Making my decorative Broom/Besom

Well I decided to try my hand at making a not quite fully traditional besom, but at least one I have made - I have done the research, and this website seems to be the easiest to understand. However - I am not able to be that traditional (official ash stick and birch branches etc) without drawing myself out of the closet with my husband more than I want too - he is fine with little things, and won't question too much - so I keep it low key with what I do. So in the spirit of that, I compromise, and have fun, without ordering special supplies, or driving to far away places to find exactly what I need. I am making it more for me and for decoration purposes than it being a functional besom.

So I have been hiking and walking and looking and stalking for interesting
things on my solitary adventures

and adventures with my lovely little daughter

I only want to find what is laying on the ground, not something I cut down. I always say thank you and leave little offerings, I am a fan of having water with me on my walks and tend to just use that, because I know it will not hurt the earth, and so many things can use water. I also tend to have crackers and granola bars with me as well. Another simple way to give a blessing to the earth.

Anyway - back to my besom/ or broom - since it isn't for practice, I may just refer to it as a broom. I like brooms around, and you can always take a cheesy store bought one from Halloween and just jazz it up, which is easy to do at this time of the year. Michael's already has them for sale and I have already been unable to restrain myself there. . .

So with your store bought broom - a simple way to make it more yours is to decorate with ribbons and charms.

I am so in love with little keys right now

I know they don't open anything, but I always feel that they can unlock so many things in your mind - opening up your creative juices. For me they are my symbol to unlock my creative process. I have added them to my favorite talisman necklaces that I wear too - to remind me to keep my creative mind open and unlocked - how was that for a thought tangent. (by the way I usually tangent when I talk and I like to tangent when I write too)

But back to making one from what you find outdoors - or in my case some of what I found inside too
- Here is the fun lumpy bumpy stick I finally decided was broom worthy -

I then sanded off all the bark and trimmed off some the branch knots to smooth it out, and I began the fun process of adding the decorative grass from one of my decorations I currently have. My cats and daughter are constantly pulling this vase apart, and playing with the grasses, that I am redo-ing what will be displayed, so I decided to recycle the grass into this project.

Begin by tying small sections of the grass together with twine, and then tie the sections around the stick forgot to take some photos of the step by step process - I used a little hot glue (my best friend) just to make it stay together a little better. Viola!

Again embellish with charms and ribbons if you would like. I haven't embellished yet, but I may decorate it up a bit soon.

Enjoy!

Now that I am winding down with my outdoor activities, I can get caught up on all I have been collecting and saving to create with - I love to use recycled goodies in my creations - I think the next few posts will be about my Halloween decorations I am creating this year - I am trying - I use the word trying very loosely - to make a cauldron with paper mache, because I don't like what I find in the stores, and I don't have the money to buy a nice one - we will see how it turns out - whether it does or doesn't I may just post the results regardless - until next time!

Blessings -

~bleumoon