more than 3 times the length of the longest stem of lavender in your bundle, then tie the ribbon just below the blooms, 1/3 to one side and 2/3 to the other side. The 1/3 section will hang down with the stems and be used after the bottle is woven, The 2/3 length of ribbon will be the side used to weave the bottle.
The next step will show the beginning weave.
Once the lavender stems are tied together, it's time to start weaving them.
When I was taught how to do this, I was told to use a separate string to tie the lavender blooms together, then bend the stems down immediately, using a bottle with the buds inside the bottle in order to begin the weave.
I never liked that method.
What I do is use the actual ribbon I'll weave with to tie the lavender stems together, then when I start weaving, I only bend down the stems I'm working with in the very beginning. This is because I find I have greater control over the spacing of the stems so I get a more even weave and I don't leave any stems out.
When you bend all the stems down at once, they get kind of lost in the blooms and I always ended up skipping a stem and coming up uneven.
By bending down only the stem I'm currently working with, I never lose any stems at all.
To start the weaving, bend down one stem, place the longer end of the ribbon over the stem, then bend a second stem down to hold the ribbon in place. Fold the ribbon back over the stem holding it down and bend your third stem down so it will lie under the ribbon. The 4th stem holds the ribbon down, the 5th stem is held down by the ribbon, and so it alternates until all the stems are bent down.
This photo shows where part of the stems are bent and part are still in process.
The next photo will show the bottle when it's further along in its weave.
Here is the finished lavender wand, from woven bloom head, called a "bottle", to the wrapped and tied off stem.
The longer your stems, the longer the wand. This is a rather short wand because some of the stems were short.
In the next photo, you can see the difference between a short wand and a longer wand.
Here you can see the difference between a short wand and a long one. The yellow one is the longer of the two (as if you couldn't tell!).
You can use any color ribbon. You can probably use wider ribbon than I do, but I like the look of the narrow ribbons,
I usually make lavender wands from the first harvest of lavender because the stems tend to be the longest and cleanest from the first blooming. Since I only have 1 lavender plant (small garden), I get about dozen wands from that first harvest.
Second and subsequent harvests, I dry the lavender and use the dried buds for cooking and baking. The dried stems get broken up into muslin sachets because even the stems of lavender are fragrant and the fragrance holds at least a year for the stems.
I plan to move and expand my lavender bed next year, so the year after next. I should have a truly abundant harvest.
