A Whole Plotta Love

It’s lavender season again and I love to make wands with the freshly cut stems. They’re charming on display, make great gifts, or can be stashed in a drawer or airing cupboard to lightly scent your laundry. 

Have you ever wanted to make a wand, but aren’t sure how? Well, go cut yourself some fresh lavender and we’ll walk through the steps together.

You will need:

• An odd number of lavender stems (I’ve used 9 in this example). Make sure your lavender is fresh because as the stems dry they become brittle and snap when you bend them.
• Ribbon
• Scissors 

Method:

1. Take your lavender stems and remove the lower leaves.

2. Measure and cut your ribbon. I used 3 times the length of my stems to give me a little extra for a ribbon tail. 

3. Tie one end of the ribbon just below the lavender flowers, and gently pull the stems down to ensure the heads are in as tight a cluster as possible against the knotted ribbon.

4. Turn this little posy upside down so the stems are pointing towards the ceiling and the blooms towards the floor. Carefully bend the stems back towards you and down over the flower heads, turning the posy as you go. 

5. Once all the stalks are bent over, take the ribbon and begin to weave it over and under the stems starting from the one closest to the knot. Work your way over and under the stems in this manner until you’re back to the one where you started. That’s your fist row complete.

If your first row started with the ribbon weaving over the stem it will start the new row weaving under, and vice versa. It seems complicated to start with but gets easier as you progress.

6. Keep working the ribbon over and under the stems. If any of the lavender blossoms protrude, poke them back in and out of sight. Every so often, pull the stalks and ribbon taut to make sure your weaving is as tight as can be. 

7. Once all of the flowers are covered, wrap the ribbon once around the stalks and tie a little knot to hold the ribbon in place. Wrap the rest of the ribbon in a spiral down the length of the stems – the further you go, the longer your wands will be. 

8. Tie the ribbon off at your desired length, and cut the stems and ribbon to neaten up the ends.

And there you have it, a lavender wand.